Atheism Stack Exchange Archive

What do we atheists agree on?

Okay. As a group what do we agree on without doubt? I would like to make a list. If you agree then leave no comment. If you disagree I will leave it of my list. This list may end up very short.

Answer 935

Here are what atheisms seem to agree on:

  1. Our worldviews do not include “God(s)” as explanatory or causal factors.

1.1. The god proposed by [insert religion here] who [insert list of said god’s attributes here] does not exist, except as an invented concept of [insert religion here].

  1. Atheism is not a religion.

  2. We accept there are many things we don’t have a definitive understanding of but we also believe that these things could once be understood (through science) and thus that their explanations can be supported by evidence.
  3. Atheism is not a method of explanation nor does it entail a corresponding worldview.

Answer 946

I disagree with the community Wiki approach, started by Josiah. I disagree, because it doesn’t make sense to list things we agree on, but rather we should answer your question in one concise statement. This is because listing the things we agree on requires us to define a domain in which we agree on things (otherwise we’d have to list, for example, that we also agree strawberries are red).

To answer your questions: I think Atheism is just applied rationality (with regard to theological and other spiritual ideas). Because of this, we agree that we don’t believe anything without evidence.

All the things we agree on you are trying to list (within the domain of religious beliefs, philosophy, and so on) would follow from the main thesis above: we do not believe anything, if it is not (or cannot be) supported by evidence.

Answer 2756

All is loss, and designs of complication.

Those designs require no supernatural intelligence, but are adaptive responses to loss, starting with biological function, and evolving into strategies for resource acquisition and protection from all the forms of loss that would undermine the organism or group to which it belongs.

From this basic concept of loss, we derive all the abstraction and complexity of human thought and behavior. Philosophy, religion, politics, economics, law, medicine, arts, and science are all adaptive responses to loss, often used as tools for social dominance, which makes them human “designs of complication”.

As an atheist, I would say that life is about properly attending to all aspects of health, pleasure, and loss. Love is about sharing in each other’s health, pleasure, and loss.

That’s pretty much it. I don’t see how religion improves upon that, with the exception of the empty promise of life after death in exchange for your devotion to the cause.

Answer 2772

I think the only thing that all Atheists agree on is that gods do not exist.

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