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Atheisms

Systems of Belief

The only requirement to be an atheist, is this simple statement: “A lack of belief


in or the denial of the existence of any and/or all God/Gods.” Atheism is not “a system of
beliefs.” There is no system required, though one is usually used to come to the
realization that one is in fact an atheist.
A system requires a methodology and an ideological way of living or thinking.
Many atheists do actually ascribe to the methodology of Science. As do I, for the most
part, but not all atheists do. Some just don’t think there is a god of any kind and don’t
think anymore about it than that. They don’t give it anymore thought than this and go on
about their lives.
Everyone has a system of thought processes to which they use to find their morals
and their beliefs, but there are none that are required of anyone in order to be an atheist.
An atheist is free to believe anything they so choose, with the exception of a belief in one
or more deities. Thus atheism is not “a system of beliefs” unto itself.
Religion is in fact a “system of beliefs” as it has an entire list of things one must
supposedly fall into line with in order to be a part of said religion. What that list is and
the merits of the items on those lists is open to interpretation. But there is a definite
ideology behind each of them to which they are based upon. As well as methodologies to
enforce or enhance the experience of any and all religions. Such as indoctrination, prayer
or worship, even sin or blasphemy can be methods used for these purposes.
Many atheists are known to believe in spiritual things. I personally believe that
their is a communal experience to be had with the cosmos. Neil DeGrasse Tyson once
said, “We are all connected, to each other biologically, to the earth chemically and to the
rest of the universe atomically.” This is the communal experience to which I believe is
true. But again, it is a scientific premise, and so, is a part of the scientific methodology. It
is the “communal experience” that is my belief. Not the system to which that belief is
based upon. I believe that if everyone understood this statement, it would be a communal
experience for the whole of humanity. But this belief is not a system in itself, it is only
based on one.
None of which can be defined as a part of atheism, it is a personal belief. Some
few atheists do not hold any beliefs to be true at all. (see nihilism or anarchy) Others have
beliefs of their own, some are of their own making. But none can be attributed to atheism
itself. Because atheism is a statement, based on a belief or lack thereof. It is not, in fact, a
belief in and of itself.
Most atheists do believe there is no god. But this is not the same as not believing
in one. Although one should fit into one of these categories to be an atheist. Some atheist
choose to believe they do not know one way or the other, they simply choose to doubt the
existence of a God/deity (not believing in one). I count my self among this party, as I am
skeptical, to say the least, of such a beings existence. Others proclaim boldly that there
simply isn’t one, as if it were a proven fact. Though there are days when I feel I fit into
this category as well.
There are three camps of this type: Agnostic, Atheist/Agnostic and Atheist. The
first of which (agnostic) say they do not know, but tend to lean in the direction of the
existence of a divine entity. The second (atheist/agnostic) choose to play the middle
ground completely, and do not lean either towards or away from the belief, they are
wholly undecided. Where as atheists tend to lean towards the non-existence theory. But
there are extremes of all three. I do not attribute extremism to this analogy, as they tend
to incite riotous hatred towards the other spectrums and are unconducive to the concepts
held by each of the three mainstays listed above.

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