The word atheist has different meanings in different contexts, so we need to [intlink id=”126″ type=”post”]unpack[/intlink] it if we want to use the word in productive discussion. Greg Epstein in his book good without God quotes an excellent paragraph from Sherwin Wine, who separates atheism into several distinct intellectual categories, as follows:
- “ontological” atheism (the most popular kind) is a firm denial of any creator or manager of the universe;
- “ethical” atheism rejects the idea of a creator or manager who rewards good and evil, or generally takes part in the human moral agenda;
- “existential” atheism asserts that if there is a God, he has no authority over our lives;
- “agnostic” atheism cautiously claims God’s existence cannot be proven or disproved;
- “ignostic” atheism cautiously denies that the word ‘God’ has any meaning, because it is so confusing; and,
- “pragmatic” atheism regards discussion of God as a waste of time, because he is irrelevant to ethical and successful living.
These distinctions are important, because they highlight that most nonreligious people (ex. pantheists) who do not specifically claim to be ‘atheists’ — possibly they are turned off by the ‘New Atheism’ of Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens, etc. — are atheists in at least one of the above forms of the word. Also important, as Epstein points out (p. 19), is that these terms don’t tell us what we do believe, only what we don’t believe.
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[1] Sherwin Wine, “Reflections,” in A Life of Courage, ed. Dan Cohn-Sherbok, Harry Cook, and Marilyn Rowens, 284 (Fairminton Hills, MI: The International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism and Milan Press, 2003).
[2] Greg M Epstein, Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious Poeple Do Believe, pp. 18-19, HarperCollins, 2009
