Continuing from yesterday’s blog post Elaborating on Atheism (1) I will elaborate on the last few differences in Atheism from this article .
Now we get to the point of differences in how outspoken one is as an Atheist.
While I am very open about my Atheism on the internet (it’s part of my Twitter bio ffs) and I enjoy arguing over religion on the internet most people around me are unaware of my disbelief. There are only 2 people who know, which is a friend of mine and my father. It’s not at all the case, that I’m scared or anything the topic just doesn’t come up at all. If it did come up so far, I was very blunt about my unbelief in the existence of deities as well as the other baggage that comes with it.
Then we come to differences in actions. I would fall into the category of the “evangelical Atheist” even though it is not my prime goal to turn people into Atheists it’s my goal to get them to think about their beliefs and to get them to start asking the difficult questions that belief in some of the tenets of Theism demands. The point where I actively try to persuade and to change minds, is when it comes to ridiculous notions such as the infallibility of scripture, that the Earth is somehow Flat/Young, that evolution is a hoax or whatever other forms of science denial I come across.
I also consider myself not necessarily an active Atheist but an active supporter of humanity. I donate to the poor whenever I can, I try to help people in need and I speak out on the internet as well as outside if I see discrimination and injustice. This includes but is not limited to hatred towards Atheists the LGBTQ community and people of different races.
The last category on this post is religious vs non-religious Atheist.
As I don’t pray, don’t go to church (except for Christmas maybe, it’s a family tradition) and have no religious rituals I definitely fall into the latter category.
One final difference I would like to draw for myself is the ” emotional Atheist” vs the “rational Atheist” vs the “default Atheist” in terms of how one arrives at his disbelief.
There are many ways one can arrive at the position of nonbelief.
The “emotional Atheist” (couldn’t think of a better term) may have had some kind of tragedy in his life and as a result, that a family member died etc. he or she arrived at the conclusion that a God who supposedly loves him/her cannot exist, since he wouldn’t do that to the person.
the “thoughtful Atheist” is one who has thought about this topic long and hard has done investigation, has considered different religions and scriptures, has considered the various arguments for theism and came to his conclusion of nonbelief through this process.
The last catergory would be the “default Atheist” . This Atheist was maybe born into an Atheist family and really hasn’t thought at all about this topic. He basically arrived at his conclusion by being born into the right family. Being born into the right family doesn’t make one a default Atheist yet of course but arriving at this conclusion without extensive thought process does.
I of course fall into the “thoughtful Atheist” category.
Goodbye from yours truly,
Rene von Boenninghausen @Renevelation
Tarsier Renevelations 