Chapter 12 - Atheism

freethought

an intellectual tradition of independent inquiry based on logic, reason, and science rather than religious authority

atheism

the belief that God does not exist

agnosticism

belief that humans cannot know whether God exists, or the position of particular individuals that they themselves do not know whether God exists

secularization theory

sociological theory that as the world becomes more modern it will become less religious

spiritual but not religious (SBNR)

identity signaling a negative view of organized religion and a positive view of personal spirituality

negative atheist

someone who does not affirm theism

positive atheist

someone who affirms that theism is false

weak agnosticism

the position of a particular individual that they do not know whether God exists

strong agnosticism

the position that it is not possible for anyone to know whether God exists

anti-theism

strong rejection of God belief, often marked by intense opposition to theists

humanism

worldview affirming the supreme importance of human beings, human agency, and human life

secularism

worldview emphasizing life on earth versus transcendent realities, often with a political focus on strict church/state separation

naturalism

anti-supernatural view that everything is caused by and explained through natural phenomena

Enlightenment

wide-ranging European intellectual movement of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that affirmed human progress and religious tolerance, and elevated science and religion over faith

pantheism

belief that God and the natural world are identical—that divinity and the universe are one

Deism

belief in a "watchmaker" God who created the world but does not intervene in it

materialism

view that everything originates in matter and is caused by material forces that can be studied scientifically

secular humanism

worldview rejecting religion and supernaturalism in order to celebrate human life here and now