Portal:Atheism

The Atheism Portal

Atheism is the philosophical position that either affirms the nonexistence of gods or rejects theism. In its broadest definition, atheism is the absence of belief in deities, sometimes called nontheism. Although atheists are commonly assumed to be irreligious, some religions, such as Buddhism, have been characterized as atheistic. Many self-described atheists share common skeptical concerns regarding supernatural claims, citing a lack of empirical evidence for the existence of deities. Other arguments for atheism are philosophical, social or historical. Although many self-described atheists tend toward secular philosophies such as Humanism, rationalism, and naturalism, there is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere. The term atheism originated as a pejorative epithet applied to any person or belief in conflict with established religion. With the spread of freethought, scientific skepticism, and criticism of religion, the term began to gather a more specific meaning and was sometimes used as a self-description by atheists.

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Irreligion, irreligiousness, or nonreligion is an umbrella term which, depending on context, may be understood as referring to atheism, agnosticism, deism, skepticism, freethought, secular humanism, general secularism, or heresy. Irreligion has at least three related yet distinct meanings: absence of religion (either due to not having information about religion or to not believing in it), hostility to religion, and behaving in such a way that fails to live up to one's religious tenets. Although people classified as irreligious might not follow any religion, not all are necessarily without belief in the supernatural or in deities; such a person may be a non-religious or non-practicing theist. In particular, those who associate organized religion with negative qualities, but still hold spiritual beliefs, might describe themselves as irreligious.

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Credit: E. J. Pace

"The Descent of the Modernists", by E. J. Pace, first appearing in his book Christian Cartoons, published in 1922. Modernism in the Roman Catholic Church is a theological viewpoint that usually includes a specific type of rationalist approach to the Bible, secularism and modern philosophical systems; it is regarded as heretical by the Catholic Church. Some Catholics see Modernism as the descent from Christianity to atheism.

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In this month

• 3 December 2008 - Kathy Griffin nominated for a Grammy award for Best Comedy Album
• 4 December 2007 - Michael Newdow (pictured) argues before a three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit to remove both "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance (Roe v. Rio Linda Union School District), and "In God We Trust" from US currency
• 27 December 1946 - Birth of Polly Toynbee, a journalist and writer in the United Kingdom; she was appointed President of the British Humanist Association in July 2007
• 28 December 1902 - Birth of Mortimer Adler, American Aristotelian philosopher and author

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Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – 1914?) was an American editorialist, journalist, short-story writer and satirist, today best known for his Devil's Dictionary. Bierce's lucid, unsentimental style has kept him popular when many of his contemporaries have been consigned to oblivion. His dark, sardonic views and vehemence as a critic earned him the nickname, "Bitter Bierce." Such was his reputation that it was said his judgment on any piece of prose or poetry could make or break a writer's career. Among the younger writers whom he encouraged were the poet George Sterling and the fiction writer W. C. Morrow.

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Did you know...

• ...that controversy has arisen over the interpretation of Robert Baden-Powell's (pictured) opinions on religion in Scouting?
• ... that Gilberto Gil describes his 2006 album Gil Luminoso as being religiously themed, although he is an agnostic?
• ...that South African trade union legislation uses the term "conscientious objector" to refer to workers who do not want to join unions on the basis of personal beliefs?

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Main project: WikiProject Atheism

Related WikiProjects: Religion • Mythology • Philosophy • Spirituality • Holidays • Alternative views  Rational skepticism • Countering systemic bias

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I maintain that the opprobrium cast upon the word Atheism is a lie. I believe Atheists as a body to be men deserving respect... I do not care what kind of character religious men may put round the word Atheist, I would fight until men respect it. — Charles Bradlaugh

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Topics

Atheism

• Concepts: Religion · Nontheism · Antireligion · Antitheism · Agnosticism · Humanism · Metaphysical naturalism · Weak and strong atheism · Implicit and explicit atheism
• History: History of atheism · Enlightenment · Freethought
• Arguments: Against religion · For nontheism · Against god · Against atheism
• Demographics: Atheism · Irreligion · Famous atheists · State atheism · Discrimination · Persecution