Being an atheist means nothing more or less than simply not believing in the existence of any gods. It doesn't imply any opinions on any political, economic, social, philosophical, artistic, or even religious subjects. On every other matter, atheists can disagree — and even on the subject of disbelieving in gods, atheists can disagree on their reasons and attitudes. This may sound obvious, but a significant number of theists keep trying to paint atheists as if they were all the same. Here are some of the major differences we can find among atheists when it comes to religion, theism, and gods.
Some Atheists Care About Religion or Gods
The most popular perception of atheists has them intensely concerned with existence of gods and validity of religions. Some atheists certainly are, and many of the most famous atheists are famous precisely because of their writings on religion and theism. For such atheists, the existence of gods and validity of religions based on belief in gods is a problem which demands attention. They recognize that religion and theism come with significant implications for society, politics, culture, and more, thus they care about religion and theism because they also care about the society they live in.Some Atheists Don't Care About Religion
For some atheists, not believing in gods holds the same place in their lives as not believing in Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. If and when they think about it, they may be as sure about the nonexistence of gods exist as they are of Bigfoot, but most of the time they don't bother thinking about gods at all and instead focus on more important matters. Insofar as a religion is predicated on the existence of a god, they dismiss that religion as false, but otherwise religions also may not be relevant to such an atheist's life. This is arguably a situation which many if not most atheists wish were true for themselves as well: that religion and theism were no more important than Bigfoot and could thus be ignored.Some Atheists are Secular
Because of the popularity of atheists who are critical of religion, there is a popular perception that atheism is inherently
anti-religious. This is false, and it's not even true that all atheists are anti-religious. What is true is that many atheists are secular. The term "secular" simply means non-religious — secular institutions are institutions not under ecclesiastical control, for example, not institutions that are opposed to religion. Because atheism in the West often means separating oneself from theistic religions, it also tends to involve a process of secularization and adopting more secular perspectives. This also means that atheists in the West themselves tend to be personally secular.
Some Atheists are Religious
Although the image of secular atheists who are critical of religion is common today, it's a fact that being an atheist is not the least bit incompatible with being religious. In fact, many religions and religious systems are atheistic either directly (because the existence or relevance of gods is dismissed) or indirectly (because gods are simply absent). Atheistic religions might have strong supernatural elements (like animist systems) or they might be completely naturalistic (like Religious Humanism). It's true that
religious atheists are less common than secular atheists in the West today, but they do exist and if theistic religions decline in the future, then atheistic religions might increase at some point.
Some Atheists Think Religion is Positive or Neutral
Even atheists who aren't religious don't necessarily oppose religion. Some atheists treat religion as a generally positive force in human history and culture — or, at worst, the positive and negative aspects of religion tend to balance, causing religion to be generally neutral and certainly no worse than other types of belief systems. Such atheists may of course be critical of specific religious beliefs, political efforts, or effects, but this doesn't cause them to oppose religion generally or argue for people to give up religion in favor of more secular belief systems which eschew supernatural ideas. Even if they are very critical of particular religions, they may not be critical of religion per se.Some Atheists Think Religion is Dangerous
Among atheists who are secular rather than religious, there is a variety of opinions on the nature of religion itself. One common position is the idea that religion is in some fashion dangerous, either because it promotes dangerous behaviors and attitudes or because it simply promotes believing on the basis of reasoning which leads us too far astray. This position argues not simply that religion is not worth accepting, but rather that it should be actively fought and hopefully eliminated. The exact reasons why an atheist would advocate such a position, though, can vary greatly. Some atheists focus on religious violence, for example, while others focus on religious opposition to science.Some Atheists Think Religion is Simply Wrong
Not all atheists argue that religion is dangerous to humanity and human culture; some critics of religion simply argue that it is wrong. Such atheists argue that religion is wrong because it promotes false beliefs, because it promotes false means for arriving at true beliefs, or both. If such atheists also think religion is dangerous, they don't think religion is necessarily any more dangerous than other human ideologies; unfortunately, the typically supernatural basis of religion separates it as promoting more falsehoods than those other ideologies.
