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Atheism: doubting God, G-d and the gods
atheism
\A"the*ism\, n. [Cf. F. ath['e]isme. See Atheist.] 1. The disbelief or denial of the existence of a God, or supreme intelligent Being.
Atheism is a ferocious system, that leaves nothing above us to excite awe, nor around us to awaken tenderness. --R. Hall.
Atheism and pantheism are often wrongly confounded. --Shipley.
2. Godlessness.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
How has anybody ever regarded this obviously biased book as authoratative on anything?
atheism n.
the theory or belief that God does not exist.
atheist n.
atheistic adj.
atheistical adj.
[French athéisme from Greek atheos ‘without God’ (as a-1 + theos ‘god’)]Source: Concise Oxford English Dictionary
Interesting, but wrong.
Atheists don't believe in gods
It is a travesty to define atheism as the theory that God (or G-d) does not exist. Atheists do not believe in gods. Any gods. Not just the one true god called God that we (dictionary authors and smart people reading the dictionary) know really does exist.
Webster's definition is, like so many in that dreadful book, a terrible attack on those who are not Christians. Disbelief in the existence of a God. God spelt with a capital letter. Why? In that sentence the word god should have been spelt with a lower case g. A god.
god
\God\ (g[o^]d), n. [AS. god; akin to OS. & D. god, OHG. got, G. gott, Icel. gu[eth], go[eth], Sw. & Dan. gud, Goth. gup, prob. orig. a p. p. from a root appearing in Skr. h[=u], p. p. h[=u]ta, to call upon, invoke, implore. [root]30. Cf. Goodbye, Gospel, Gossip.] 1. A being conceived of as possessing supernatural power, and to be propitiated by sacrifice, worship, etc.; a divinity; a deity; an object of worship; an idol.
He maketh a god, and worshipeth it. --Is. xliv. 15.
The race of Israel . . . bowing lowly down To bestial gods. --Milton.
2. The Supreme Being; the eternal and infinite Spirit, the Creator, and the Sovereign of the universe; Jehovah.
God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. --John iv. 24.
3. A person or thing deified and honored as the chief good; an object of supreme regard.
Whose god is their belly. --Phil. iii. 19.
4. Figuratively applied to one who wields great or despotic power. [R.] --Shak.
Act of God. (Law) See under Act.
Gallery gods, the occupants of the highest and cheapest gallery of a theater. [Colloq.]
God's acre, God's field, a burial place; a churchyard. See under Acre.
God's house. (a) An almshouse. [Obs.] (b) A church.
God's penny, earnest penny. [Obs.] --Beau. & Fl.
God's Sunday, Easter.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
See? Webster does know the difference between god and God. It is a similar distinction between king and King. David was a king, he was called King David, he was the King. God is a god, his name is God. A god should always be spelt with a lower case g unless it is the start of a sentence, in a sentence written in title case (all initial letters capitalized) unless it refers to a god called God or if it is a title, e.g. The God of War.
Webster clearly knew the distinction between gods and God and yet deliberately chose to mark atheists out as disbelievers in his particular god alone.
god n.
1 a (in many religions) a superhuman being or spirit worshipped as having power over nature, human fortunes, etc.; a deity. b an image, idol, animal, or other object worshipped as divine or symbolizing a god.
2 (God) (in Christian and other monotheistic religions) the creator and ruler of the universe; the supreme being.
3 a an adored, admired, or influential person. b something worshipped like a god (makes a god of success).
4 (in pl.) Theatr. a the gallery. b the people sitting in it.
5 (God!) an exclamation of surprise, anger, etc.
by God! an exclamation of surprise etc.
for God's sake! see sake1.
God bless an expression of good wishes on parting.
God bless me (or my soul) see bless.
God damn (you, him, etc.) may (you, he, etc.) be damned.
God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (in the Christian tradition) the persons of the Trinity.
God forbid (foll. by that + clause, or absol.) may it not happen!
God grant (foll. by that + clause) may it happen.
God help (you, him, etc.) an expression of concern for or sympathy with a person.
God knows
1 it is beyond all knowledge (God knows what will become of him).
2 I call God to witness that (God knows we tried hard enough).
God willing if Providence allows.
in God's name an appeal for help.
my (or oh) God! an exclamation of surprise, anger, etc.
play God assume importance or superiority.
with God dead and in Heaven.
godhood n.
godship n.
godward adj. & adv.
godwards adv.
[Old English from Germanic]Source: Concise Oxford English Dictionary
The primary definition of the word god is a generic deity, this word should be spelt with a lower case g. Atheists do not believe in this entire category of things: gods. Atheists do not believe in gods. Superhuman beings or spirits worshipped as having power over nature, human fortunes, etc. Gods: we don't believe in 'em.
atheists don't believe in gods
To define the word atheism as being the belief that “God” does not exist is therefore incorrect and biased.
The word atheism comes to us through Greek and Latin. The Greeks knew about atheists, they were people who didn't believe in the gods. Atheism was treated as a criminal offence at times. The Romans knew about atheists, they were people who didn't worship the gods. The Romans put many atheists to death. In the history books this is known as the persecution of the Christians. That is because to the Romans the Christians were atheists (atheists being people who didn't worship the real gods) and of course history has been written for most of the last two thousand years primarily by and for Christians. Of course Nero and his gang weren't afraid of Christians because he knew the Christians were worshipping the One True god not their false gods, use your brain! How many people do you know who believe in other people's gods and yet not their own? It is a preposterous suggestion. Nero was as scared of the early Christians and their “true religion” as President Jackson was scared of the Mormon moron charlatan Joseph Smith or Ronald Reagan was scared of the Rev. Moon. The early Christians were just a small cult who denied the gods. Bloody atheists.
