Labels Are Annoying…
I was born an atheist, just like the rest of humanity. I was christened when I was 1 and became a Christian. When I was 11 I renounced my faith and became “uncertain” in the existence of gods. A little less than a year later I had converted fully to atheism. 9 years down the line, and I was wondering if “sitting on the fence” was a worthy term for agnostics, and when I had researched the original meaning of the term I realized that I’d been an agnostic atheist all along. A few weeks later, through some persuasive arguments from Kieran Bennett, I realize that whilst I’m agnostic about a so-called “unknown” god (i.e. the non-religious “creator” or “deist god”), I am gnostic about every other god humanity has ever believed in. Now I have no idea what I am. Technically speaking I’m mostly a gnostic atheist since I’m only agnostic about one particular god, but since I’m not fully gnostic I can’t label myself that. Furthermore, due to some recent conversations I had come to label myself as an apathetic agnostic atheist, or “one who doesn’t believe in gods, understands he can never be proved right or wrong, and really doesn’t care either way”. Of course this label is borderline ridiculous in common conversation.
Thus I deduce that labels are annoying, yet I can’t label myself “anti-label” since that would be hypocritical. Therefore I’m doing the most obvious thing. I’m reverting back to a single word:
Atheist
If agnosticism comes up in conversation someday I’ll just run for the nearest exit. I’m keeping my label as simple as I possibly can…
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I must suggest Christians and Atheist to read this book “The End of Reason” by Dr. Ravi Zacharias. This book forces the reader’s mind to do the critical thinking that is so lacking in Christianity today. It should also be considered required reading for the atheist who has never really looked at a logical argument for the existence of God, or the Christian who has never really critically analyzed his own faith. Check out more information on The End of Reason here
Hillarious post, Adrian.
An atheist is one who does not believe in a supernatural god – if this is true for you, you are an atheist. However, being an atheist doesn’t really mean much. You could still be a conservative, environmentalist, homeopathist or even a bus driver.
If you think there might be a god, you are agnostic. I don’t think there might be a motorcycle-riding tooth fairy (read ‘Andrew’s Loose Tooth’ by Robert Munsch) so I am not agnostic about tooth fairies.
Christopher Hitchens uses the phrase ‘antitheist’ to mean one who doesn’t want to believe god is real. This is the more proactive belief. It requires that you work hard to not believe. In this sense, Hitchens has something in common with Intelligent Designers who cover their eyes and ears to evolution.
Me? I believe in secular humanism. Here, we discover that we are all we have: we have the ability to control our destiny and fight for equality.
I’d probably say Secular Humanism is my worldview, at least politically. It’s yet another label for something completely unrelated to belief in gods (although it does cover it somewhat). I prefer the term “atheist” since it accurately describes my belief in no gods, and it has a certain “shock” value in some parts of society that causes deep interesting conversations (i.e. it’s a great conversation starter)
secular humanist – that sounds great! sign me up!
For anyone who labels themselves as agnostic about spiritual matters i suggest you listed to this very thorough podcast by Stefan Molynex – http://www.freedomainradioshows.com/Traffic_Jams/FDR_502_Agnosticism.mp3
What the point he demonstrates boils down to is that Agnostisism reguarding paranormal / theistic matters is a non-sensical position to take.. doesn’t follow logicaly.. doesn’t follow philosphicaly.. it’s just insane to reserve judgement about a topic where the answer is as plain as the nose on your face.
I’ve been an atheist all my life
I envy you Mikko! My children will be brought up as atheists to shield them from religious indoctrination as children. I’ll let them discover the absurdity of “god” for themselves though.