to resent being labelled atheist..

[melondrama]

cos the whole thing is nowt to do with me! i'm not religious, don't have the gene. of course i respect anyone's right to their faith as long as they keep it to themselves!
but i dislike being told i must refer to myself as an atheist

YABU - I'm afraid it is to do with the definition of a atheist. If you don't believe in a god then you are an atheist, as the word atheist means "someone who doesn't believe in a god".

It's like objecting to being labelled as 'literate', just because you can read.

YABU - it is like objecting to a table being called a table or to being called a woman because you have norks. It is just what it IS.

i think yanbu you dont really have to refer 2 urself in any way that u dont want. tell people to mind their own business?

YANBU. Maddening to feel you have to define yourself by something you don't recognise.

Well, are you an atheist?

Do you firmly believe that there is no God?

If so, you are an atheist. What's the problem?

Or do you have an open mind? No proof for or against. If ever the day comes when someone claims to have some, you'll listen. And you think well, I'll find out when I die.?

If so, you are an agnostic.

And if anyone says you're an atheist, say "Actually, I'm agnostic"

clearly you must get into debates. People, ime, do not randomly approach strangers and say "You are an atheist!" So if you don't want comment - don't share your views.

You might be an atheist but can you actually prove that there is no God?

How can you prove a negative?

Jonathan Miller said he hated being called an atheist as well:

"If you saw Jonathan Miller's series 'A History of Disbelief' then you'd have heard from Miller himself about his uneasiness at calling himself an atheist, even though he most definitely is. He said something like...

"I'm rather reluctant to call myself an atheist, not because I'm embarrassed, ashamed, in fear of my life or even socially disabled as I might once have been. No, no...I'm reluctant because the term 'atheism' itself takes on almost sectarian connotations and it hardly seems necessary to have a name for something that scarcely enters my thoughts at all.""

It's nothing to do with proof. Atheist = lack of belief, whilst agnostic = presence of doubt. And believers cannot prove existence but still call themselves believers.

Is there a context to this?

JustMyTwoPenceWorth - those aren't quite the right definitions.

An Atheist doesn't beleive in a god.

An agnostic doesn't believe there is currently any evidence for the existence of god.

I don't believe in a god (atheist), because there isn't any evidence (agnostic).

So I'm an Atheist Agnostic.

If someone believed in god but doesn't believe there is any evidence of god, they would be a Theist Agnostic.

If you beleive in god AND that there is evidence that god exists you are a Gnostic Theist.

If you don't believe in God but do believe that the there is evidence that god exists, then you would be a Gnostic Atheist - but that would be an odd position.

In summary Atheism/Thesism - what you personally beleive.

Agnosticsm/Gnosticm - what you beleive there is evidence for/you have kowledge of.

Many faiths consider the 'revealed' or 'insprired' word of god to be evidence of gods existence - so they are Gnostic Theists.

I see where you're coming from but if you believe there is no god then you are an athiest, it's not a big deal surely? What bugs me is that there isn't a word for someone like me who believes there may be a god but doesn't believe in any organised religions

I don't care about the labelling, but these are all awesome words.

What I'm trying to say is it's not a continuum Theism-Agnostism-Atheism. It's a grid:-

Atheist Theist
Agnostic Me
Gnostic JW's

Well that makes no sense with the formatting taken out

shakes fist at cruel and uncaring god

AtheistTheist AgnosticMe Gnostic__JW's

Blimey that's ugly, but does mainly line up

You'll need a grid for your fist shaking. Possibly a 3D one.

Maybe we can get a pivot table and some graphs as well.

The thing is, it's weird to be labelled for not believing in something. I mean, I don't believe in the tooth fairy, but that doesn't make me an afairiest, does it?

NotQuiteCockney - no one is being labeled. If afairiest means doean't beleive in fairies and you don't believe in fairies then you ARE and afairiest. That is how language works.

YANBU

I don't refer to my self an a non dentist.

It's a bit like the 'I believe in equal rights for women but I'm not a feminist' argument. Yes you are.

What would you like to be labelled as, given that you have to have a label of some sort for your beliefs?

Thumbs up to oojimaflip - "If afairiest means doean't beleive in fairies and you don't believe in fairies then you ARE and afairiest. That is how language works."

It's not a label it's a a descriptive word.
Are you a female? = woman
Have you had children? = Mother
Do you believe in God? =

Well you do the math.

Its nothing like being a non dentist. There are only 2 choices, theist or atheist.

Its like man/woman, in/out, wet/dry.

Who's told you to refer to yourself as an atheist? I mean is it some official form you had to fill in or is it just a MILism?