Part I
Understanding What Atheism Is
In this part . . .
This part is all about the nuts and bolts of atheism: the labels that go along with it, some key terms, how someone can be both an atheist and an agnostic, and what atheists actually believe, donât believe, and why.
Chapter 1
Meeting Atheism
In This Chapter
Discovering a natural way of looking at the world
Watching the progression of a startling idea through the ages
Seeing the world through the eyes of the everyday atheist
The idea that no God exists is a startling one. Most people grow up hearing that the existence of God is a settled question and that nothing else can explain this complex, astonishing world.
But through the centuries, some people have always doubted the God conclusion â and some have even come to the firm conviction that humans created God, not the other way around.
Of course saying such a thing out loud tends to cause a lot of sputtering and fainting from people who disagree, not to mention the occasional smell of something burning. So you can safely assume that most of those who disbelieved the religions and gods of their times kept mum about it.
Fortunately, a lot of nonbelievers spoke up anyway, and they keep doing so today; otherwise this book wouldnât exist, and youâd be looking at your palms. People would talk. But the book does exist, and this chapter gives you a flying overview of what to expect as you leaf through it.
Getting a Grip on Atheism
Atheism is a big umbrella. It covers anyone who doesnât believe in a supernatural god or gods. But under that umbrella are many shades and grades of disbelief and many people with different ways of approaching and expressing it.
Atheists become atheists for many different reasons, and it rarely has anything to do with unanswered prayers or major life calamities. In fact, such a major trauma drives people into belief at least as often as it drives them out of it.
The chapters in Part I provide some of the basic definitions and descriptions that can help you make sense as you read the rest of the book.
Seeing the many forms and faces of religious disbelief
There are about as many ways to disbelieve as there are ways to believe â different degrees, different emphases, and different expressions.
Here are some examples:
Antitheists (atheists who actively oppose religion and work toward a world without it)
Accommodationists (atheists who emphasize the common ground between the religious and nonreligious rather than the differences)
Agnostics (people who emphasize their uncertainty about the question of Godâs existence and often claim that itâs unknowable)
Humanists (people who focus on how to live a good human life in a natural universe)
Religious atheists (including many Buddhists, Hindus, Unitarians, and Jains who keep their religious identities and philosophies without bothering any gods)
Freethinkers (people who form their opinions about the universe without the undue influence of religious authority)
Unaffiliated or
âNoneâ (theyâre not religious, but generally not interested in any label at all, thank you very much)
Even some religious opinions (like Deism and pantheism) exist that are so far removed from any traditional conception of God that many people include them under the atheist umbrella. And a single nonbeliever can, and often does, claim several of these labels at once. They emphasize different things, but most arenât mutually exclusive. Check out Chapter 2 to nicely complicate your idea of what an atheist is.
Examining what nonbelievers believe and donât believe â and why
I learned about history from historians and history teachers. I learned about religion by listening to believers and reading their scriptures directly. But most of what people know about atheism they learned from people who arenât atheists and donât especially like or even understand them.
Thatâs a recipe for misinformation if ever there was one.
I went to church for 25 years for various reasons, including family and job, and was every bit as much of an atheist as I am now. Doing so was a big part of my own religious education. But over and over, I heard myself described from the pulpit in ways that made me sad and upset. Being an atheist, I was apparently a very nasty and selfish guy, not all that smart, and bad to the core. I heard that I didnât care about others and couldnât be trusted, and that Iâd come to my beliefs by hardening my heart, by serving false gods, by not wanting to acknowledge Godâs power over me.
One Sunday I sat through a sermon in which the Christians in the room who were married to nonbelievers â that included my wife, by the way â were urged to leave their marriages (2 Corinthians 6:14). Thatâs when I stopped going entirely.
If you want to find out more about a religious perspective, I am a poor choice for a guide. Youâd be better seeking someone out from that perspective. But if you want to know what atheism is actually about, may I humbly suggest an actual atheist for a guide. I happen to be available, so read on!
In Chapter 3, I spend some time describing what atheists actually believe and debunking some common myths about them. Most atheists take ethics very seriously, for example, and find life deeply meaningful and inspiring. Weâre not mad at God â at least no madder than the Pope is at Chaac, the Mayan god of rain â and though some atheists arrive at their disbelief after something bad happened to them, thatâs not the most common path.
Most atheists come to their conclusions after really working on it for a while, then becoming convinced by things like these:
Realizing that religious answers are just a bit too convenient
Comparing religions and reading their scriptures
Examining the classic arguments for belief
Solving the
complexity problem (the idea that the universe is just too complex to have come about without a designer) and (really) understanding evolution
Noticing the steady retreat of religious answers
Grasping the size and age of the universe, as well as the implications
Noticing that the universe is just as an informed person would expect it to be without a God
Thereâs much more, of course, and Chapter 3 is one of the places to find it.
Seeing the Progression of Atheism
A lot of people think that atheism is a recent idea. But religious disbelief actually has a long and fascinating history, and the chapters in Part II take you on a quick ride through it. Just as a student of Christianity would want to know about a few rather significant things that happened 2,000 years ago, someone who wants a better understanding of atheism likewise needs to know what atheism has been up to for the past 30 centuries or so. These sections provide a quick overview.
In the distant past and in different cultures
People tend to think of certain times and places as completely uniform in their beliefs. India is full to the brim with Hindus. The Greeks all worshipped the gods of Olympus. Everyone in Medieval Europe was Christian. Right?
A closer look shows all of these claims to be misleading. Just as political âred statesâ (Republicans) and âblue statesâ (Democrats) in the United States are really all various shades of purple, every place and time in human history includes a lot of different beliefs â including atheism.
Thatâs not to say all points of view have the same chance to speak into the cultural microphone. Religion...