Is there such a thing as an atheist worldview?

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Oh! I’m a 6…though I have days where I’m a 5, I guess, also. Because I don’t have certainty, I call myself an agnostic. However, I don’t believe in any God that’s been explained to me so far and certain ones I definitely do not believe in.
 
Dan123 said:
The two are not mutually exclusive. All an atheist has generally done is realized if you don’t have good reason to believe something exists, you probably shouldn’t. It saves a lot of headaches not having to accept everything you have little evidence for but can’t disprove.
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Let me understand this, you’re saying you’re agnostic and atheistic?
 
IanAG said:
Let me understand this, you’re saying you’re agnostic and atheistic?
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I do not know if God exists, what does that make me?
I do not believe God exists, what does that make me?
Pattylt said:
Oh! I’m a 6…though I have days where I’m a 5, I guess, also. Because I don’t have certainty, I call myself an agnostic.
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Check out the Robert Flint quote here: Agnostic atheism - Wikipedia

I’ve found that to be one of the more eloquent expressions of my position.
 
That pretty much hits the nail on the head for me! I knew that agnostic is a position of knowledge and atheist is a position of belief but I’ve never heard someone say they were an agnostic atheist. It’s makes sense to do so, though.

If I shorten it to an AA, will everyone just think I’m in recovery for alcoholism? 😂😂😂
 
Pattylt said:
That pretty much hits the nail on the head for me! I knew that agnostic is a position of knowledge and atheist is a position of belief but I’ve never heard someone say they were an agnostic atheist. It’s makes sense to do so, though.

If I shorten it to an AA, will everyone just think I’m in recovery for alcoholism?
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The issue is the distinction between knowledge and belief is often thrown away or actively taught against, so most folks have a 3 point understanding of theist - agnostic - atheist. That’s why I usually present it with the two questions above.

If you say you don’t know if God exists most people would call you an agnostic.
If you say you don’t believe God exists (or even believe God does not exist) they’d call you an atheist.

Nothing prevents you from holding both statements to be true. A theist can lack certainty in God’s existence but still believe in God using faith. This belief despite lack of certainty is usually thought to be a virtue.
 
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Dan123 said:
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Freddy:
(don’t ask me why it’s out of 7).
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It’s out of 7 because there are 7 positions on the scale.
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Never saw that before. So know I know. And I think that, apart from 1 and 7, you could score each one individually. So I’d be a 6 and the strength of my belief on the improbablity is a 8. Actually, I’ll give myself a 9 there.
 
Freddy said:
Never saw that before. So know I know. And I think that, apart from 1 and 7, you could score each one individually. So I’d be a 6 and the strength of my belief on the improbablity is a 8. Actually, I’ll give myself a 9 there.
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I actually wish he’d mirrored the ‘100%’ thing from 7 on #1. I’m sure most theists don’t question God’s existence, but I believe many would agree there’s an element of faith in that belief.
 
IanAG said:
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Freddy:
Gee, this question comes up all the time. Let’s keep it simple:

Ian: ‘Do you believe in God?’
Freddy: ‘No’.
Ian: ‘Ah, so you’re an atheist’.

An agnostic would say that we cannot know about God’s existence. Obviously I disagree with that (see above). It’s just that nothing has ever convinced me.
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I doubt it ever will.

So that means that at this moment you’re certain there’s no God?
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Depends if you’re asking Militant Freddy or Easygoing Freddy. The first would say ‘yes’. The second would say ‘to all intents and purposes, yes’.
 
For me, the more pertinent question is about belief in the supernatural. If the supernatural does exist, I could believe that God is a part of it. But, I don’t. I have absolutely no experience of anything of a supernatural layer existing. It sounds nice. It also sounds like human imagination run wild.

Some atheists…few, I’d assume…do leave room for the supernatural and accept there may be ghosts or spirit beings, etc. they just don’t believe in any gods. I am definitely an asupernaturalist!
 
Well, I have to confess that this has been a complete waste of time for me.

I set out trying to understand, using worldview theory, a scientifically developed model taken from the social sciences, what different worldviews atheists using this site use to navigate life. I was genuinely interested.

However, it seems that either you don’t know, don’t understand, or just don’t want to understand.

If you don’t understand what you yourself base your thoughts and actions on, then I really don’t think you’re in a position to question others about theirs.

It just seems that, to coin a phrase, you know very well how to demolish a house but you lack the skills needed to build one.

The ridiculous comment about what religious societies have been successful only demonstrates that you are not interested in building bridges, but only in arguing for arguments sake.

I won’t be engaging with you again.

As I said, it’s a waste of my time.
 
IanAG said:
I won’t be engaging with you again.

As I said, it’s a waste of my time.
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I’m sorry we didn’t fit the preconceptions you came here with. But I’m glad you got to dish out your jabs after several of us spent real time engaging with you.
 
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IanAG said:
I won’t be engaging with you again.

As I said, it’s a waste of my time.
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Is this to all the atheists here? I thought I tried to answer your question but I’m perhaps not understanding what your looking for.

