I.

Introduction

Atheism (Greek, a, “not”; theos, “god”), lack of belief in any form of deity. An atheist acknowledges no God or gods. Atheism is stronger than agnosticism, which is the view that we have no knowledge either way. An agnostic denies both that we know that God, or gods, exist, and that we know that they do not. An atheist may disagree with this, claiming even to know that no God exists, for example through having a disproof of such existence. But many, or even most, atheists would agree with the agnostic that this is an area where knowledge is not to be had. However, an agnostic could hold that while we lack knowledge, our best bet is that some kind of God exists, so we should fill the gap by trust or faith in the existence of some kind of divinity. An atheist will reject any such leap of faith as well. An atheist holds that the most reasonable attitude is not to believe in any God or gods. Our attitude to a Christian God, or Jehovah, or Allah, should be the same as most contemporary people’s attitudes to the ancient gods of Greece and Rome, or to Santa Claus or the tooth fairy. Belief in any divinity is mere superstition.