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Atheism is the disbelief or nonbelief in the existence of deities. It is commonly defined as the explicit (i.e., conscious and deliberate), positive rejection and denial of theism; however, numerous atheistic philosophers and groups prefer to define atheism as the simple absence of belief in deities (cf. nontheism), in some cases designating people who have never heard of gods, such as newborn children, as atheists as well. Theological agnosticism is commonly contrasted with the former, narrower definition, as a position of uncertainty or indecision between atheism and theism; on the other hand, under the latter, broader definition, many agnostics qualify as atheists. The former defines atheism positively, as the belief that no gods exist; the latter, however, defines atheism negatively, as the lack of belief in gods. In recent years, some atheists have adopted the terms strong atheism for the former and weak atheism for the latter to clarify whether they consider their stance one of positive belief or of negative unbelief.

Although many self-described atheists share common skeptical concerns regarding empirical evidence for spiritual or supernatural claims, citing a lack of evidence for the existence of deities, explicit atheism is inspired by a variety of rationales, ranging from the personal to the philosophical to the social to the historical. Additionally, while there is a tendency among such atheists toward secular philosophies such as humanism, naturalism and materialism, there is no single ideology that all atheists adhere to, nor does atheism have any institutionalized rituals or behaviors.

Although atheism is very often equated with irreligion or nonspirituality in Western culture, not all atheists are necessarily irreligious or nonspiritual. Some religious and spiritual beliefs, such as several forms of Buddhism, have been described by outside observers as atheistic (under the broader, negative definition of atheism) due to their lack of any participating deities. Atheism is also sometimes erroneously equated with antitheism (opposition to theism) or antireligion (opposition to religion), despite many atheists not holding such views.

Etymology

In early Ancient Greek, the adjective atheos (from privative α- + θεος "god") meant "without gods". The word acquired an additional meaning in the 5th century BC, severing relations with the gods; that is, "denying the gods, godless, ungodly", with more active connotations than asebēs, or "impious". Modern translations of classical texts sometimes translate atheos as "atheistic". As an abstract noun, there was also atheotēs ("atheism"). Cicero transliterated atheos into Latin. The term found frequent use in the debate between early Christians and pagans, with each side attributing it, in the pejorative sense, to the other.

A.B. Drachmann (1922) notes:

"Atheism and atheist are words formed from Greek roots and with Greek derivative endings. Nevertheless they are not Greek; their formation is not consonant with Greek usage. In Greek they said atheos and atheotes; to these the English words ungodly and ungodliness correspond rather closely. In exactly the same way as ungodly, atheos was used as an expression of severe censure and moral condemnation; this use is an old one, and the oldest that can be traced. Not till later do we find it employed to denote a certain philosophical creed."

In English, the term atheism was adopted from the French athéisme in about 1587. The term atheist in the sense of "one who denies or disbelieves" predates atheism in English, being first attested in about 1571; the phrase Italian atheoi is recorded as early as 1568. Atheist in the sense of practical godlessness was first attested in 1577. The French word is derived from athée ("godless, atheist"), which in turn comes from the Greek atheos. The words deist and theist entered English after atheism, being first attested in 1621 and 1662, respectively, and followed by theism and deism in 1678 and 1682, respectively. Deism and theism changed meanings slightly around 1700, due to the influence of atheism. Deism was originally used as a synonym for today's theism, but came to denote a separate philosophical doctrine.

The Oxford English Dictionary also records an earlier, irregular formation, atheonism, dated from about 1534. The later and now obsolete words athean and atheal are dated to 1611 and 1612, respectively.

Originally simply used as a slur for "godlessness", atheism was first used to describe a self-avowed belief in late 18th-century Europe, specifically denoting disbelief in the monotheistic Judeo-Christian God. In the 20th century, globalization contributed to the expansion of the term to refer to disbelief in all deities, though it remains common in Western society to describe atheism as simply "disbelief in God". Additionally, in recent decades there has increasingly been a push in certain philosophical circles to redefine atheism negatively, as "absence of belief in deities" rather than as a belief in its own right; this definition has become popular in atheist communities, though it has not attained mainstream usage.

Types and typologies of atheism

Many writers have disagreed on how best to define atheism, and much of the literature on the subject is erroneous or confusing. There are many discrepancies in the use of terminology between proponents and opponents of atheism, and even divergent definitions among those who share near-identical beliefs.

Throughout its history, opponents of atheism have frequently associated atheism with immorality and evil, often characterizing it as a willful and malicious repudiation of God or gods. This, in fact, is the original definition and sense of the word, but changing sensibilities and the normalization of non-religious viewpoints have caused the term to lose most of its pejorative connotations in general parlance.

