That is my question. Is atheism a sin and if so why?
Some quotes describing the view from the religious side:
#4 “If you know there is a God and you refuse to believe in Him, love Him and serve Him, that is a very serious sin. All people will judged on whether they sought to know God and His truth or not.”
#7 ""Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. Matthew 10:32-33. (Taken from BibleHub).
Also, some of Jesus’s last words before ascending to heaven, “He who believes and is baptised will be saved. He who does not believe will be condemned”. Mark 16:16.
(taken from Scriptural Rosary)."
#9 "Of course… It breaks the 1st Commandment…“I Am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no strange gods before Me!”
#12" CCC 2125 Since it rejects or denies the existence of God, atheism is a sin against the virtue of religion. "
#13 “Psalms 14:1 (Psalms 13:1 in traditional Catholic translations) The fool says in his heart there is no God. Their deeds are loathsome and corrupt; not one does what is good.”
#16 “To presently call oneself an atheist, one must be aware of what theism is. So in some way they do know who God is and reject Him, so they are not without guilt.”
#21 “Matt.22:37 …“Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul and your whole mind.” Atheists are disobeying this command.”
To address this from the atheist side:
First off atheism is a label by the theists put on to people that are not convinced of the theist claims made. For example, you tell your friend you saw bob yesterday. Your friend does not believe your claim. You now label your friend as an a-bobist. Your friend did not call themselves an a-bobist because they don’t play with bob and don’t have bob in their life or world. Bob only exists in your world, not theirs. Does your friend need a label for every idea they don’t believe in? No, we only label ourselves for what we believe in and other people label us based on their beliefs. So the label Atheist is what theists use to describe people who don’t play with the supernatural idea.
Atheism and theism are labels of beliefs or what someone is convinced of or not convinced of.
Agnosticism and Gnosticism are labels of knowledge. What someone claims to know about reality.
Gnostic Theist = Someone who believes/is convinced (positive claim that is challengable) of the arguments for the existence of the supernatural and claims to have direct knowledge (positive claim that is challengable) of the supernatural’s existence.
Agnostic Theist = Someone who believes/is convinced (positive claim that is challengable) of the arguments for the existence of the supernatural and claims to not have direct knowledge (not a positive claim that is challengable) of the supernatural’s existence.
Gnostic Atheist = Someone who does not believe/convinced (not a positive claim that is challengable) of the arguments for the existence of the supernatural and claims to have direct knowledge (positive claim that is challengable) that the supernatural does not exist.
Agnostic Atheist = Someone who does not believe/convinced (not a positive claim that is challengable) of the arguments for the existence of the supernatural and claims to not have direct knowledge (not a positive claim that is challengable) of the supernatural’s existence.
Atheists are not making claims about the supernatural at all, only responding to the bad reasons why theists believe in the supernatural. For example: I tell you that I believe that C exists because of the conclusion A + B = C. You don’t believe me. Does that mean that C does not exist or does exist in reality? No, it means that you don’t see that it follows that A + B = C. C could still actually exist or not exist, just that you don’t agree with the argument presented. Did you make a claim about reality because you don’t believe my argument works for concluding that C exists? No, you just find flaws in the argument for justification of that conclusion. That’s all atheists are doing. They are not making a claim about C, only about the flaws in the argument leading to justified conclusions about C’s existence.
Belief is not a choice. Belief is the logical conclusion that people come to as a result of applying their honest understanding of the facts and how reality works. Example: Present someone with the idea of C and then logically argue that facts A + B = C. The C result after the argument and facts are presented is the result, the belief that people come to as an understand of how A+B works. They don’t have a choice to conclude that it is D, E, or Apple. Chairs exist + People can sit = You are sitting in a chair. Now choose to believe you are not sitting in a chair. You can’t. You can lie to people and tell them otherwise, but you can’t lie to yourself.
