Atheism

Actually, there is no such things as "atheism" - there is no "ism" involved - it is just a state of non-belief.

What atheism is NOT

• Atheism is not an ideology, an organised system of beliefs - it is not really an "ism" at all. Each of us has a strong set of personal moral values - but we have no religion or creed.
• There is no atheist organisation or institution.
• There are no atheist churches.
• There are no atheist holy books - though books arguing against religion are increasingly popular.
• There are no atheist preachers, gurus or fanatical leaders.

What is an atheist?

We never say "an atheist does not believe in god" because it would be as silly as saying "an atheist does not believe in Santa Claus."

Religion is about need - some people need a god, others don't.

So, an atheist is someone who has no intellectual, emotional, psychological, philosophical or social need for a god. An atheist can answer the big questions in life: who am I, where did we come from, what is the meaning of life, what happens after death; without recourse to the supernatural.

There are two flavours of atheist, hard and soft.

• A hard atheist says "there is no god."

  This is a hard absolute - just as "there is a god" is a hard absolute for religious believers.

• A soft atheist says "there is no necessity to postulate a god - just as there is no necessity to postulate fairies at the bottom of the garden. (There is, of course, a perfectly valid reason to postulate the existence of The Pink Hippo.)

  This is a sound philosophical position since it simply says that there is no need to dream up a god to explain anything.

The author is both - he absolutely believes that there is no god and he can erect a sound philosophical argument to justify that position.

Good and bad atheists

Being an atheist does not make you a good person - just as being religious does not make you a good person - as is obvious from looking at the news! Faith, or lack of it, has no bearing on how good or bad you are.

However, most atheists go beyond non-belief and create a framework of moral values and social responsibilities for themselves so that they can lead good lives. Many of them are humanists - though they may never bother to join a humanist organisations such as the British Humanist Association (BHA).

What atheists think

• We seek answers in the natural world around us.
• We are open-minded free-thinkers using critical, rational, logical thought.
• We use scientific methods to explore the natural world
• We do not have all the answers (life would be boring if we did!).
• We do not seek a supernatural explanation for things we do not yet understand.
• We see no need to propose the existence of a god.
• We see no need to propose an immortal soul or a life after death. Consciousness and "mind" are functions of the brain - they cease when you die - end of story.

It follows from the above that you cannot indoctrinate someone into becoming an atheist (exactly what would you be indoctrinating them in?) but you can provide them with the tools with which to take a rational and critical view of propositions and evidence.

The two most common put-downs directed toward atheists

"You atheists must prove that god does not exist"

This suggestion shows a certain lack of understanding of philosophical logic!

Do we also have to prove:

• that fairies do not live at the bottom of the garden,
• that pink pigs do not fly,
• that The Pink Hippo does not exist,
• that witches do not fly around on broomsticks,
• that Santa Claus does not exist,
• that Hobbits do not live in Hobbit-holes?

Of course not. This is nonsense because no one is stupid enough to propose that any of the above are real.

The burden of proof is always with the proposer. If you propose an entity called god - you must prove it - and you can't.

All religions are untestable and unprovable fairy stories.

"What about atheist regimes like Stalin, Pol Pot etc?"

The less informed will add "Hitler" to this list having forgotten that he was a Catholic, he supported the Catholic church. he was supported by the Catholic church and Christianity must carry the blame for 2,000 years of anti-semitism. In fact, Hitler had still not been excommunicated by the Catholic church when he committed suicide.

Atheists do not have a holy book (or any "book of rules"), priests, churches, organisations or structures. While we would accept the Universal Declaration on Human Rights as an excellent starting point for drawing up rules for organising a society, we do not have a specific code of morals. (However, please see below for more on this.)

So, if atheism does not have any of these things, what on earth can an "atheist state" be?

Do the people raising the question mean: "a state which bans religion"? If so, it is certainly not an atheist state, it is a totalitarian one, one which denies the very essence of humanity - freedom of thought and belief. We have as much time for such a state as for a theocratic one - no time at all.

We do not seek to ban tolerant religions though we have different thoughts about intolerant ones. We want to keep religions in their place - in the private domain, not the public one.

(For information: Stalin was educated at an Russian Orthodox Seminary - but we do not claim that his Christian upbringing had anything to do with the evil, humanity-denying, totalitarian person he became. There are "good" and "bad" people in all faiths and non-faiths - pinning a label on yourself does not make you good or moral. Trotsky, of course, was Jewish.)

Is atheism a new thing?

• Atheists exist in all cultures and we are older than Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism
• There have been open-minded free-thinkers since before the times of the Ancient Persians and Greeks.
• For centuries, tens of thousands of atheists have been murdered by the religious because of their refusal to accept superstitious beliefs.
• We are humanists and we believe in the welfare of people (here, now, on this Earth), first, second, third and last.
• We reject the mumbo-jumbo and bigotry of organised religion and the politically-motivated promise of "a better life after death".
• We reject the oppressive, threatening, doom and gloom ideas of hell fire & damnation, evil, sin, the devil, salvation, absolution.

We are not alone

We are not into personality cults - they can lead to nasty things: Hitler (Christian), Stalin (Ex Russian Orthodox), Jesus (Christian by default), Josemaria Escriva (Opus Dei), Pol Pot (Cambodia), Joseph Smith (Mormons). Sun Myung Moon (Moonies), Kim Il-sung (North Korea), Enver Hoxha (Albania) etc.