Among proponents of atheism and neutral parties, there are three major traditions in defining atheism and its subdivisions. The first tradition understands atheism very broadly, as including both those who believe that gods don't exist (strong atheism) and those who are simply not theists (weak atheism). George H. Smith, Michael Martin, and Antony Flew fall into this tradition, though they do not use the same terminology. The second tradition understands atheism more narrowly, as the conscious rejection of theism, and does not consider absence of theistic belief or suspension of judgment concerning theism to be forms of atheism. Ernest Nagel, Paul Edwards and Kai Nielsen are prominent members of this camp. Using this definition of atheism, "implicit atheism", a lack of theism without the conscious rejection of it, may not be regarded as atheistic at all, and the umbrella term non-theism may be used in its place.

A third tradition, more common among laypeople, understands atheism even more narrowly than that. Here, atheism is defined in the strongest possible terms, as the positive belief that there are no deities. Under this definition, all weak atheism, whether implicit or explicit, may be considered non-atheistic. Such usage is not exclusive to laypeople, however; philosopher and atheist Theodore Drange uses the narrow definition.

Defined pejoratively: Atheism as immorality

The first attempts to define a typology of atheism were in religious apologetics. A diversity of atheist opinion has been recognized at least since Plato, and common distinctions have been established between practical atheism and speculative or contemplative atheism. Practical atheism was said to be caused by moral failure, hypocrisy, willful ignorance and infidelity. Practical atheists were said to behave as though God, morals, ethics and social responsibility did not exist; they abandoned duty and embraced hedonism. Maritain's typology of atheism (1953, Chapter 8) proved influential in Catholic circles; it was followed in the New Catholic Encyclopedia. He identified, in addition to practical atheism, pseudo-atheism and absolute atheism, and subdivided theoretical atheism in a way that anticipated Flew.

According to the French Catholic philosopher Étienne Borne (1961, p.10), "Practical atheism is not the denial of the existence of God, but complete godlessness of action; it is a moral evil, implying not the denial of the absolute validity of the moral law but simply rebellion against that law." Karen Armstrong (1999) notes that "During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the word 'atheist' was still reserved exclusively for polemic.... The term 'atheist' was an insult. Nobody would have dreamed of calling himself an atheist."

On the other hand, the existence of serious, speculative atheism was often denied. That anyone might reason their way to atheism was thought to be impossible. The existence of God was considered self-evident; this is why Borne finds it necessary to respond that "to put forward the idea, as some apologists rashly do, that there are no atheists except in name but only practical atheists who through pride or idleness disregard the divine law, would be, at least at the beginning of the argument, a rhetorical convenience or an emotional prejudice evading the real question" (p.18).

When denial of the existence of "speculative" atheism became unsustainable, atheism was nevertheless often repressed and criticized by narrowing definitions, applying charges of dogmatism, and otherwise misrepresenting atheist positions. One of the reasons for the popularity of euphemistic alternative terms like secularist, empiricist, agnostic, or Bright is that atheism still has pejorative connotations arising from attempts at suppression and from its association with practical atheism; like the word godless, is is sometimes still used as an abusive epithet today. Gaskin (1989) abandoned the term atheism in favor of unbelief, citing "the pejorative associations of the term, its vagueness, and later the tendency of religious apologists to define atheism so that no one could be an atheist..." (p.4).

Defined positively: Atheism as the belief that no deities exist

While it is rare to find a general-use dictionary that explicitly acknowledges "absence of theism" as a true form of atheism, numerous ones recognize the positive definition of atheism, as a "belief" or "doctrine". This reflects the general public's view of atheism as a specific ideological stance, as opposed to the simple absence of a belief.

In philosophical and atheist circles, however, this common definition is often disputed and even rejected. The broader, negative has become increasingly popular in recent decades, with many specialized textbooks dealing with atheism favoring it. One prominent atheist writer who disagrees with the broader definition of atheism, however, is Ernest Nagel, who considers atheism to be the rejection of theism (which George H. Smith labelled as explicit atheism, or anti-theism):

"Atheism is not to be identified with sheer unbelief... Thus, a child who has received no religious instruction and has never heard about God, is not an atheist—for he is not denying any theistic claims."

Defined negatively: Atheism as the absence of belief in deities

Among modern atheists, the view that atheism simply means "without theistic beliefs" has a great deal of currency. This very broad definition is often justified by reference to the etymology (cf. privative a), as well as to the consistent usage of the word by atheists.

