Is there anything else that needs to be understood about atheism...

I've seen others remark that it's strange for some to define themselves (or their beliefs) by what they don't believe. I think many atheists would call themselves humanists, though. Probably depends on the question. If you ask an atheist, "Do you believe in God?" he might reply, "No, I'm an atheist." But if you ask an atheist, "What do you believe?" or maybe, "What philosophy do you follow?" you might get a different answer.

 

But I'm sure many atheist would be offended if you assumed this about them.

 

"athiest" has connotations beyond it's denotation. strictly speaking, atheism is the denial of belief in a god or gods.

monotheists believe in a single god. polytheists belive in multiple gods.

you can be religiuos and atheist -- i think there are traditional chinese folk religions that don't believe in gods, but are still religions.

here in the states, belief in god is equated strongly with religion since it's pretty much the religion of the land.

 

I'm not quite sure, but I don't think Buddhists or followers of Confucius believe in any one god. I'm wanting to say Shinto in Japan is largely nature-based, but they might revere their emperor as 'god'. Again, I'm not quite sure on that one.

 

hmm... actually, i looked a little bit further and i was wrong. chinese folk religions actually worship all sorts of "gods" tho their probably more like the catholic saints... but this is where the idea of "god" starts to get messy. is buddha a god?

 

I don't think so. I think Buddha was more of what the Jews/Christians/Muslims would call a prophet - someone pointing other people toward a higher power. But I heard a Buddhist say once that they believe God is 'love'. It led me to believe that their version of 'God' wasn't a consciously aware being; they gave supernatural properties to the human emotion. Or something.

 

Personally I was quite hostile towards all things Christian up until I accepted Christ. I actually threw a Baptist minister out of my house 6 months before I accepted Christ. My wife and I were visiting churches because we wanted our son to learn Christian values. I think anger is there before conversion. At least it was for me.

I agree with the last statement 100%

 

I could see that. There is a book out now by Michael Shermer "The Science of Good and Evil" that postulates the struggle you mention is the jumping off point for the evolution of ethics and morals. I'm looking forward to reading it. Two of his other books that I would highly recommend are "Why People Believe Weird Things" and "How We Believe."

 

About the only place I define my beliefs, or lack thereof, as atheistic is in the context of discussions on this board. I view myself as a Skeptic and lower case humanist.

 

Yep, pantheism, as brought up in another thread, could describe those who don't believe in a supernatural god but have a reverence for the universe and science. There could be a spiritual connotation to it without it actually being religious belief.