If you spend any time in the non-theistic blogosphere, you are probably aware of a "semantics war" that takes place in nearly every discussion of what it means to be an atheist. Are you an atheist? If so, are you a strong atheist or a weak atheist? Or maybe you are a New Atheist™? And just what is the difference between a weak atheist and an agnostic? Can you be both agnostic and atheist, or are the terms mutually exclusive? And shame on you if you think you should CAPITALIZE the word Atheist. Or maybe it's okay to capitalize it. And what about being a spiritual atheist? Naturalistic Pantheist? Secular Humanist? Apatheist? Nontheist? Anti-theist? I'm sure there are terms I'm forgetting...but you get the idea.
I find myself wondering why it matters. Most of us are the type of people who pride ourselves on being freethinkers and have spent our lives on the outside of conventional religio-social circles. Why the need to label ourselves now?
Growing up in a predominantly Christian society, labels helped others pinpoint what specific beliefs you held. I remember as a kid being asked, "What are you?" (referring to religious identity). If someone identified as a Lutheran, or a Catholic, or a Methodist...you had a pretty good idea of what that meant. But in a society where the term "atheist" is very poorly understood and seems to carry multiple meanings (sadly, mostly negative) depending upon who you ask...why would we want the label? As members of a non-theistic community, we can't even agree among ourselves what precisely an atheist is.
I can tell you from having been on the "other side," many people of faith define an atheist as someone who denies the existence of the one true God. For them, God (and a very specific God, at that) is a reality, and those of us who don't believe as they do are either lost or deluded (we just haven't found God yet), or angry (we know God exists, but make a conscious choice to deny Him). Many outspoken Christians say that atheists are arrogant and obnoxious and claim to know all there is to know about the Universe. With regard to the vast majority of the atheists I have ever met (in person or online), these statements are not only false, they are completely unfair and serve to perpetuate horrible misconceptions about an ever-growing segment of our country's citizens.
In reality, we DON'T KNOW, and we don't claim to know. In my opinion, it is extremely arrogant for anyone to say they know 100% that their religious or philosophical view is the correct interpretation of the Universe. In my experience, I have never heard/read an atheist make that claim (incidentally, I can't say the same about the Christians in my life). None of us knows. And so that makes us all agnostics (literally meaning "not knowing"). Some of us are agnostic atheists and some of us are agnostic theists.
As atheists, we simply say that there is no evidence to support the existence of gods. If you show us some convincing evidence, we will change our minds. As it stands (and yes, most of us have thought about this...possibly more thoroughly than most theists have), gods appear to be a creation of humans. Over the course of history, humans have invented at least 2,870 different gods/goddesses. So when you think about it, modern-day Christians are atheists, too...with respect to at least 2,869 deities. People who identify as atheists just take it one god farther. We don't claim to know all there is to know about the Universe. We don't claim to have all the answers. We simply don't subscribe to the idea that a gap in current scientific knowledge is evidence for the existence of a deity. So many of the things that were once attributed to gods/goddesses have now been explained in natural (rather than supernatural) terms and, for atheists at least, it's reasonable to believe that other unexplained phenomena ALSO have natural (rather than supernatural) causes.
If I have to choose a label, I suppose I am an agnostic atheist. I am also a secular humanist. When I start to describe the sense of wonder and awe I feel at the vastness of the Universe or the beauty of nature, a strong atheist would probably label me a naturalistic pantheist. Or when I talk about how I wonder if the Universe could have a consciousness of itself, I may be labeled by some as a deist. And that's okay.
My only hope is that, whatever we call ourselves, some day the word "atheist" will not be considered a negative thing by the majority of the people in this country. That some day atheists will no longer be hated or discriminated against simply because our spiritual beliefs don't align with the majority view. And so maybe that's why I'm okay with calling myself an atheist. If more of us are open and unapologetic about our non-theistic beliefs, maybe that "some day" will come sooner. Regardless of what we choose to label ourselves.
Erin, this is another well-written post that led me to think seriously about my own spiritual label. I still lean toward secular humanist, probably because that label sort of suggests 'humanity' or vulnerability in people while still linking it to scientific reason and analysis.
ReplyDeleteIn most circles, I also respond that I am a secular humanist. Sometimes it seems to make more sense to describe myself by what I believe, instead of by what I DON'T believe. And humanism is a big part of that. Additionally, many people don't know what secular humanism is, but it doesn't carry the stigma that the term "atheist" does. While a response of "atheist" is more likely to shut down a conversation before it even begins, "secular humanist" is likely to prompt questions and a good discussion.
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