The dictionary states: ‘An atheist is a person who does not believe in God or gods”. I wish that people would realize only that definition. They do not .The religious community especially, do not view Atheism as described above. They immediately, view an atheist a s bad, evil and an enemy. The word has become a negative connotation and brands the person as a messenger from the devil. (I got news for them: Atheists do not believe in the devil either).
The words “non-believer” or “unbeliever” is a better indication if you do not accept anything supernatural and that includes a lot of things., God, Santa Claus, Ghost, spirits, souls, astrology, psychic powers, fortune telling , prophesies, dowsing, tarot cards, lucky numbers, to name a few, until scientifically proven and then they’re not supernatural anymore.
I know some people who do not believe in god but do believe in astrology and pay sucker money to so-called psychics to divine the future. Figure that one out. The wish to know the future is very strong in humans, that is a well-known observable fact. We want to know what is going to happen to ourselves, to our society, and what happens when we die. We want to know what we can do to influence the future. It has probably been one of the great drives that made us so successful. We learned to read the signs: position of the sun predicts the coming seasons, position of the moon predicts the tides. We read many atmospheric conditions and then try to predict the weather. That is natural, not supernatural.
We know now that when the chemical and electrical activity of the brain dies, your personality and awareness dies, by observing Alzheimer stricken humans where the brain progressively dies (see my page on Life After Death). We observe that the body deteriorates after death. Embalming of the dead shows that people want to stave of that process as much as possible but it is in vain. Humanity has a hard time accepting the fact of death. In the past humans have concocted a life after death, many different ones as a matter of fact, because there was not an ounce of reality involved other than wishful thinking. The wish to have a life after death is so strong for many people that they can’t tolerate other people who dispute that and will paint such persons as bad, devilish people who threaten to take their fantasies away and are therefor dangerous, hence the negative impression when you make when you call a person an “Atheist”.
I am an unbeliever not because I am “ashamed” to come out as an atheist, If you promise to take that exactly as the dictionary definition then I am one, but if you mean all the bad connotations that has become attached to that word by the general public, forget it. I am an unbeliever.
The words “non-believer” or “unbeliever” is a better indication if you do not accept anything supernatural and that includes a lot of things., God, Santa Claus, Ghost, spirits, souls, astrology, psychic powers, fortune telling , prophesies, dowsing, tarot cards, lucky numbers, to name a few, until scientifically proven and then they’re not supernatural anymore.
I know some people who do not believe in god but do believe in astrology and pay sucker money to so-called psychics to divine the future. Figure that one out. The wish to know the future is very strong in humans, that is a well-known observable fact. We want to know what is going to happen to ourselves, to our society, and what happens when we die. We want to know what we can do to influence the future. It has probably been one of the great drives that made us so successful. We learned to read the signs: position of the sun predicts the coming seasons, position of the moon predicts the tides. We read many atmospheric conditions and then try to predict the weather. That is natural, not supernatural.
We know now that when the chemical and electrical activity of the brain dies, your personality and awareness dies, by observing Alzheimer stricken humans where the brain progressively dies (see my page on Life After Death). We observe that the body deteriorates after death. Embalming of the dead shows that people want to stave of that process as much as possible but it is in vain. Humanity has a hard time accepting the fact of death. In the past humans have concocted a life after death, many different ones as a matter of fact, because there was not an ounce of reality involved other than wishful thinking. The wish to have a life after death is so strong for many people that they can’t tolerate other people who dispute that and will paint such persons as bad, devilish people who threaten to take their fantasies away and are therefor dangerous, hence the negative impression when you make when you call a person an “Atheist”.
I am an unbeliever not because I am “ashamed” to come out as an atheist, If you promise to take that exactly as the dictionary definition then I am one, but if you mean all the bad connotations that has become attached to that word by the general public, forget it. I am an unbeliever.
RSS Feed