I suppose it's a bit like Afireman or Amountaineer or Adoctor. Because I'm all of them too.

I wonder how useful it is to have this label. It only serves to differentiate us from the bulk of people in the world. Since we were usually the ones being burned at the stake, I think it is best to just live an honest and honorable life without giving the proverbial breast a place to drink its claws. Let them fight each other while we live in truth, beauty, and growth.

i love telling people im athiest, anytime i hear god bless you , i mention it

Have nothing against the word but the definition used for the word by those who believe is wrong. There is no way to prove the non-existence of a god or for that matter the existence of a god. I call myself an Atheist because I have seen no evidence of any god. I am 99.999999% sure that no gods exist. Should that 0.000001% prove to be true I would have to ask god why he/she/it didn't provide evidence to base a belief on.

I use it all of the time. I'm a proud Atheist. I also have a necklace and T-Shirt that I wear on the weekends so not to offend my co workers...LOL

I just don't believe but if other people do I don't knock them their choice

I don't believe in absolutes.

I really haven't spent much time on it. I have my own self labels that I like. What others think of my using aethiest to identify myself doesn't concern me.

Just because we are not believe the lies about religions I do not think that should be labelled any name However since people call us Atheists, I call my self also, I am an Athiest and I am proud.

you raise an interesting point, but I really do not care one way or the other

I have never believed in Gods since childhood and have always been firm and comfortable with the term Atheist and referring to myself as such . Are you uncomfortable because maybe you still have some belief that their is a God?

I only use the word atheist around other atheist friends who know what it means and doesn't mean. To most of mainstream society however, that term has been poisoned almost to the level of "nazi". People have a knee jerk negative reaction and immediately assume terrible connotations. It's better to describe oneself as a "non-believer" or "not religious" - at least at first.

That is a really interesting perspective. I think that people have been brainwashed from birth to believe the ridiculous to be credible, and I think that virtually everything in our society (particularly in places like the US) has been built on that myth. It makes sense to me that we carry legacy terminology with us.

when anyone says merry xmas to me i want to puke. oh well let them celebrate their silly fairy in the sky.

I don't think I full understand it. I understand theist is belief in the existence of a god or gods. So why slap an a on the start and have that meaning be the opposite? Is this an English word? Who made it...We need to make a better one.

Frankly, I really don't like the term. "A-theist" simply declares 'what you're not'.

It's like someone asking you on the phone, "What color is your hair?",
and you answer with, "I'm not a blonde."

On the other end of the line you hear...
"Ummmm... okay... Well, I wasn't asking what you're 'not'... I was asking what you 'are'.
Okay, you're just too weird. Good bye." (-click-)

I am comfortable with the word, but so many people misunderstand what atheism is. I'm agnostic, but people think I'm atheist when I talk about my agnosticism because it does entail components of atheism. Also, theists think that atheists hate god(s) and so take offense, when the truth is that one cannot hate something that one feel does not exist.

I am neither comfortable or uncomfortable with the word "atheist" because it doesn't apply to me. Compared to the history of what we know of the current universe, humans created all their gods- and it was such a short time ago. It just doesn't interest me.

I wear it proudly. Don't care what anyone else thinks, and can't believe the lengths that some of the 'christians' will go to to try to convince me otherwise, to the point that they argue, denying that I'm NOT a christian.

It's scary to me because I live in Texas. I've had to pretend all my life to get by here with people in general. If most of my neighbors knew, I think my house would at least be egged. I have to kind of feel people out before I can say the truth. So I belong to a couple of atheist meetups where everyone is a non believer.

I don't see it as an issue. If anything it at least gives us a word to search if we want to find like minded people. Easier to search 'atheist groups' than 'people who don't believe in god groups'

I am very comfortable with the word "Atheist". I have been one for most of my life and am almost 70 now. I have the right to think what I choose and don't intend to hide or shrink from my beliefs. If someone doesn't like it, they need to leave me alone. I have lost what I thought were friends over my beliefs but would rather that then continually giving away pieces of me to keep those people around. I tell people who harrass me about it that I intend to get cremated since I'll probably have to get used to the "heat"! It throws them off guard and shuts them up.

To me, atheism does not really make sense - because it requires an absolute certainty that no God exists. I don't claim to know that with absolute certainty - we don't know where the Universe and everything in it came from, how it was created, etc.. so I think that "the jury is still out" on whether there is actually a "supreme being" of some sort who might have created everything. That's why I'm an agnostic- I don't claim to know.

It has taken me a while. I never liked Madeline Murray O'Hair. She seemed hateful. I still don't think I would feel comfortable wearing a T-shirt extolling Atheism. It may be because I detest any form of proselyting..

I use it for political reasons ,and I use it because I get tired of explaining Agnostic to people that obviously do not want to hear it.