What is an Atheist...Really?

What is an atheist? What does an atheist believe? Do atheists believe in anything at all? These are questions that most people ask when they encounter atheism for the first time. Many people are often put off by atheism when they first encounter it, especially if they haven't ever heard of the concept before, or have been taught that the belief system in which they were raised is the only acceptable belief system to have.

Simply put: an Atheist does not believe in the existence of a singular deity or God. Typically atheists reject theological teachings and reject the idea that there is a higher power guiding life on Earth.

An atheist does not believe in Satanism. In fact, the lack of belief in a higher power means that an atheist does not belief in a "lower" power either. You cannot have a demon or devil if you do not have angels or God. Unfortunately there are many people who believe that a lack of God fundamentally means that a person worships the "lower" beings. This is not true. Atheists reject theism as a whole. This means that they do not worry about "getting into heaven" or "ending up in hell." Without a God, heaven and hell do not exist.

This does not mean, however, that Atheists do not have strong beliefs of their own. Many atheists believe heavily in the power of science-things that can be seen and proven and are not prone to human-esque emotional judgments.

Another large misconception about atheism and atheists is that they cannot be happy or accepting of others. This is largely due to a type of atheism in which the atheist believes that those who do believe in God are weaker than he/she is-and are very vocal in this belief. Unfortunately, like in all things, the most vocal people in a group often get the most attention and help define their groups' stereotypes.

Perhaps the biggest misconception of the atheist and his/her beliefs is that an atheist cannot believe in morals or good/evil. Morality and good/evil does not belong solely to divine beings. Atheists believe in human decency just as much as those who attend every church service offered by their local house of worship. Atheists believe in right and wrong just like everyone else. The difference is that an atheist believes that good/evil and right/wrong morality is a social construct, not something handed down by a Supreme Being.

Many atheists deny their own atheism because they do not want to be ostracized or unfairly judged by their friends and peers. Because there are so many misconceptions surrounding atheists and what they do or do not believe, many people believe that atheism itself is wrong or bad and so, in many cases, once an Atheist "outs" him/herself, he/she finds his/her relationships strained. This is sad because Western society takes a lot of pride in being tolerant of all beliefs. Atheism is a personal belief that is not all that different than a theology-based belief.