atheist

plural atheists

1. lifestyleA person who does not believe in deities or gods.

   Atheists. One who does not believe in the existence of a Supreme Being, an atheist, is incompetent as a witness, being incapable of being sworn. […] Changed by Acts of 1851, No. 12 (P. S. 1593), under which, no question can be raised as to a witness's "opinions on matters of religious belief."

   1910, The Vermont Digest 1789-1905, volume 2, Burlington: Free Press Printing Co

   Synonyms: nullifidian

   1. strictlylifestyleA person who is certain that no deities exist or who thinks that the existence of deities can be disproven.

      Ageine, the Atheistes, which say in their hartes there is no God; […]

      1571 October 20, Arthur Golding, “The Epistle Dedicatory”, in Psalmes of Dauid and others, with M. John Caluin's Commentaries

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      An atheist, like a Christian, holds that we can know whether or not there is a God. The Christian holds that we can know there is a God; the atheist, that we can know there is not.

      1953 November 3, Bertrand Russell, “What is an Agnostic?”, in Look

      Synonyms: nullifidian, positive atheist, strong atheist, gnostic atheist

   2. broadlylifestyleA person who doubts the existence of deities (therefore, an agnostic may be considered an atheist).

      Very low probability, but short of zero. De facto atheist. ‘I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there.’

      2006 September 18, Richard Dawkins, “The God Hypothesis”, in The God Delusion, 1st Am. edition, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OL, LCC BL2775.3.D39 2006, page 51

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      Minister—Are you really an Atheist? Atheist—Yes. M.—Do you deny that there is a god? A.—No. I deny that there is sufficient reason to believe there is one. There may be a god, but I think it rather unlikely.

      1843, G. J. Holyoake, “A Reciprocal Dialogue”, in Thomas Paterson, editors, The Oracle of Reason, Or, Philosophy Vindicated, volume 2, number 64, page 89

      Synonyms: nullifidian, weak atheist

   3. very broadlylifestyleAny person lacking belief in deities (including children who are unaware of religion).

      All children are born Atheists; they have no idea of God. Are they then criminal on account of their ignorance?

      1772, Good Sense without God: Or Freethoughts Opposed to Supernatural Ideas, London: W. Stewart, translation of Le Bon-Sens, ou, Idées Naturelles opposées aux Idées Surnaturelles by Paul Henry Thiry baron d'Holbach, published 2004, §30, page 21

      Synonyms: nullifidian

2. uncommonA person who does not believe in a particular deity (but may believe in another deity).

   Malice and prejudice concurred in representing the Christians as a society of atheists, who, by the most daring attack on the religious constitution of the empire, had merited the severest animadversion of the civil magistrate.

   1840, Edward Gibbon, chapter 16, in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, new edition, volume 1, page 183

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   An atheist is just somebody who feels about Yahweh the way any decent Christian feels about Thor or Baal or the golden calf. As has been said before, we are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.

   2002 February, Richard Dawkins, Richard Dawkins on militant atheism, via TED

   Throughout history, atheists were simply people who did not believe the prevalent God of the day. For the sun-worshippers, Christians were atheists. For Jewish people, Christians were atheists. Whoever does not believe in your God is by definition, an atheist. […] With all the countless Gods concocted by man, I claim that my Christian friends and I have something in common. We are all atheists, I just believe in one less God than they.

   2009, Lyndon Lamborn, Standing For Something More: The Excommunication of Lyndon Lamborn, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 171

3. proscribedsometimesA person who does not believe in any religion (not even a religion without gods); a nonreligious person.

   For instance, in Morocco, while a Muslim man is free to marry a non-Muslim woman, provided she is Christian or Jewish, but not Buddhist, Hindu or Atheist, a Muslim woman is only supposed to marry a Muslim man.

   2002 January 1, Anne-Marie De Mejía, Power, Prestige, and Bilingualism: International Perspectives on Elite Bilingual Education, Multilingual Matters, →ISBN, page 63

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   This is one of the strongest Grounds of Suspicion to me, and assures me that he has very little Regard to Religion in general; that he can pretend to marry you, and know nothing whether you are a Heathen or Christian; an Atheist or religious Person, a Papist or a Protestant; the Man can have no great Value for Religion, that is so little concerned whether his Wife has any, or no; for I take the Thing to weigh as much on one Side as on the other, where there is any serious Confideration at Bottom.

   1766, Daniel Defoe, Religious Courtship..., 9th edition, London, page 170

   Since radio and TV started playing Atheists Like Me, the lead song in the album, Huang's record company has received more than 100 phone calls protesting the content of the new song, the local China Times newspaper reported.[…] It's not clear who has been offended by the tune, but most Taiwanese are Buddhists or Daoists. A small number are Christians, Muslims and atheists.

   2006 December 24, “‘Atheist’ hip-hop track causes a religious stir”, in Taipei Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 Jan 2007, Taiwan News, page 2

   In her chapter, “Freedom of and Freedom from Religion: Atheist Involvement in Legal Cases,” Lori G. Beaman presents her reflections on the various claims made by atheists in the legal arena, such as the objection to prayers in municipal[…]

   2014 December 4, Lori G. Beaman, Steven Tomlins, Atheist Identities - Spaces and Social Contexts, Springer, →ISBN, page 8

   20 “We just need to get rid of religion,” atheist author and entertainer Penn Jillette has said. Many atheists agree, as you can tell from the popularity of antireligion books such as Christopher Hitchens's God Is Not Great.

   2015 March 10, David Seidman, What If I'm an Atheist?: A Teen's Guide to Exploring a Life Without Religion, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 149

   The legal image of the atheist constructed by these cases implies that the atheist or religious none is unworthy of voice and indeed of citizenship, that they are not part of the history of the nation, and that they are therefore unable to contribute to the public discussion about religion or its place in the public sphere.

   2015, L.G. Beaman, “Freedom of and Freedom from Religion: Atheist Involvement in Legal Cases”, in Lori G. Beaman, Steven Tomlins, editors, Atheist Identities - Spaces and Social Contexts, Springer, page 50

comparative more atheist · superlative most atheist

1. Of or relating to atheists or atheism; atheistic.

   He would have been seven times more Epicure and atheist than he was.

   c. 16th-17th century, “Francis Bacon”, in Of Unity in Religion

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   God! That majestic name is in the pledge. In doing this the government has already made clear that our country believes in God! We are the majority! Our nation is not Buddhist, not Hinduist, not Atheist, and the list goes on!

   2007 December 1, R. D. Richardson, Violence in the Urban Schools!: What Would You Do?, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 81

present singular third person atheists · participle present atheisting · participle past atheisted · past atheisted

1. raretransitiveTo make someone an atheist.

   The multitude of opinions doth draw him away, or else Atheist him, that he will be nothing. […] The multitude of opinions […] doth un-atheist him, put him upon the search and examination what is the truth of God.

   1646, Samuel Bolton: The arraignment of errour