Re: what is an atheist?

42412,
I have some input. I don't know about others in this forum, but I take the position of "weak atheism" (I simply lack a belief in God or anything that I would call "god" or "God".) I see this as sort of a default position that is not far off from agnosticism ("I don't know whether or not there is a god or God."). This differs from "strong" atheism in which one claims that God does not exist. Compare the following: "I simply lack a belief in God" and "God does not exist". See the difference?
I do unlike strict materialists believe in a higher power or higher powers however: nature, the universe, etc; but I do not believe in a creator god (the universe or possibly multiverse in some form just is and always has been). I refuse to call these "God" for several reasons: they are not concious in the sense that we are, they are not personal beings, they are not separate from ourselves (we are part of both nature and the universe), they will not listen to us and intervene on our behalf, and "god" is a word that carries a lot of baggage usually referring to an anthropomorphic being that is separate from us and acts in our lives. We may be able to manipulate the forces of nature and the universe to our own end, but they do not have the characteristics that the majority of people like to assign to "God". I continue to hold these "spiritual" views about life, the universe, and everything because of some personal experiences of mine (strong spiritual sense, use of enthenogens like Salvia Divinorum, and my experiences with mysticism) but remain an atheist because I see no evidence of "god" in my life (no answered prayer, belief in creation not necessary, no sense of god despite a strong spiritual intuitiveness, etc.). As you can see, atheism can refer to a wide range of differing beliefs (spiritual atheism all the way to strict materialistic atheism).

_Thomas Orobar

P.S. We really need some more activity on this forum, so post post post!
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