We are certainly not into the cult of celebrity from the worlds of TV/Film/Sport/Fashion. Footballers just kick a pig's bladder round a field, actors act the words they have been given and models are just anorexic clothes horses. Why anything any of them says should be thought of as worth listening to, simply because of what they do, is totally beyond us.

However, those who like to feel that they are in good company can find a very long list of "famous" atheists, agnostics and sceptics at www.celebatheists.com

One interesting note. The religious still claim that Albert Einstein was "religious" - it is worth clicking on his entry to see exactly what he said. One quote from 1954 sets the tone:

We don't preach but we are asked this question over and over again so here is our answer.

No one can force you to lead a "meaningful" life. You are free to be totally self-indulgent or to eat, drink or drug yourself to death.

You are free to do what you like as long as you do no harm to others.

However, you have only one life: here, now, on this earth; so maybe:

• Eat a balanced diet, drink in moderation and don't smoke. (Overweight? Fat? Eat less!)
• Take regular exercise - a short brisk walk every day will do.
• Go on long walks with intelligent people. (What could be easier in Derbyshire!)
• Take up a cause that you feel passionate about. (Studies have shown that people with a cause live longer!)
• Do some good for others and for the world as a whole.
• Think for yourself, keep an open mind free of dogma and prejudice, take nothing for granted and be forever questioning.
• Feel good about yourself and be happy! Enjoy the company of others. Enjoy loving and being loved.
• Nobody is perfect (especially us!) so make allowances for other people's mistakes, failings and weaknesses.

What we stand for

We have a very positive, open and free-thinking attitude towards life and we stand for:

• freedom from superstition;
• freedom to be open-minded;
• freedom from racism, sexism, totalitarianism, fascism and all humanity-denying "isms";
• freedom from religious prejudice and discrimination;
• freedom to live in an open and harmonious society governed by laws based on the Universal Declaration on Human Rights;
• freedom for everyone, including children, to make up their own minds about religion without indoctrination;
• freedom for all children to attend schools without religious bias;
• freedom for individuals to go about their lives without the artificial constraints imposed by religious leaders;
• freedom for women to wear what they like, when they like;
• freedom for women to choose their own marriage partner - or non-marriage partner - as they wish;
• freedom for women to have control over their own lives and bodies;
• freedom from sexual oppression so that individuals are free to follow their own sexuality;
• freedom to investigate the world to increase our understanding of it;
• freedom to admit that there are things we don't yet understand - without dreaming up a supernatural explanation;
• freedom for religion to be a private matter - not one for the state;
• freedom to speak and write openly, without censorship, about all matters of religion - for and against it.
• freedom from the law of blasphemy which artificially protects the religious;
• freedom from the gloomy, depressing, oppressive fantasies of hell-fire and damnation;
• freedom from the tyranny, oppression and even violence, of certain religious leaders;
• freedom from the sexual hang-ups of many church leaders;
• freedom from the arrogance of religious leaders who assume that they have a monopoly on morality;
• freedom from mumbo-jumbo and ritual;
• freedom to enjoy the spiritual experiences of nature and the marvellous works of mankind.

It was most simply put by Katharine Hepburn:

"I'm an atheist, and that's it. I believe there's nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for each other."

What we think

We think that:

• religion is a belief system based on a supernatural god (or gods).
• religion is a private matter;
• there should be no association between the state and any religion;
• tax-payers' money should not be used to support any religious institutions or activities;
• there should be no discrimination based on religion - or lack of religion;
• a strong moral and ethical code does not require the invention of a supernatural entity;
• explaining what we do not yet understand does not require the invention of a supernatural entity;
• god. the devil, heaven and hell are the inventions of man;
• holy books are the work of man;
• the concept of god is superstitious nonsense;
• churches stultify scientific curiosity and have always attacked discoveries that cast doubt on religious teachings;
• all religions discriminate against women and, in most cases, oppress them;
• religion plays far too great a role in the modern world;
• the religious indoctrination of children is morally wrong;
• faith-based schools are divisive;
• religious clothes and symbols should not be permitted in schools and other publicly funded institutions;
• religion has no place in the teaching of science - "intelligent design" is a creationists' confidence trick.

Religion is weakest when:

• people are well educated;
• people are free of superstition;
• children are not indoctrinated;
• people have a reasonable standard of living.
• people have freedom of expression in the written and spoken word;
• people's thoughts are not censored by the state or by organised religion.

A couple of nice quotations that also fit our world-view:

"Life on Earth would be simpler and less blowy-uppy if religion didn’t drive so many of its followers crazy - so why isn’t anyone researching a drug that can cure it?" (Charlie Brooker, Guardian)

"Go into any hospital and you can watch scientists making the blind see, the deaf hear and the crippled walk. If Jesus or Mohammed had pulled off these acts just once in millennia, the religious would never stop talking about it." (Johann Hari, Independent)

Why do some people need religion?

Please click here for a page dedicated to this question.

Good works done by the religious

We admire the good works done by many religious groups and charities.

We disapprove of good works done simply to spread "the word of god". A food parcel in one hand and a bible in the other is not acceptable.

We disapprove of withholding aid simply because the recipients will not accept religious-dictated terms. The USA refuses HIV/AIDS drugs to some groups because of this.

The Samaritan's Purse "Operation Christmas Child" is a classic example: a donation in one hand and violent, intolerant, extremist, evangelical material in the other.