The pages in the Religion section examine religious traditions and worldviews as intellectual and cultural frameworks — analytically, not polemically. The aim is rigorous understanding, not advocacy or dismissal.
Overview
Atheism, in its minimal formulation, is the absence of belief in the existence of any god or gods. More strongly, positive or "strong" atheism is the affirmative belief that no gods exist. The distinction matters epistemically: the former is a default position in the absence of sufficient evidence; the latter is a positive claim requiring its own justification. Most contemporary atheists in philosophical literature occupy the former position, treating atheism as the conclusion reached when theistic arguments fail to meet the evidential standard required for rational belief.
Atheism is not, in itself, a comprehensive worldview. It says nothing directly about ethics, meaning, politics, or metaphysics beyond the theism question. It is frequently paired with philosophical naturalism — the view that the physical universe is causally closed and that explanations appealing to supernatural agencies are neither necessary nor epistemically warranted — and with secular humanism as a practical ethical framework.
Embedded Content
Central Arguments and Debates
- The problem of evil — the existence of gratuitous suffering is argued to be logically or probabilistically inconsistent with an omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent deity
- Divine hiddenness — if a perfectly loving God existed, the persistence of non-resistant non-belief would be unexpected (J. L. Schellenberg)
- Argument from religious disagreement — the culturally contingent distribution of religious belief suggests experiential and testimonial sources are unreliable
- Parsimony and naturalism — naturalistic explanations of the universe, consciousness, and morality are argued to require no theistic addition
- Responses to theistic arguments — critical analysis of cosmological, teleological, and ontological arguments for God's existence
References & Further Reading
- Martin, M. — Atheism: A Philosophical Justification. Temple University Press, 1990.
- Schellenberg, J. L. — The Wisdom to Doubt: A Justification of Religious Skepticism. Cornell, 2007.
- Oppy, G. — Arguing about Gods. Cambridge University Press, 2006.
- Russell, B. — "Why I Am Not a Christian." Lecture, 1927. Published by Allen & Unwin, 1957.