That would be logical. However I read that the young generation in the US has a higher percentage of atheists than the older generations. But the young generation is also more superstitious. Go figure! :dunno
I think it is a rejection of traditional belief, but the search for meaning and spirituality continues.
Kind of another topic but a common misconception about atheists is they claim to know God doesn't exist. Yes, some atheists claim to know that but that is more than just atheism. A theist is someone who believes a personal god exists. An atheist is simply someone who does not. It's really a yes or no question. Either a person believes or they don't. Someone may not know if they're right but rarely do they not know what they believe. True?
I don't know. The problem I have with some Athiests (I'm Agnostic), is instead of just saying "I don't believe", they come across as arguing dis-belief in God as if it is a fact, when it is just a lack of proof. If you look at the definition of "fact"
(Dictionary.com), it involves a positive proof of something. But maybe they are just arguing there is no basis and I'm too sensitive.
I am an agnostic atheist. There is no conclusive evidence God exists. Without evidence I can't know whether he exists but I don't believe he does. Perhaps an analogy will help. I do not believe anyone on earth has ever been abducted by an alien but I do not know that for a fact. If someone asked me if I thought so-and-so was abducted by an alien I wouldn't say maybe. I'd say no. If they asked me how I know I'd say I don't but I'm not going to believe it without any evidence.
I have no problem with your approach, but I'll ask have you ever felt something just out of reach, that you really can't put a finger on? Or a feeling of well being? I'm not prepared to say the source for these feelings are internal (self generated) or external, but that is my basis for preferring to say "I don't know". However if I was to be real specific, I would have to say there is no basis to believe in a particular God or any God at all. However the "buzz" in my head (high on life so to speak
), prevents me from saying I disbelieve in the possibility of an existence greater than what we experience in this human life.
One final point, some people are agnostic atheists but are reluctant to use the title atheist because of the negative attitude many harbor toward atheists. I occasionally do that myself. You're much more likely to be accepted if you tell someone you're not religious than telling them you're an atheist. Besides saying you're an atheist conveys little and is divisive. Now days when someone says they're a theist they may mean they believe in love. I'm a theist too if that's what they mean. I prefer the label humanist unless I'm discussing the existence of a personal God.
I think the term Atheist without further explanation connotates "dirt to dirt" thinking. Somehow we came into being and when we die, it's all over. Based on the obvious, I can see this conclusion. When you watch things die, that is how it appears. It might also be assumed that this is the end of consciousness. It died, it no longer exists, right? But to keep this from turning into a longer post than it all ready is, I'll say that we don't know everything. Infinity is a long time. You came into being once, why not again? I prefer saying "I don't know."
