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No doubt all of you have enjoyed as much as I have the vomit-inducing sight of the
“no religious test clause” of our Constitution going up in flames as major corporate news organizations sponsoring the Presidential debates quiz the candidates about their religious bona fides. Good fun!

Indeed, we seem to be farther away than ever from having an atheist as a legitimate contender for the White House (or any higher office), but the WAAGNFNP is here to help. Atheists - today, the Minister of Justice gives you the stage. (It’s still a national stage, just a slightly smaller one than CNN’s).

So let’s talk about atheism. Not only does the word “atheism” have multiple definitions, it has multiple categories of definitions. And something that has been moving increasingly to the forefront of my mind lately is that even here in left blogistan, “atheism” seems to mean very different things to different people. Some definitions are broad enough to encompass probably everybody here reading this, including those who are active in the Progressive Faith Movement. Other definitions seem to adhere to a strict scientific empiricism model.

Praise be to Astaroth, this is not a “What is atheism?” post, and I’ve deliberately not copied or linked to any definitions of atheism.

What this post is about is opening the floor to people who not only define themselves as atheists, but consciously embrace it as a significant part of who they are. Please tell us what atheism means to you, and if possible, at least a little about how that is reflected in your life.

As always, everybody is welcome to comment, but I’d especially like to hear from you if atheism holds a prominent place in your life and is more than just one of the many things you happen to be and don’t give much thought to otherwise.

I invite everyone to try to refrain from criticizing other people’s definitions of how they as atheists define atheism for themselves. I also discourage folks from spending a lot of time talking about what atheism is not - everyone here is well aware that not all atheists are devil-worshiping baby-eaters. They’re just the most fun ones.

Praise Gojira!

Photo thanks to basetree.