Although this definition of atheism is frequently disputed, it is not a recent invention; two atheist writers who are clear in defining atheism so broadly that uninformed children are counted as atheists are d'Holbach (1772), who said that "All children are born Atheists; they have no idea of God", and George H. Smith (1979), who similarly argued:

"The man who is unacquainted with theism is an atheist because he does not believe in a god. This category would also include the child without the conceptual capacity to grasp the issues involved, but who is still unaware of those issues. The fact that this child does not believe in god qualifies him as an atheist."

Smith coined the terms implicit atheism and explicit atheism to avoid confusing these two varieties of atheism. Implicit atheism is defined by Smith as "the absence of theistic belief without a conscious rejection of it", while explicit atheism—the form commonly held to be the only true form of atheism—is an absence of theistic belief due to conscious rejection.

Many similar dichotomies have since sprung up to subcategorize the broader definition of atheism. Strong, or positive, atheism is the belief that gods do not exist. It is a form of explicit atheism. A strong atheist consciously rejects theism, and may even argue that certain deities logically cannot exist. Weak, or negative, atheism is the absence both of the belief that gods exist, and of the belief that gods do not exist. In other words, anyone who is neither a theist nor a strong atheist is a weak atheist. While the terms weak and strong are relatively recent, the concepts they represent have existed for some time. The terms negative atheism and positive atheism have been used in the philosophical literature and (in a slightly different sense) in Catholic apologetics.

Related positions

Agnosticism

Agnosticism (from the Greek a, meaning "without" and gnosis, knowledge. It is not to be confused with the view opposing gnosis and Gnosticism) is the philosophical view that the existence or nonexistence of the supernatural or the divine is either unknown or inherently unknowable, positions known as weak agnosticism and strong agnosticism, respectively. The term was coined by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869, and is also used to describe those who are unconvinced of or uncommited to the existence of deities or the truth of religion in general.

Some agnostics feel that strong atheism is as intellectually flawed as other types of religious belief, requiring faith in an unprovable assertion, and that only weak atheism is logically defensible.

Agnostics may be either theistic or atheistic depending on personal beliefs or lack thereof.

Ignosticism

Ignosticism, which may be considered to be a type of Agnosticism, considers the question of the existence of gods meaningless; it sees no verifiable or testable consequences to the question (see scientific method). The term was coined by Rabbi Sherwin Wine, founder of the Society for Humanistic Judaism. Often considered synonymous with theological noncognitivism, ignosticism was popular among logical positivists such as Rudolph Carnap and A. J. Ayer, who held that talk of gods is literally nonsense. According to ignostics, 'Does God exist?' has the same logical status as 'What colour is Saturday?' -- neither has a meaningful answer.

Ignosticism is distinct from apatheism. While ignostics hold questions and discussions of whether deities exist to be meaningless, apatheists hold that even a hypothetical answer to such questions would be completely irrelevant to human existence.

Antitheism

Antitheism (Anti-theism) typically refers to a direct opposition to theism. However, antitheism is also sometimes used, particularly in religious contexts, to refer to opposition to god or divine things, rather than to the belief in god.

Under the latter definition, it may be possible, or perhaps even necessary, to be an antitheist without being an atheist or nontheist, to oppose god itself and not the idea of god. This position is seldom expressed, though opponents of atheism often claim that atheists hate god.

Antitheists may believe that theism is harmful to human progression, or may simply be atheists who have little tolerance for views they perceive as irrational. Strong atheists who are not antitheists may believe positively that deities do not exist, but not believe that theism is directly harmful or necessitates opposition.

History

Although the term atheism originated in 16th-century France, ideas that would be recognized today as atheistic existed before the advent of Classical antiquity. Eastern philosophy has a long history of nontheistic belief, starting with Laozi and Siddhartha Gautama in the 6th century BC. Western atheism has its roots in ancient Greek philosophy, but did not emerge as a distinct world-view until the late Enlightenment. The 5th-century BC Greek philosopher Diagoras is known as the "first atheist", and strongly criticized religion and mysticism. Epicurus was an early philosopher to dispute many religious beliefs, including the existence of an afterlife or a personal deity.

Atheists have been subject to significant persecution throughout history. Atheism has been a criminal offense in many parts of the world, and in some cases a "wrong belief" was equated with "unbelief" in order to condemn someone with differing beliefs as an "atheist". For example, despite having expressed belief in various divinities, Socrates was called an atheos and ultimately sentenced to death for impiety on the grounds that he inspired questioning of the state gods. During the late Roman Empire, many Christians were executed for "atheism" because of their rejection of the Roman gods, and "heresy" and "godlessness" were serious capital offenses following the rise of Christianity.

