Preview

Essay atheism

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1124 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Essay atheism
Atheism

What is Atheism? Where did it come from? Who was the first to mention it in the public? All these and other questions arouse in my head only after the greater and more meaningful question: is there a GOD? Or if we paraphrase it and cite the famous rock group Pink Floyd “Is there anybody out there?” (1)

This issue has dominated among my other thoughts in my head for my whole lifetime and maybe that was the reason why I chose to write about atheism. Yes, precisely about atheism, the idea of which is the product of thoughts of all thinkers worldwide that began to ask questions about religion, truth and beliefs.

Classification of atheism in the Western and Soviet literature vary. In many ways, they are subjective, though in some way they take into account the real-world differences between the types of free thought and atheism. “So different practical and theoretical atheism (Brugger), a rationalist, an existential (Sartre, Lepp), agnostic, natural, postulatny (Schmidt), three species of atheism associated with the names of Auguste Comte, Ludwig Feuerbach and Marx and F. Nietzsche (A. de Lubac), Freud and Bertrand Russell, and sometimes in the concept of atheism wrongfully include Buddhism and Taoism.” (2)

First of all I would like to give the definition of the atheism. Atheism (Greek “a” - denial and “theos” - god, literally - ungodliness) - philosophical materialist doctrine. A. is the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. Basically it was introduced by the ancient Greek philosophers and than used as an offensive word towards the people who rejected the church, the common christian beliefs and “in XV-XVII centuries nobody could proudly call him self an “atheist”. (3) Only in XVIII this word began to be used not only in polemic but also to define a man who’s belief is that God does not exist.
Atheism, on the one hand, postulates a failure of any religion as fiction, a distorted reflection of reality, rejects the belief in the



References: (1) Pink Floyd, The Wall, 1979 - CD 2 - 2 - Is there anybody out there? (2) Nielsen Kai, 2011, “Atheism” Encyclopedia Britannica (3) Armstrong Caren, 1999, A History of God, London: Vintage.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Rowe begins his paper by distinguishing two types of theists as well as two types of atheists. He makes a distinction between broad and narrow forms of each particular position. For Rowe a broad theist is someone who believes in a divine being while a narrow theist is someone who believes in an omniscient, omnipotent, eternal, supremely good, being who created of the world (335). The distinctions for an atheist are similar. A broad atheist is someone who denies the existence of a divine being while a narrow atheist is someone who denies the existence of an omniscient, omnipotent, eternal, supremely good, being who created of the world. In Rowe 's paper these distinctions are important because he only addresses the narrow versions of each.…

    • 1206 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    It is interesting to see the “evolution” of these 3 worldviews. From the Naturalist who views everything as natural in it’s existence – you exist based on your senses and experiences alone to the Secular Humanist with their realization that humans are wonderful – great creatures with personalities and determinations, but it doesn’t matter…to the Atheistic Existentialist (AE) – who finally realizes that the innermost feelings and desires we have as humans do exist, but would be better off “killed” or cut out than to be nurtured and followed.…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Christianity succeeds where atheism fails, atheism is ultimately death an exercise in futility. God’s existence enables us to live happy lives with a hope for things yet to come . These arguments, defenses, and theodicies all serve as ways for a person to understand in part, none by themselves offer indisputable proof of God’s existence. They do however make the existence of a necessary being, a first cause, probable. Building on this this first cause, the God of theism, becomes more evident, this finally gives the suggestion of the God of Christianity, the God of the Bible. This God who reveals Himself in the Bible, as one who created, sustains, loves, and died for His creation. The problem of evidence evaporates for the one who accepts this God, the true God. He reveals Himself to those who seek Him in faith, ones who truly believe. Craig rightly quotes Francis Schaeffer “If God is dead, then man is dead too.” The atheist must live the noble lie to find any meaning to life, this often fails…

    • 441 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    It goes without question, that human beings will always question the existence of “God”. Whether these questions are formed in support or denial of an omnipresent creator they are important in helping shape our morality. H J McCloskey and his article “On Being and Atheist” is very critical of theists. It thus presents several arguments on how believers are incorrect in their belief in “God”, cosmological and teleological. McCloskey also focus’s on the existence of evil and how one can find comfort in atheism when facing evil.…

    • 1881 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    • The rise of atheism and deism – a shift away from traditional religion and oppressed thinking of the…

