I don't believe in gods. But that doesn't mean you get to label me whatever you want.
So-called "atheists" share next to nothing in common except for the fact that they don't believe in gods, so why is it that Christians (and others) think they get to label us? Why do they get to choose what we're called, especially when the thing they're calling us has such negative connotations in most of American society? Why do they get to lump us all together? Most so-called "atheists" share less in common than Christians, Jews, and Muslims for Pete's sake.
Buddhists don't believe in gods, and I'm not a Buddhist any more than I'm an atheist.
I think there's this assumption in America (and many other places) that people who don't believe in gods are such a small minority, that worrying about their particular attitudes on these things doesn't really matter. Well, in many places on this planet, those who don't believe in gods aren't the minority, and in the future that will be more and more the case. Eighty percent in Sweden don't believe in gods and they deserve the respect to be heard on what they want to be called, if anything. And I deserve the same respect that 80% in Sweden deserves, even though Christians "have me surrounded" here in this country.
The term "atheist" began during Greek times and meant "without gods." It originally had a very negative connotation culturally, as it does here in America. The idea was that these people were outcasts who didn't have the power of the gods behind them in life.
There are of course also skeptics, humanists, rationalists, non-believers, etc. So many names, so many categories. But why do we lump so many of these people together as "atheists?" There's no "there" there. There's nothing that brings together people who don't believe in gods other than that they don't believe in gods.
Why don't those of us who don't believe in gods have any say as to what we want to be called or whether we want to be called anything at all?
Why do we have to be labeled something that in much of the country has a very negative connotation?
I personally don't think a person should be labeled for not believing in the prevailing religion in a society. Just leave me out of it. I don't think people should get to call me anything.
There's no word for people who don't bother voting. There's no word for people who don't bother recycling. There's no word for kids who never believed in Santa Claus.
We label atheists as atheists as if it were some sort of religious sect, some sort of religious attitude. But that's as silly as saying that Science is a religious attitude. I think our culture likes the word "atheist" simply to make the discussion intellectually simpler, to dumb down the debate. We don't have the sensitivity to other people's beliefs here in America to bother caring what non-believers think or how they want to be viewed.
Not believing in gods is the default position on religion for me. It's the blank slate. It's simply choosing not to believe in something that there's no evidence for. At least in my case. For others, there are other reasons and attitudes. Being an agnostic is one step forward. It makes the assumption that we should believe in gods, although we can't hope to understand them. That's one step down the road to religion that I was never interested in taking. But why does it have to be such a huge deal? Why do I have to be labeled for not wanting to play along with the prevailing wisdom? The concept of religion just isn't important in the slightest to my life personally. In this anti-atheist culture we have in America, calling me an atheist puts too much weight on the decision simply not to participate. But why should I be labeled for it? I'm not labeled for never bothering to hike the Appalachian Trail. I'm not labeled for never having eaten truffles. Why am I being labeled for something like my attitude on religion when in fact I'm actually much more interested in a seemingly irrelevant issue like diversifying my palate and getting a taste of those truffles?
For many of us who don't believe in gods, it's not even that we make some life-defining decision to explicitly choose not to. For many of us it's just that nobody ever made even a bare bones logical effort to explain to us why we should, why that makes any more sense than believing in Santa.
Granted, we need words to make it easier to describe what people think, but in my opinion the default position going forward for humanity will just be not to believe in gods and there shouldn't be a name for this any more than there's a name for people who don't watch reality TV shows.
People who choose to believe in a particular religion are looking to be branded as something. They're looking for a name to be associated with.
But it's really unfair to the majority of average people who just never thought the idea of gods warranted the respect of actually organizing a body of people to hold a specific set of beliefs against the idea.
So please stop calling me an atheist. I don't think the idea of gods warrants enough respect for there to be an actual name for those of us who don't put any stock in the concept. That's my personal view. Nobody should take offense. It only applies to me.
"Atheism" has a tradition. There are groups that people can join if they want to be knows as atheists.
For the rest of us, we all have our reasons for not believing in gods, and those reasons vary radically.
So just don't call me anything. I'm not an atheist. I don't belong to Atheists United. I don't belong to American Atheists. I don't rally for atheist causes.
I'm just the default position on religion (in my opinion), which is to say I don't have any use for it and I don't believe in gods and I never really thought it deserved my consideration any more than issues that most of our culture seem to think are trivial.
So please stop blanket-labeling people like me as atheists unless we explicitly say we are atheists.
I'm sure many people will point to the Webster definition of "atheist" and say that my personal views on this are irrelevant... that's what it means: someone who doesn't believe in gods, as I've said I don't.
But as humanity progresses, I think there's going to be less tolerance for this intolerance on the part of believers. Those of us who don't play along with the myth stories about gods should get to decide what each of us are individually, because there's no "there" there to rally around. And those of us who don't want to be called anything at all should have our wishes respected.
Thanks for reading my diary.