When you ask for our world view, what type of answer were you seeking? Mayhaps you should try a direct question like, “ Do you think the Democrat Party aligns with your world view…or socialism”. “Do you think your world view makes you more moral than a religious world view?” Pick a topic! I’ll try to answer…
 
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IanAG said:
The ridiculous comment about what religious societies have been successful only demonstrates that you are not interested in building bridges, but only in arguing for arguments sake.
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This must be aimed at me. I responded to a comment about the success of atheist societies. If you read my earlier posts you would see that I addressed the question of atheist societies and their adoption of aspects of religious practice. The comment about religious societies is anything but ridiculous. Many religions have attempted to run societies directly or indirectly and there is a lot in common between them - more I would say, that is in common between atheist, secular, or ‘post-religious’ societies.
 
For simplicity sake, I’ll divide irreligious people into roughly four groups.

In Group #1, you have people whose motto is “live and let live” or “you do you”. These people don’t really think about supernatural occurrences in their daily life, and if it’s brought up in conversation they’ll say they don’t believe in God, but they don’t really mind if others do. I think the vast majority of irreligious people are in this group. This isn’t to say that they never criticize religious institutions for corruption, but when they do they tend to blame the corrupt individuals rather than the religion itself (or worse, the whole of the believers).

In Group #2, you have Atheist Churches. Basically these people are like those in group 1, but they still see how places of worship can provide a sense of community and make major life events feel meaningful. As a result they found churches that provide those things while still being in line with their own beliefs about the world.

In Group #3, you have New Atheists. These are a minority, but they’re very vocal. They believe religion shouldn’t be tolerated but rather should be ridiculed and criticized at all points. These people go out of their way to convince religious people to become atheists. On YouTube you’ll find a lot of channels with titles that include words like “Skeptic”, “Rational”, or “Atheist” and whose videos are all about complaining about religion. In bookstores you’ll find books called “The God Delusion” or “Root of All Evil”. Running a YouTube channel or publishing a book takes a lot of time and energy, so these people do consider their atheism a big part of their personality.

In Group #4, you have people whose atheism is part of a larger ideology they adhere to. These people consider themselves a part of this ideology first and an atheist second. The most common example is Communism. Now here things get muddy because some categorize these ideologies as religions due to their members sharing symbols, belief systems, a central figure they look up to, and a predicted utopian future. In other words, a Maoist in 1960s China may claim to be an atheist but act as though Mao Zedong was his God.
 
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BornInMarch said:
For simplicity sake, I’ll divide irreligious people into roughly three groups.

In Group #1, you have people whose motto is “live and let live” or “you do you”. These people don’t really think about supernatural occurrences in their daily life, and if it’s brought up in conversation they’ll say they don’t believe in God, but they don’t really mind if others do. I think the vast majority of irreligious people are in this group.

In Group #2, you have Atheist Churches. Basically these people are like those in group 1, but they still see how places of worship can provide a sense of community and make major life events feel meaningful. As a result they found churches that provide those things while still being in line with their own values.

In Group #3, you have New Atheists. These are a minority, but they’re very vocal. They believe religion shouldn’t be tolerated but rather should be ridiculed and criticized at all points. These people go out of their way to convince religious people to become atheists. On YouTube you’ll find a lot of channels with titles that include words like “Skeptic”, “Rational”, or “Atheist” and whose videos are all about complaining about religion. In bookstores you’ll find books called “The God Delusion” or “Root of All Evil”. Running a YouTube channel or publishing a book takes a lot of time and energy, so these people do consider their atheism a big part of their personality.
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There has to be a four. I don’t fit into any of those.
 
Freddy said:
There has to be a four. I don’t fit into any of those.
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Admittedly I oversimplified because a very large group is going to have tons of sub-groups. Though if I may ask, I am curious as to how you would describe yourself if neither “doesn’t mind what others believe” nor “antitheist” are apt.
 
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BornInMarch said:
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Freddy:
There has to be a four. I don’t fit into any of those.
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Admittedly I oversimplified because a very large group is going to have tons of sub-groups. Though if I may ask, I am curious as to how you would describe yourself if neither “doesn’t mind what others believe” nor “antitheist” are apt.
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Look, if I had to pick one of your three then I’d opt for the first. I’m normally a pretty easy going kinda guy. But I dip into the third on times. I’m (generally) on my best behavior here and I think that’s helped me to some degree. I was more confrontational not that long ago. But some aspects of religion, specifically the fundamentalist types (and not just Christianity) tend to increase my blood pressure. And I think that’s what a lot of the so called New Atheists rail against.

I channel Hitchens on times and my sarcastic and caustic side comes out. And then Sam Harris on others and I’m a lot more understanding of other views. Sometimes Dawkins (especially if the topic is evolution!) and I can be snippy and short tempered. Depends on how my day is going I guess.
 
I’ve some dear friends who are atheists. They have definite world views, each of them boiling down to the golden rule.
 
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