    • 659 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In February of 1968, H. J. McCloskey’s published an article called, “On Being an Atheist.” In this, he argues that atheism is a more comfortable, logical and realistic than theism. He mentions the evil that is in the world and how it doesn’t make any sense to find comfort in a God that purposely causes pain, disease and natural disasters. McCloskey also mentions it is unreasonable to live by faith in this world. In this article, he argues the three theistic proofs including, the argument for design, the teleological argument and the cosmological argument.…

    • 1490 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    -1This is a response to H.J. McCloskey's Article, "On Being an Atheist". While I believe that Mr . McCloskey put a lot of thought into this article I think he made some assumptions about all theists that are not necessarily correct.…

    • 1617 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Worldviews in Conflict

    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Stenger, V. J. (2009). The new atheism: Taking a stand for science and reason. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.…

    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    It should be acknowledged, however, that there is, of course, some persistence of this element, which can be demonstrated by the phenomenon of people praying; it is often the case that people pray for others and actually get a sense of helping from this. Wisdom chalks this up to there still being mystery surrounding how humans work. For example, one can never know what another human will do next so expecting a prayer to make a difference [to a person] is not so definite a thing as believing in its mechanical efficiency (185). Despite theists and atheists having difference views as to the facts of the world, this difference is not the kind that can be settled by an…

    • 1332 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Response Paper

    • 1586 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In 1968, a article was published by a man named H.J. McCloskey called “On Being an Atheist”, in which an attempt to present arguments against the existence of God is made. In his work, McCloskey attempts to provide readers with the argument that atheism is more “reasonable and comfortable (McCloskey,1968)” compared to the alternative theistic view. In his article, McCloskey attempts to make arguments against the three typical theistic proofs of God which includes the cosmological and teleological arguments, along with the argument from design. McCloskey uses the existence of evil and the irrationalness off faith against the theistic view of God. At the beginning of the article it seems that an intriguing argument will be made regarding the theistic view point of God, yet as McCloskey continues the argument becomes more biased in attacking spiritual beliefs which questions his validity.…

    • 1586 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In fact McCloskey places the bar even lower by referring to the “proofs of” rather than “arguments for” God’s existence, thereby overstating the Theist’s claim. With respect to the “proofs” for God’s existence that McCloskey attempts to deal with, namely the Cosmological and Teleological Arguments, McCloskey offers trivial objections that are easily answered. With respect to arguments for God’s non-existence, McCloskey offers the logical form of the problem of evil which, while rich in rhetoric, does not contain enough logic to necessitate its title. McCloskey ends his article with a pragmatic justification of Atheist, stating that Atheism is more comforting that Theism; a point that is stark in its irrelevance.…

    • 2161 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Atheism is contrasted with theism and on a broader sense opposes the existence of any form of deity. For most of their existence, Atheists have not been aggressively outspoken about their opposing beliefs against religion. However, over the last couple of decades, Christianity, along with religion in general, has received a massive amount public criticism stemming from the emergence of a group called the New Atheists.…

    • 4162 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some people may find it difficult to prove the rationality of God’s existence, so they may propose alternate conceptions: pantheism and panentheism. Both conceptions continue to assume that there must be a presence of a supernatural being—one that is beyond nature. Therefore, these theistic alternatives are irrational due to their lack of evidence.…

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to Webster Dictionary, Atheism is a disbelief in the existence of deity or a supreme being. Antony Flew, however, believes that the presumption of atheism is closely related to innocence and that in this day and age, atheism is considered a negative term but Flew wants the word to be considered positively. According to Flew, the “presumption of innocence” is that all defendants are presumed innocent until proven and guilty. Meaning, in order to perceive and to properly debate the existence of God, you should begin the with the “presumption of atheism” as an innocent topic and the proof must lie within the theist.…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Logical Fallacies

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A fallacy is an error in reasoning, which differs from factual error in that errors are simply wrong about the facts. A fallacy can occur in any kind of discussion, argument, or reading. For the purposes of this paper, the fallacies discussed will pertain to arguments. A fallacious argument is an argument in which the premises given for the conclusion do not provide the needed degree of support (Atheism Web). Fallacies of distraction attempt to distract from the falsity of an argument by the illegitimate use of logical operators (Stephen 's Guide to Logical Fallacies).…

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics