Quote:
Originally Posted by Willravel
You could call a non-Jew a gentile. You could call a non-white a minority. Terms describing what one is not are common. Atheist isn't necessarily one of these terms, though. From my experience, an atheist disbelieves the existence of god. It isn't simply "this person isn't religious", it's "this person does not currently recognize the existence of god". There's a big difference there. I think nonreligious is the term of exclusion in play, not atheist.
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When I flirted with atheism a few years ago I had a friend (briefly SO) who made a distinction, in that he called someone an adietist (one who denied the existence of God, the diety (with a capital G) as distinct from an atheist as one who saw no value in ANY religion or faith.
Thus, some buddhists could be described as adietists though not atheists.
My personal experience is that most atheists could be described as apathetics, in that the really don't care and don't want to be bothered. Although some feel quite strongly about it. Perhaps militantly apathetic.
Lindy