Define atheism :: Purpose

My name is Randolf Richardson, and I have a passion for countering and discouraging the arbitrary vilification of atheists, which I find is nearly always incorrectly justified based on the fact that we "don't believe in deities," and this leads into a major part of the reasoning behind the definition of "atheism" being an important topic.

After various debates and other intellectual encounters, it started to become clear that the attempts to vilify atheists (and atheism) are actually the death throes of the ever-shrinking community of oppressors (often manipulative and/or extreme theists) who want to denormalize the "absence of belief in deities" (atheism).  That community of oppressors, which I call the "atheism vilification community," often uses a variety of tactics to vilify atheists and to misrepresent atheism, which in turn serves to create false burdens of proof for claims that most atheists don't actually make -- this is a false epistemological approach that is not accurate and does not promote a sense of good will for anyone.

My interest is in doing the best that I possibly can to ensure that the general public perceives atheism (not believing in deities) as "normal," just as not believing in the Marklar on Planet Marklar is normal, and not believing in many other things is normal (and so forth).

I believe that higher quality societies develop more naturally, and therefore also with less effort, when people can be open and honest with others about themselves, which necessitates not being ostracized for non-beliefs.  (In an added note of clarity, please understand that I also believe that it's not necessary to celebrate non-belief - as it's not an accomplishment - and that this same principle applies equally for any given belief.)

February 18, 2020

Additional notes

The definitions of the words "atheism" and "atheist" are sometimes misunderstood as, or confused with, "anti-theism."  The primary goal of this web site is to provide literally correct and etymologically justified definitions that can be used to add clarity to all areas of discourse.  I sincerely hope that this web site will be particularly useful to everyone who needs (or wants) to refer to concise and reliable definitions of the words "atheism" and "atheist," be it as part of research, debates, or for any purpose.

-- Randolf Richardson 張文道 (advocate for freedom, critical thinking, and human solidarity)

To learn about the history of the words "atheism" and "atheist," follow this link...

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