Atheism And Its Misconceptions

PART I: Atheism Versus Antitheism

Atheism is "the non-belief of deities."  That is it.  People confuse it with antitheism which is "the active opposition to theism."  Most atheists are not trying to push some sort of anti-religious agenda to crusade against religious people; they simply do not care and think about religion in their day-to-day lives.  The media creates a distorted image of atheists as secular zealots whose bible is The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.

The mere fact that we have the word "atheist" is a tad bizarre since we do not have labels for people who do not believe in other things.  If you do not believe in astrology, you do not think to call yourself a non-astrologer even though that is what you are.  Just as the non-astrologer does not wake up in the morning thinking "I'm so glad I'm a non-astrologer," atheists do not wake up in the morning thinking the same about atheism.  However, we have this word "atheism" because theism is so ubiquitous and important.

My guess is that most atheists can be easily converted to Christianity.  Most are not aware of the arguments for and against the existence of God.  I think this is why Christianity relatively successfully spread among many previously non-theistic Asian populations (e.g. Korean, Chinese).  I would not be surprised if Christianity is such a powerful meme that it becomes the dominant belief system for ages to come.  That is not to say that it cannot evolve because it certainly does mutate into different strains which can become new denominations.

However, the New Atheism immediately following 9/11 is different from regular atheism.  This brand is the antitheism that many religious Christians and Muslims associate with atheism.  This actually IS a meme since it is a positive belief.  It is a form of strong atheism where one believes that deities do not exist.  Most atheists are weak atheists who do not believe in the existence of deities; the difference is subtle but there.

PART II: Moral Atheists

Atheism itself has no morality.  It is a blank slate.  However, there have been plenty of atheistic moral philosophies (sometimes classified as religions) such as the non-theistic branches of Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and even Judaism.  There are also morals built into every culture from the family, tribe, nation, and (perhaps) planet.

Atheists are perfectly capable of being moral and theists are perfectly capable of being immoral.  There are debates about whether atheists are more or less moral than theists but debates that directly address resolving real moral problems themselves may be more productive.  For example, we should debate nuclear proliferation, economics, public education, democracy, gun control, drug regulation, et cetera.

I believe that science and reason can be very powerful tools that can help us determine how to best solve the problems we face in the world today.  The Abrahamic religions can as well but they contain a lot of baggage (e.g. homophobia, xenophobia, misogyny among significant portions of their texts and members).  They lack the flexibility and clarity to provide conclusive, productive solutions to the issues brought about by accelerating technological progress.

That said, the power of almost all religions is the ability to discipline and control large masses of individuals and there are benefits to this incredible power.  This order was able to provide the means for civilizations to advance.  Human beings have many "flaws" from their evolutionary history; by nature, we are extremely violent, lascivious, and selfish.  If there is no way to scare and shame them, the world could be extremely chaotic and science may worsen the human condition until we destroy ourselves.  I do think that in this department, the New Atheists do not give enough to credit to religions.  They may not be perfect, but it has the necessary ingredients to preserve certain civilizations without killing too many people in order to replicate those memes.

At the same time, I do realize that religious extremists like the Taliban go too far and are an example of religious belief creating more harm than good.  If they get ahold of truly potent weaponry, the world may be in severe danger.  Measures should be made to weed out such destructive memes.

PART III: Closing Thoughts

Like it or not, Christianity, Islam, and other religions are important.  However, the New Atheism, secular humanism, and other non-religious movements are also important.  People should be free to believe, say, and do what they want as long as they do not impinge upon the freedoms of others.  I have my personal beliefs on these complicated matters but I do not necessarily think that the world would be better if theism completely disappeared and everyone had my secular worldview.