Atheistic sentiment was virtually unknown in medieval Europe, but flourished in the empirical Carvaka school of India. Criticism of religion became increasingly frequent in the 16th century, and the word athéisme originated as a slur—invariably denied by the accused—used against such critics, as well as deists, scientists, and materialists. The first openly atheistic thinkers, such as Baron d'Holbach, appeared in the late 18th century, when expressing disbelief in God became a less dangerous position. Following the French Revolution, atheism rose to prominence under the influence of rationalistic and freethinking philosophies, and many prominent 19th-century German philosophers denied the existence of deities and were critical of religion, including Karl Marx, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche.

In the 20th century, atheism, though still a minority view, became increasingly common in many parts of the world, often being spread as aspects of a wide variety of other, broader philosophies, such as Objectivism, existentialism, secular humanism, nihilism, moral relativism, logical positivism, Marxism, and the general scientific and rationalist movement. In some cases, these philosophies became associated with atheism to the extent that atheists were vilified for the broader view, such as when the word atheist entered popular parliance in the United States as synonymous with being unpatriotic (cf. "godless commie") during the Cold War. Some Communist states, such as the Soviet Union, promoted state atheism and opposed religion, often by violent means; Enver Hoxha went further than most and officially banned religion in Albania. These policies helped reinforce the negative associations of atheism, especially where anti-communist sentiment was strong, despite the fact that many prominent atheists, such as Ayn Rand, were anti-communist.

Atheism and religion

The historical context of how each theistic sect has defined and dealt with atheism is significant. Although atheism is often accompanied by a total lack of spiritual beliefs, this is not an aspect, or even a necessary consequence, of atheism. Indeed, some atheists believe in a spiritual realm (see afterlife) and may belong to a religious group. Atheists can also be found in several sects of Buddhism and Taoism that do not have theism as a doctrine, and even in religions in which theism has been taught as doctrine.

Demographics

It is difficult to quantify the number of atheists in the world. Different people interpret "atheist" and related terms differently, and it can be hard to draw boundaries between atheism, non-religious beliefs, and non-theistic religious and spiritual beliefs. Furthermore, atheists lack a unified belief system and may suffer from social stigma, discrimination, and persecution in certain regions.

Despite these problems, atheism is known to be more common in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, former and present Communist states, and to a lesser extent, the United States. A 1995 survey attributed to the Encyclopædia Britannica indicates that the non-religious make up about 14.7% of the world's population, and atheists around 3.8%.

Atheist organizations and gatherings

Noteworthy atheistic organizations include:

In 2002, a group of people organized what they called the "Godless Americans March on Washington" as an attempt to bring attention to their cause. Though it was broadcast on C-SPAN, the march was not well attended and received little or no press coverage.

Each year the James Randi Educational Foundation has a conference that it calls The Amaz!ng Meeting, typically held in Las Vegas, NV, during which a critical eye is cast on various forms of supernatural phenomena including religion.

Each year The Skeptics Society holds a conference at Caltech (California Institute of Technology) in Pasadena, CA. Again, subjects of skepticism, including religion, are often discussed.

The CSER (Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion) holds annual conferences questioning the validity of religion.

Prominent atheists

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Reasons for atheism

Atheists assert various reasons for their position, including a lack of empirical evidence for deities, or the conviction that the non-existence of deities (in general or particular) is better supported rationally.

Scientific and historical reasons

Science is based on the observation that the universe is governed by natural laws that can be tested and replicated through experiment. It serves as a reliable, rational basis for predictions and engineering (cf. faith and rationality, science and religion). Like scientists, scientific skeptics use critical thinking (cf. the true-believer syndrome) to decide claims. They do not base claims on faith or other unfalsifiable categories.

Most theistic religions teach that mankind and the universe were created by one or more deities and that this deity continues to act in the universe. Many people—theists and atheists alike—feel that this view conflicts with the discoveries of modern science (especially in cosmology, astronomy, biology and quantum physics). Many believers in the validity of science, seeing such a contradiction, do not believe in the existence of a deity or deities actively involved in the universe.

Science presents a vastly different view of humankind's place in the universe from many theistic religions. Scientific progress has, some claim, continually eroded the basis for religion. Historically, many religions have involved supernatural entities and forces linked to unexplained physical phenomena. In ancient Greece, for instance, Helios was the god of the sun, Zeus the god of thunder, and Poseidon the god of earthquakes and the sea. In the absence of a credible scientific theory explaining phenomena, people attributed them to supernatural forces. Science has since eliminated the need for appealing to supernatural explanations. The idea that the role of deities is to fill in the remaining "gaps" in scientific understanding has come to be known as the God of the gaps.

