Concept in Definition ABC

The atheism implies the denial regarding the existence of God, although, in any case, in a broader sense of the term atheism also supposes the no belief in any kind of deity or supernatural being.

Denial of the existence of God

Faced with the beliefs of various religions that there is a superior God who has created everything that exists on this planet, including man himself, there are three attitudes feasible: the belief of course, which is the one assumed by the believer, that of the agnostic who does not know for sure if there is such a god or not, and that of the atheist who flatly denies his existence.

Typical manifestations of the atheist

Generally the atheist declares himself as such from the intellectual point of view, that is, he considers that he does not there are no concrete reasons or proofs that show him that God exists and then he does not believe in his existence.

The atheist can manifest himself in two ways, showing himself absolutely combative and negative every time the existence of God is mentioned to him; or on the contrary, show a

attitude passive by which he demonstrates an absolute indifferenceIn this case, we can say that the atheist approaches the position presented by the agnostic.

To explain reality and life, the atheist turns to reason and the intellectuality that characterizes him since everything for him can be explained by the way rational and scientific.

Origins of the concept

The term atheism has its origin in the Greek word atheists what does it mean without God and the word atheist, as the individual who denies the existence of God is called, was used for the first time in the Ancient Rome to name those men who did not believe in the gods of the Roman pantheon, particularly the Christians.

The term begins to be used more force in the sixteenth century, meanwhile, it will be from the movement of Illumination that will become more relevant worldwide

As a direct consequence of the proliferation of religions throughout the world, the term atheism began to be applied for all gods and then it was decided that the use of the term should be applied to all those who do not believe in any god. Nowadays we no longer call an atheist who does not believe in one god and yes in another, but we use it to refer to one who does not believe in any.

Atheism classes

Two types of atheism have been proposed, strong or positive atheism and weak or negative atheism. The first is characterized by a categorical denial of the existence of any god, while the second is considered the most close to the concept of agnosticism, because it does not imply the affirmation of the non-existence of gods but rather refers to the absence of beliefs in these.

It should be noted that agnosticism is a philosophical or personal position that it considers inaccessible to human beings. human knowledge of the divine or of any reality or being that transcends the limits of what is experienceable.

Meanwhile, the concept that directly opposes that of atheism is that of theism, which is understood as the belief in deities, or failing that, the belief in a creator of the universe who is therefore committed to his maintenance, in its government and direction.

Throughout history and of course depending on the religious political contexts The prevailing atheists were especially persecuted and in many cases severely punished for hold the philosophy of atheism.

At present there is no such type of combative action against atheism. The world has changed, it has evolved, especially Western culture, and today they are absolutely respectable the various positions before God, all coexisting in a harmonious way and without one facing the other or vice versa.

Tolerance is a value that prevails today in the face of these divergent beliefs and although it may happen that in some culture the atheist is seen as a suspicious and marginal character is by no means the prevailing position today.

Topics in Atheism