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Criticism of atheism is criticism of the concepts, validity, or impact of atheism, including associated political and social implications.Criticisms include positions based on the history of science, philosophical and logical criticisms, findings in both the natural and social sciences, theistic apologetic arguments, arguments pertaining to ethics and morality, the effects of atheism on the ...
Many people are hesitant to identify as atheists because of social stigma they may face, making it hard to pinpoint connections and differences among this group. Why people are reluctant to call ...
Discrimination against atheists, sometimes called atheophobia, [1] atheistophobia, [2] or anti-atheism, [3] [4] both at present and historically, includes persecution of and discrimination against people who are identified as atheists. Discrimination against atheists may be manifested by negative attitudes, prejudice, hostility, hatred, fear ...
The argument from poor design, also known as the dysteleological argument, is an argument against the assumption of the existence of a creator God, based on the reasoning that any omnipotent and omnibenevolent deity or deities would not create organisms with the perceived suboptimal designs that occur in nature.
Writers disagree on how best to define and classify atheism, [8] contesting what supernatural entities are considered gods, whether atheism is a philosophical position or merely the absence of one, and whether it requires a conscious, explicit rejection; however, the norm is to define atheism in terms of an explicit stance against theism.
Positive atheism, also called strong atheism and hard atheism, is the form of atheism that additionally asserts that no deities exist. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] The terms "negative atheism" and "positive atheism" were used by Antony Flew in 1976 [ 1 ] and have appeared in George H. Smith 's [ 4 ] and Michael Martin 's writings since 1990.
In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. [2] [3] Most inclusively, atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist. [3] [4] Atheism is contrasted with theism, [5] [6] which in its most general form is the belief that at least one deity exists. [6] [7]
Thomas Hobbes was widely viewed as an atheist for his materialist interpretation of scripture—Henry Hammond, a former friend, described him in a letter as a "Christian Atheist". [2] David Hume was accused of atheism for his writings on the "natural history of religion"; [3] Pierre Bayle was accused of atheism for defending the possibility of ...