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I am working on a presentation for an online class, and I will be speaking on atheism in America, so…What do atheists believe?
If you check back over my prior posts (especially the “Ask an Atheist” exchanges) that should cover the nuances. In the shortest form it should be obvious: atheists don’t believe in any gods, and don’t require the precepts of the various god operating manuals to make decisions in our daily lives.
Within that overall landscape there is a lot of variation. Some atheists may consider themselves spiritual, while most others probably not. Some are not ruling out that some gods might theoretically be real, while others are hard liners here. Atheism is therefore a reflection of something not believed, and so doesn’t constitute an overall creed. Most atheists will tend to support the idea that reason and evidence are important in their lives, and that their lack of belief in gods owes a lot to the inadequacy of evidence in that area.
Apart from that atheists come in all flavors: liberal and conservative (though temperamentally atheists are more likely to be on the liberal side), male and female, of all races and backgrounds (though the cliche of the older white guy atheist is more of a demographic artifact because those are people who have until recently found it easier to state their beliefs publicly in many socities). Some are grumpy and others affable. In other words, just plain folk apart from the god category.