Some believe that religions have been socially constructed (see development of religion) and should be analyzed with an unbiased, historical viewpoint. Atheists often argue that nearly all cultures have their own creation myths and gods, and there is no apparent reason to believe that a certain god (e.g., Yahweh) has a special status above gods that are now accepted as myth (e.g., Zeus), or that one culture's god is more correct than another's. In the same way, all cultures have different, and often incompatible, religious beliefs, none any more likely to be true than another, making the selection of a single specific religion seemingly arbitrary.

However, when theological claims move from the specific and observable to the general and metaphysical, atheistic objections tend to shift from the scientific to the philosophical:

"Within the framework of scientific rationalism one arrives at the belief in the nonexistence of God, not because of certain knowledge, but because of a sliding scale of methods. At one extreme, we can confidently rebut the personal Gods of creationists on firm empirical grounds: science is sufficient to conclude beyond reasonable doubt that there never was a worldwide flood and that the evolutionary sequence of the Cosmos does not follow either of the two versions of Genesis. The more we move toward a deistic and fuzzily defined God, however, the more scientific rationalism reaches into its toolbox and shifts from empirical science to logical philosophy informed by science. Ultimately, the most convincing arguments against a deistic God are Hume's dictum and Occam's razor. These are philosophical arguments, but they also constitute the bedrock of all of science, and cannot therefore be dismissed as non-scientific. The reason we put our trust in these two principles is because their application in the empirical sciences has led to such spectacular successes throughout the last three centuries."

Philosophical and logical reasons

Many atheists will point out that in philosophy and science, the default position on any matter is a lack of belief. If reliable evidence or sound arguments are not presented in support of a belief, then the "burden of proof" remains upon believers, not nonbelievers, to justify their view. Consequently, many atheists assert that they are not theists simply because they remain unconvinced by theistic arguments and evidence. As such, many atheists have argued against the most famous proposed "proofs" of God's existence, including the ontological, cosmological, and teleological arguments.

Other atheists base their position on a more active logical analysis, and subsequent rejection, of theistic claims. The arguments against the existence of deities aim at showing that some particular conception of a god either is inherently meaningless, is internally inconsistent, or contradicts known scientific or historical facts, and that therefore a god thus described does not exist. Such arguments include:

• The problem of evil, which Christian apologist William Lane Craig has called "atheism's killer argument". The argument is that the presence of evil in the world disproves the existence of any god that is simultaneously benevolent and omnipotent, because any benevolent god would want to eliminate evil, and any omnipotent god would be able to do so.

• The related argument from nonbelief, also known as the argument from divine hiddenness, states that if an omnipotent God existed and wanted to be believed in by all, it would prove its existence to all because it would invariably be able to do so. Since there are unbelievers, either there is no omnipotent God or God does not want to be believed in.

• Theological noncognitivism, the view that religious language, and specifically words like God, are not cognitively meaningful (cf. ignosticism).

• The transcendental argument for the non-existence of God (TANG), first intended as a reply to the transcendental argument for the existence of God, which argues that logic, science and morality can only be justified by appealing to the theistic worldview. TANG, however, argues that the reverse is true.

Personal, social, and ethical reasons

Some atheists have found social, psychological, practical, and other personal reasons for their beliefs. Some believe that it is more conducive to living well, or that it is more ethical and has more utility than theism. Such atheists may hold that searching for explanations in natural science is more beneficial than seeking to explain phenomena supernaturally. Some atheists also assert that atheism allows—orperhaps even requires—people to take personal responsiblity for their actions. In contrast, they feel that many religions blame bad deeds on extrinsic factors and require threats of punishment and promises of reward to keep a person moral and socially acceptable.

Some atheists dislike the restrictions religious codes of conduct place on their personal freedoms. From their point of view, such morality is subjective and arbitrary. Some atheists even argue that theism can promote immorality. Much violence—e.g., warfare, executions, murders, and terrorism—has been brought about, condoned, or justified by religious beliefs and practices.

In areas dominated by certain Christian denominations, many atheists find it difficult to accept that faith could be more important than good works: While a murderer can go to heaven simply by accepting Jesus in some Christian sects, a farmer in a remote Asian countryside will go to hell for not hearing the "good news". Furthermore, some find Hell to be the epitome of cruel and unusual punishment, making it impossible that a good God would permit such a place's existence.

Just as some people of faith come to their faith based upon perceived spiritual or religious experiences, some atheists base their view on an absence of such an experience. Although they may not foreclose the possibility of a supernatural world, unless and until they believe through experience that such a world exists, they refuse to accept a metaphysical belief system based upon blind faith.

Additionally, some atheists grow up in environments where atheism is relatively common, just as people who grow up in a predominantly Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or Christian cultures tend to adopt the prevalent religion there. However, because of the relative uncommonness of atheism, a majority of atheists were not brought up in atheist households or communities.

Criticism of atheism

Atheism has received much criticism from theists. The most direct arguments against atheism are that it is simply untrue: arguments for the existence of God are thus considered arguments against atheism. However, many theists dismiss or object to atheism on other grounds.

Until recently, most theologians considered the existence of God so self-evident and universally-accepted that whether or not true atheism even existed was frequently disputed. This view is based on theistic innatism, the belief that all people believe in God from birth and that atheists are simply in denial. It is also asserted that atheists are quick to believe in God in times of crisis—that atheists will readily make deathbed conversions or that "there are no atheists in foxholes". This view has fallen into disfavor among most philosophers of religion.

When the existence of atheism is accepted, it is often criticized by agnostics, and some theists, on the grounds that atheism requires just as much faith as religious positions, making it no more likely to be true than theism. This is based on the view that because the existence of deities cannot be proven or disproven with certainty, it requires a leap of faith to conclude that deities do or do not exist. Common atheist responses to this argument include that it is equivocation to conflate religious faith with all unproven propositions; that weak atheism is not a positive claim, and thus requires no more faith than not accepting the existence of Santa Claus; and that the fact that God's existence cannot be proven or disproven with complete certainty does not make it equally likely that God does or doesn't exist.

Lastly, it is commonly argued that the lack of belief in a deity who administers justice may lead to poor morals or ethics (cf. secular ethics). It is also argued that atheism makes life meaningless and miserable: Blaise Pascal made this argument in 1670. Atheists generally dismiss these arguments as appeals to consequences with no bearing on whether God actually exists, and many disagree that atheism leads to amorality or misery, or even argue that the opposite is the case.

Footnotes and references

1. ^ The Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2006.
2. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language Fourth Edition, 2000.
3. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, 2006.
4. "Atheists are people who do not believe in a god or gods (or other immaterial beings), or who believe that these concepts are not meaningful. Some atheists put it more firmly and believe that god or gods do not exist." "Ethics and Religion - Atheism". BBC. Retrieved 2006-10-22.
5. ^ Thiry, Baron d'Holbach, Paul Henri (1772). Good Sense.
6. ^ Cline, Austin (2006). "What Is the Definition of Atheism?". about.com. Retrieved 2006-10-21.
7. "Unlike agnosticism, which leaves open the question of whether there is a God, atheism is a positive denial." Britannica Concise Encyclopædia
8. "Atheism is fundamentally a rejection of belief in any God. It is more than a simple lack of belief, as children and some members of tribal societies may not believe out of ignorance." Lyngzeidetson, Albert (2003). Comparative Religions: A Guide to World Religions academic outline. QuickStudy: BarCharts, Inc. ISBN 1572227443.
9. "More on Definitions of Atheism". Internet Infidels. Retrieved 2006-10-21.
10. ^ Smith, George H. (1979). Atheism: The Case Against God. Buffalo, New York: Prometheus. pp. 13–18. ISBN 0-87975-124-X.
11. Cline, Austin (2006). "Strong Atheism vs. Weak Atheism: What's the Difference?". about.com. Retrieved 2006-10-21.
12. ^ Baggini, Julian (2003). Atheism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192804243.
13. "Atheism, however, casts a wider net and rejects all belief in “spiritual beings,” and to the extent that belief in spiritual beings is definitive of what it means for a system to be religious, atheism rejects religion. So atheism is not only a rejection of the central conceptions of Judeo-Christianity and Islam, it is, as well, a rejection of the religious beliefs of such African religions as that of the Dinka and the Nuer, of the anthropomorphic gods of classical Greece and Rome, and of the transcendental conceptions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Generally atheism is a denial of God or of the gods, and if religion is defined in terms of belief in spiritual beings, then atheism is the rejection of all religious belief." Encyclopædia Britannica: "Atheism as rejection of religious beliefs".
14. Cline, Austin (2005). Buddhism and Atheism "Buddhism and Atheism". about.com. Retrieved 2006-10-21. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
15. Drachmann, A. B. (1922). Atheism in Pagan Antiquity. Chicago: Ares Publishers, 1977 ("an unchanged reprint of the 1922 edition"). p. 5. ISBN 0-89005-201-8.
16. ^ Armstrong, Karen (1999). A History of God. London: Vintage. ISBN 0-09-927367-5
17. In part because of its wide use in monotheistic Western society, atheism is often described as "disbelief in God", rather than more generally as "disbelief in deities". A clear distinction is rarely drawn in modern writings between these two definitions, but some archaic uses of atheism encompassed only disbelief in the singular God, not in polytheistic deities. It is on this basis that the obsolete term adevism was coined in the late 19th century to describe an absence of belief in plural deities. Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, 1910.
18. Drange, Theodore M. (2005). "On Defending Atheism". Retrieved 2006-03-05.
19. Maritain, Jacques (1953). The Range of Reason. London: Geoffrey Bles. Electronic Text
20. Reid, J.P. (1967). Atheism. in New Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: McGraw-Hill. p.1000-1003.
21. ^ Borne, Étienne (1961). Atheism. New York: Hawthorn Books.
22. Gaskin, J.C.A. (ed) (1989). Varieties of Unbelief: from Epicurus to Sartre. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 0-02-340681-X.
23. Cline, Austin (2006). "Definition of Atheism in Reference Books: How Specialized References Define Atheism". about.com. Retrieved 2006-10-24.
24. Nagel, Ernest (1965). A Defence of Atheism. in Edwards, Paul and Pap, Arthur (eds), A Modern Introduction to Philosophy: readings from classical and contemporary sources. New York: Free Press. Rev ed. pp.460-472. (p.460-461)
25. Flew, Antony (1972). The Presumption of Atheism. in Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 2, p.29-46
26. Maritain, Jacques (1949). "On the Meaning of Contemporary Atheism". The Review of Politics. 11 (3): 267–280. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
27. Plato. Apology.
28. Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr I. The Gulag Archipelago. Harper Perennial Modern Classics. ISBN 0060007761.
29. Rafford, R.L. (1987). "Atheophobia - an introduction". Religious Humanism. 21 (1): 32–37. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |quotes= (help)
30. "Worldwide Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1995". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2006-03-05.
31. "Personal Gods, Deism, & the Limits of Skepticism". Retrieved 2006-03-05.
32. Cline, Austin (2006). "What is Atheism?: Narrow vs. Broad Definitions of Atheism". about.com. Retrieved 2006-10-21.
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35. ^ Gleeson, David (2006). "Common Misconceptions About Atheists and Atheism". American Chronicle. Retrieved 2006-10-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
36. Pascal, Blaise (1670). Pensées.
37. "The Atheism Web: An Introduction to Atheism". Retrieved 2006-03-05.

