Atheism

Zach Tate

Ms. Beumer

College Bound English

26 November 2007

Atheism has been heavily criticized over the centuries. Anti-theism is the lack of belief in any type of supernatural being. Atheism is not Satanism, Paganism, nor is Atheism belief in what the Catholic Church has deemed Heathen Gods. Atheism is not a lack of morals nor is it an excuse to break the law. Most Atheists are normal family oriented people. Regardless of a Minnesota State University survey that said out of all the minority cultures Atheists were viewed as the least American, Atheists are American people who love, live, bleed and die, with the rest of the population.

Atheism is not Satanism, Paganism, or belief in Heathen Gods. Atheism is the belief in none of those things. Atheism is the lack of belief. Atheism is not an apathetic approach to religion it is a firm belief that there is no God in any shape, form, or fashion. Pagans are not atheist they are polytheists, Satanists are not atheist they are monotheists. Jesus Christ the savior of the Christian theologists was, at one time, considered an atheist, along with Gandhi, and Buddha. So by claiming to be an Atheist one does not accept another religion one is an anti-theist.

Some individuals in their argument against atheism have claimed that by being an atheist one is more likely to go about and commit murder, rape, or bank robberies, etc. The reason and atheist is supposedly more likely to commit these crimes is because they have no higher supernatural power to answer to. This is wrong. When one accepts atheism as there belief they denounce religious laws and accept the laws of the government. Which if one went solely by the laws of the bible, slavery would be acceptable, as would killing someone who had killed a member of ones family. All these are considered completely unacceptable by today’s standards.

Atheist and Agnostic are often misconstrued words. According to Webster’s it is

“a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god.”

While Atheist is defined simply as

“one who believes that there is no deity.”

The most obvious difference is that an Agnostic believes that there could be a god but believes we do not have the capacity to make that decision. While an Atheist has made the conscious decision that there is definitely no god or any supernatural being.

Many of the most respected individuals in modern history have been professed Atheists. American Biologist Dr. James Watson was quoted saying;

"I don't think we're here for anything, we're just products of evolution. You can say 'Gee, your life must be pretty bleak if you don't think there's a purpose' but I'm anticipating a good lunch."

Good old Honest Abe the man responsible for preventing the falling apart of this great nation was in fact an Atheist he was quoted saying;

"The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma."

Even Albert Einstein was an Atheist claiming;

"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the