Just a heads up at the outset. Nothing deep or meaningful in this post today. I'm just defining terms. I've used some terms lately and I think it would be prudent to define what I mean because, as my wise mother taught me, communication is difficult at best.
We all know the terms "atheist" and "agnostic". I've also used the term "anti-theist". A lot of people might wonder what I mean. Do these terms mean the same thing or something different? I intend distinctions, and without even trying to make an argument about these terms, I thought I should explain.
"Agnostic", in my terminology, references someone who doesn't know if there is a God or not. They make no claim. Truthfully, I believe that most humans fall in this category. I know, I know, if you directly question Americans, statistically something like 94% will claim to believe in God. Now, if I told you, "There is a bomb in this room" and I made no effort to do anything at all, what would you conclude? It would be a reasonable conclusion that I may not actually believe what I said. That's all I'm suggesting. When statistically 94% of Americans claim to believe in a God of some sort, but only 15% actually do anything about it, it leads me to question what they actually believe. So I would classify them as agnostic.
"Atheist", in my usage, would reference those who believe there is no God. There are practical atheists -- people who claim to believe in God but live as if there is none -- but I generally reserve the term for those who claim there is no God.
That leaves us with this less familiar third term, "anti-theist". An anti-theist would be either an agnostic or an atheist who has decided to make it a cause. An agnostic or atheist alone would claim to believe whatever they believe but leave it up to you to believe whatever you want. It's not their concern. I work with quite a few atheists, working in a university science department. They don't believe in a God and they know I'm a Christian and they don't really much care. To each his own. An anti-theist, on the other hand, would want to take me to task for my beliefs. They would not only disagree -- they would vocalize it. Opposing my theism would be their mission.
Again, I'm not making an argument here or even a judgment call. I'm just defining terms. I hope this clarifies any confusion I might have caused by using that less familiar word. It isn't a reference to atheists or agnostics. It references only a small group of people who make opposing theism a mission in life.
2 comments:
I think "anti-theist" might have its advantages over the term I use for roughly the same group -- "militant atheist" -- but I'll probably still use my term out of habit.
About agnosticism, on the other hand, a writer at Boundless.org once pointed out that pretty much everyone acts as if they are theistic or atheistic.
For claims whose veracity has an obvious impact on how people live, people don't act agnostically. Someone who has been told that there's a bomb in the room will either flee or begin searching cabinets and closets, or he'll sit down and watch TV: he'll indicate belief or disbelief, not agnosticism.
The question of God's existence is the supreme question, unlike whether Pluto's a planet, which would matter in one's life only (e.g.) when he's creating a styrofoam model of the solar system for science class.
A person who claims to believe in God but doesn't act like it... his actions might be better described as atheistic.
"Commitments are reflected in movements of the will... They're reflected in how we live...
"...there is no such thing as neutrality. Every way of life is some way of life. Inevitably, you live either as though there were a God, or as though there weren't."
Yeah, I call them "practical atheists", people who live as if there is no God regardless of whether or not they claim to believe. In fact, too many Christians fall in that category.
I use "agnostic" as a kindness to some who really claim not to know. "I'm not saying there is no God. I just don't know." But practice is something else, isn't it?
One (disturbing) thing I learned long ago -- actually, from the book of James -- was that human beings always act on what they really believe. Want to know what you really believe? Look at how you act. And, you're right, too many "theists" are "practical atheists".
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