Other references

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• Altizer, Thomas J.J. (1967). The Gospel of Christian Atheism. London: Collins. Electronic Text
• Ayer, A. J. (1966). What I Believe. in Humanist, Vol 81 (8) August 1966, p.226-228.
• Baggini, Julian (2003). Atheism: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280424-3.
• Berman, David (1990). A History of Atheism in Britain: from Hobbes to Russell. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-04727-7.
• Berman, David (1983). David Hume and the Suppression of Atheism. in Journal of the History of Philosophy, Vol. 21 (3), July 1983, p.375-387.
• Berman, David (1982). The Repressive Denials of Atheism in Britain in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. 82c, (9), p.211-246.
• Bradlaugh Bonner, Hypatia (1908). Charles Bradlaugh: a record of his life and work. London: T. Fisher Unwin.
• Buckley, M. J. (1987). At the origins of modern atheism. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
• Cudworth, Ralph (1678). The True Intellectual System of the Universe: the first part, wherein all the reason and philosophy of atheism is confuted and its impossibility demonstrated.
• d'Holbach, P. H. T. (1772). Good Sense. Electronic Text
• d'Holbach, P. H. T. (1770). The system of nature. Electronic versions:
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• de Mornay, Phillipe (1587). A woorke concerning the Trewnesse of the Christian Religion, written in French; Against Atheists, Epicures, Paynims, Iewes, Mahumetists. London.
• Everitt, Nicholas (2004). The Non-existence of God: An Introduction. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-30107-6.
• Evolution and Religion Can Coexist, Scientists Say
• Flew, Antony (1966). God and Philosophy. London: Hutchinson & Co.
• Flew, Antony (1984a). God, Freedom, and Immortality: A Critical Analysis. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus. ISBN 0-87975-127-4.
• Flew, Antony (1984b). The Presumption of Atheism. New York: Prometheus.
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• Flint, Robert (1877). Anti-Theistic Theories: Being the Baird Lecture for 1877. London: William Blackwood and Sons. 5th ed, 1894.
• Harbour, Daniel (2001). An Intelligent Person's Guide to Atheism. London: Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-3229-9.
• Hitchens, Christopher (2001). Letters to a Young Contrarian (ISBN 0-465-03032-7). New York: Basic Books.
• Krueger, D. E. (1998). What is atheism?: A short introduction. New York: Prometheus. ISBN 1-57392-214-5.
• Le Poidevin, R. (1996). Arguing for atheism: An introduction to the philosophy of religion. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-09338-4.
• Levin, S. (1995). Jewish Atheism. in New Humanist, Vol 110 (2) May 1995, p.13-15.
• Lyas, Colin (1970). On the Coherence of Christian Atheism. in Philosophy: the Journal of the Royal Institute of Philosophy. Vol. 45 (171), January 1970. pp.1-19.
• Mackie, J. L. (1982). The Miracle of Theism: Arguments for and against the existence of God. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-824682-X.Electronic Text. A version also appears The Listener, Vol. 43 No.1102, 9 March 1950. pp.427-429,432.
• Martin, Michael (1990). Atheism: A philosophical justification. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. ISBN 0-87722-943-0.
• Martin, Michael, & Monnier, R. (Eds.) (2003). The impossibility of God. New York: Prometheus.
• McGrath, A. (2005). The Twilight of Atheism : The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World. ISBN 0-385-50062-9
• McTaggart, John & McTaggart, Ellis (1927). The Nature of Existence. Volume 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• McTaggart, John & McTaggart, Ellis (1930). Some Dogmas of Religion. London: Edward Arnold & Co., new edition.
• Mills, D. (2004). Atheist Universe, Xlibris, ISBN 1-4134-3481-9.
• Müller, F. Max (1889). Natural Religion: The Gifford Lectures, 1888. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
• Nielsen, Kai (1985). Philosophy and Atheism. New York: Prometheus. ISBN 0-87975-289-0.
• Nielsen, Kai (2001). Naturalism and religion. New York: Prometheus.
• Rizzuto, Ana-Maria (1998). Why did Freud reject God?: A psychoanalytic interpretation. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-07525-1.
• Robinson, Richard (1964). An Atheist's Values. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Sharpe, R.A. (1997). The Moral Case Against Religious Belief. London: SCM Press. ISBN 0-334-02680-6.
• Smith, George H. (1990). Atheism, Ayn Rand, and Other Heresies. New York: Prometheus.
  • Excerpt: Defining atheism (html)
  • Excerpt: The Scope of Atheism (html)
• Sobel, Jordan H. (2004). Logic and theism: Arguments for and against beliefs in God. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Soltis, P.S. et al. (1995) Genetic variation in Tragopogan Species: Additional Origins of Allotetraploids T. mirius and T. miscellus (Compositae). American Journal of Botany.
• Stenger, Victor J. (2003). Has science found God?. New York: Prometheus.
• Stein, G. (Ed.) (1984). The Encyclopaedia of Unbelief (Vols. 1-2). New York: Prometheus. ISBN 0-87975-307-2.
• Thrower, James (1971). A Short History of Western Atheism. London: Pemberton. ISBN 0-301-71101-1.
• Vitz, Paul (1999). Faith of the fatherless: the psychology of atheism. Dallas, Texas: Spence. ISBN 1-890626-12-0.

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Web sites

• Associations
  • American Atheists
  • Atheist Alliance
  • Atheist Foundation of Australia
  • The Brights
  • Danish Atheist Society
  • Freedom From Religion Foundation
  • Idaho Atheists
  • The Infidels.org Site and Forum
  • National Secular Society (UK)
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  • Secular Coalition for America
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Articles

• History of
  • A Historical Outline of Modern Religious Criticism in Western Civilization
• Definitions
  • AllRefer atheism article of polemic usage
  • "Atheism and Agnosticism"
  • "Definition of Atheism"
  • "Types of Atheistic Belief"
  • "What Is Atheism?" from Positive Atheism Magazine
• Defence
  • The End of Faith by Sam Harris
  • Atheism defended
  • Atheism: The Capital Man
  • Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right
  • Lecture on Atheism
  • The Philosophy of Atheism by Emma Goldman
  • Why Atheism?
  • Understanding Delusion
  • An Atheist Manifesto by Sam Harris
• Criticism
  • Catholic Encyclopedia: "atheism"
  • The Twilight of Atheism by Alister McGrath
  • Theism, Atheism, and Rationality by Alvin Plantinga
  • Intellectual Sophistication and Basic Belief in God by Alvin Plantinga
• Statistics
  • Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns by Phil Zuckerman
  • BBC Religion
  • Atheism growing
  • A collection of Atheist and non-believer stats

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