If you don't like "atheism"...


If you don't like the word "atheism," as many people seem not to, I would propose "non-theism." A "non-theist" is someone who is not a theist, and a theist is someone who assumes that a divine being (or perhaps more than one) exists (or exist).

Many folks argue that an atheist is one who definitely holds that no gods exist, and thus needs to prove this proposition just as much as a theist needs to prove that at least one god does exist. If that is what you hold, I would suggest that a "non-theist" just doesn't assume the existence of any gods, and so doesn't need to prove anything.

Of course, "non-theist" really means the same thing as "atheist," since the Latin prefix "non-" is equivalent to the Greek prefix "a-." But perhaps it might make it clearer that "non-theism" or "atheism" has no "burden of proof."

Posted: Thu - July 14, 2005 at 04:04 PM           | |

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