Today, when it has become fashionable to consider oneself as adherents of the most diverse religions, some people, trying to emphasize their disbelief in God, call themselves atheists. Who are atheists? Can a person who denies faith in God (Allah) call himself an atheist? What are such famous atheists as Frederick Engels, Peter Gannushkin, Vitaly Ginzburg, Evgraf Duluman and their followers? Let's get it right.
Who are atheists?
Atheism is a term that translates to “godless”. The concept came from France, but combined all the forms of denial of God and religion. Atheists are sure that any religion is an illusory consciousness,
based on the denial of the naturalness of the world. How do atheists differ from believers of any faith? The former believe that the nature of things is natural, and religion, whatever it may be, was invented by people. The second, on the contrary, believe that God (in any manifestation) is primary, and the world is nothing but his creation. Atheists perceive reality by studying and comprehending it. They try to find a scientific explanation for each phenomenon.
Are all people who do not believe in the divine origin of the world and do not belong to any of the faiths, can be considered atheists? No, far from all. Who are atheists? People for whom unbelief and the pursuit of a scientific knowledge of the world is the basis of a worldview. They carry their unbelief in the world, but do not force it,
but try to
educate people. This can be done only by knowing well the history of religious teachings and the characteristics of each faith. People who simply deny their
faith in God, but believe in ghosts, druids, Cthulhu, drumming or other mystical manifestations, cannot consider themselves atheists.
Atheist Handbook
In Soviet times, lecturers even issued a special manual. It was called the Atheist Handbook. The target audience of the publication was party workers, students, educators. The publication cannot be called unambiguous. On the one hand, the book gave clear answers to the questions “Who are atheists?”, “What is religion?”. University staff and well-known scientists who took part in the compilation of the manual and its appendix (it was called the “Sputnik of the Atheist”) introduced the history of religious movements and trends, their characteristics. Compilers warned of the dangers of selflessly following teachings and the perniciousness of blind faith. On the other hand, the publication was quite politicized and often gave characteristics to religions not in terms of scientific achievements,
but from the position of partisanship and ideology. This way of presentation was not always evident. Today, the publication is of interest to modern atheists and collectors of rare books (although the mass edition of the manual cannot be called rare).
To summarize
So, real atheists are people who:
- learn the world around us by scientific methods;
- recognize the intrinsic value of a person as a person, and not as a follower of the doctrine;
- consider human well-being the main criterion for the development of any society;
- Do not fight religion, but conduct explanatory work, affirm their worldview and uphold human rights.
Some of the great ones said that atheism is just another religion. There is a sound grain in this statement: believers believe in God, and atheists believe in godlessness and the power of science.