A completely true no brainer.
Atheism was defined by religious people, usually to denigrate other religious people who believed something else.
Declaring yourself an atheist came on to the scene much later and was immediately a burning issue (literally).
@Donotbelieve Argue another point then.
@Donotbelieve FFS
While I get being a contrarian, there's no reason to be a dick about it.
Well, the word "Atheist" is a reaction to the religious beliefs in some God. It means "I don't believe there is a God". Atheism is a statement. If a child is born and is not indoctrinated and is kept away from social communities, it will stay "non-religious".
The word "atheist", as far as my experience goes, is mainly used by people that do not believe in a god, do distinguish them from religious people. It's like the word "nigger" that is used a lot among African Americans, but the same group of people is very sensitive if non-black-skinned people use it. Discrimination is how you think others see you. A preconception I guess.
I agree with the indoctrinated part. Most people educate their kids to follow what they believe in. Only later on in the lives, kids decide whether if they keep following or not. My nephew was raised as a JW but only when he got to late teens, early adulthood, he decided not to go on that direction.
It seems to me that we are born Tabula Rasa and everything else follows from that whether it be belief or non-belief depending upon the environment (family) into which we are born and a sense of identity evolves from there into one state or another. With the exception of epitaphs nothing is written in stone.
Gods have always been part of human culture to explain the supernatural events that happen around us, including dying. The stories make us feel better, safer, less afraid. They are just stories. Pure, manipulative fiction. The invention of money and then the government's partnership with religion opened the floodgates for corruption, greed,... Read Daniel Quinn's Ishmael books. Fascinating stories. Nonfiction at its best.
I agree to this statement to a certain point, not believing in a God should be the default position until indication and evidence supports such claim, however in societies and cultures around the world children are heavily influenced at an early age to whatever their parents believe in. No one has a choice in the matter after being born and is told what to believe until we're old enough to follow our own paths, unfortunately indoctrination is very hard to overcome.
Agree. I like "non-delusional" or "believer in logic".