God with a capital G is just one of thousands of gods I don't believe in. It isn't sensible to say I don't believe in God with a capital G any more than I don't believe in Acolnahuacatl, Ahura Mazda, Aphrodite or Allah.
I don't believe in fairies either |
Defining atheists as people who do not believe in God is trying to make an arbitrary distinction between the Christian god (God) and superstitious mythological nonsense. Objectively there is no such distinction. Atheists do not believe in any gods. If somebody doesn't believe in the Christian god (God) but does believe in some other gods then that person is not an atheist although from the point of view of Christianity such a person can be called an infidel or a heathen.
Infidels: why I am not an infidel
An infidel is a person who does not believe in a particular given religion. It is a term that describes a particular relationship. Like colleague. You can't just be a colleague, you have to be a colleague of somebody. You can't just be an infidel, you have to reject a particular belief. A person can be a believer, a theist and an infidel. To the Moslems Christian crusaders and American troops in Iraq are [insert expletive here] infidels. To the inhabitants of Jesusland Moslems are [insert expletive here] infidels, but then again all Catholics and quite a few Protestants (those with a single birthday) would probably count under their definition. [insert even more colourful expletive here] morons.
I do not define myself as an infidel because that would be to give unwarranted legitimacy to particular positions I reject. Christianity is not the default belief stance of Homo sapiens or all sentient beings. Neither is Islam. To call myself an infidel would be to give tacit support to this kind of objectionable view. To you I may be an infidel, to me I'm just right.
To say that I am an infidel is to say, in effect, that their beliefs are the right ones (not) to have. Bollocks to that! Their beliefs are not my beliefs but their beliefs don't define my beliefs. My stance is not their stance but my stance is not defined by their stance. My stance is not the opposite of their stance, it just is not their stance. I admit that the term atheist only makes sense in a community that has theists, in that sense their beliefs, in the most generic way do define my beliefs. Or to be precise the existence of theism defines the need for a label for people without such beliefs. People didn't believe in gods before gods were invented but nobody called anybody an atheist.
The term atheist defines my belief stance far more accurately than the term infidel.
I am an atheist-agnostic, as an agnostic I know that I cannot know there are no gods. My agnosticism is based upon my understanding of the limitations of my knowledge and the power of proof. I can't know there are no gods or is no god, or even is no God, but I can have a belief about the matter. My belief is atheist, I believe there are no gods. God, Yahweh, The Lord, Jehovah, G-d, call him what you will, is not an exception to this general stance. Neither is Allah. Neither is the entity philosophers and deists call God, the omniscient, omnipresent and omnibenevolent (and omnibogus) deity that's such a bugger to disprove. Or the Great Spirit. Or — well, I trust you've got the picture by now.
For some people who call themselves atheists not believing in God (the Christian god) is very important, but that isn't what makes them atheists. It is the fact that they don't believe in any other gods either than makes them atheists. I do not regard myself as an anti-Christian or an anti-theist. I do not meaningfully hate any gods. I can't get worked up about fictional characters, especially badly characterized fictional figures in multi-authored works. The Christian god is not the silliest, nastiest or least credible god. He stands somewhere in the middle. On the good side he's pretty hot on the subject of loving and forgiving and he doesn't put it about as much as that randy old Zeus but he's still as fickle, vain, pompous, big headed, violent, murderous and capricious as most of his species (Dei mythologicus).
The Name of God
The Abrahamic religions have played a dirty trick by calling their god by the name of God. It is a piece of spin as outrageous as calling the draconian suppression of rights of foreigners and citizens the Patriot Act or the witch-hunt against communism the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Have you ever been in a house where somebody is called dad by everybody? Dad. Capital D. That's not his name! God is not his name either. I can cope with the idea of calling him the Lord. That's reasonable. But to call a deity God is outrageous, it is claiming that there is one real god, God, and any other gods are just myths, lies and stories. That is what they believe and they are within their rights to believe it but they are not within their rights to insist that the language is indelibly stamped with this theology in such a way that the implication becomes a subliminal message and those of us who do not subscribe to their views are forced to use their language conventions without comment.
Do you mean god or God?
I suggest you should challenge anybody who uses the word God when they actually mean god or god/gods. If you are struggling to see the distinction think about inserting The Great God Jehovah in place of the word God. If the sentence looks stupid, pompous, inappropriately and aggressively sectarian or otherwise wrong the word God should instead be replaced with the word god or gods, or perhaps the sentence should be left unsaid.
Atheists don't believe in The Great God Jehovah. — I trust you can see now that this sentence looks wrong, with an obvious bias and assumptively Christian agenda.
When people are in need they pray to The Great God Jehovah — it doesn't look right, does it?
If substituting The Great God Jehovah made a sentence worse try instead using the word gods. If the word gods fits better than Jehovah that is proof that you should be using god with a small g or deity or gods and not the name of the god claimed by one family of religions.
Atheists don't believe in gods — YES! It works, it says everything we want it to say and nothing more.
When people are in need they pray to gods
If gods works better than Jehovah then you certainly do not want to use the word (the name) God, use the word god or gods.
If neither substitution looks right then don't bother saying the sentence at all!
In The Great God Jehovah we trust — humph! Like shit we do!
In gods we trust — really?
Just forget the whole thing if we can't agree which one we are trying to say, say something else instead, something we can agree on.
