Today many people, when they hear the word "atheist", believe that this person must constantly be in conflict with representatives of various religious denominations. But in fact, this is absolutely not the case, because when there is blind faith, the mind is absent or simply asleep.
However, if we apply logic and analyze it precisely from a religious perspective: should a person, in order to control other people, blindly believe in various ancient myths written back in the Bronze Age? Or is today the time when freedom of thoughts, beliefs and scientific thinking reigns?
The uniqueness of each religion
Surprisingly, even qualified specialists cannot name a clear number of religions that exist throughout the world today. For example, only Christianity has more than thirty thousand different directions, and the adherents of each are sure that the true teaching is their teaching.
These religions are represented in various branches of Baptists, Pentecostals, Calvinists, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Old Believers, Anabaptists, Pentecostals and others. However, at present there is another very common direction - atheism. His adherents do not fallinto one of these categories. Therefore, the question of what atheism is is quite relevant.
Despite such a variety of different religions, it is impossible to get into the heaven of one of them, so as not to immediately end up in the hell of all the others. Every religious denomination that exists today contradicts all others in such moments as the creation of the Earth, the origin of man, the emergence of good and evil, and so on. In addition, various religious movements compare their mystical acquisitions, while proving that all hallucinations or mental disorders serve as an argument for authenticity.
But everyone knows that miracles do not happen. People who are residents of India who have been brought up in this characteristic culture, just before death, represent Shiva with six arms. Europeans see angels and demons depicted in Catholic frescoes. Aborigines living in Australia claim to have actually met the Great Mother.
Thus, the Holy Scriptures of different religions have a lot of contradictions. At the same time, numerous denominations provide rather contradictory images of the gods with their prescriptions. Since all of this information cannot be true at the same time, there are simply no divine beings related to modern religions.
The concept of atheism
What is atheism in fact, not everyone knows. Actually, the word is of Greek origin. It has two parts: a - translated as "not", (negation), and theos - "god". It follows that the meaning of this term is to negateall kinds of gods, any supernatural beings and forces, in otherwords - this is godlessness. You can also say that atheism is a system of beliefs that prove the inconsistency of the arguments of each religion.
As a rule, atheism is closely connected with the concept of materialism. Therefore, it is not for nothing that the emblem of the atom has been considered a symbol of atheism for quite a long time. This is explained by the fact that in nature all matter consists of atoms, hence such a specific symbol of atheism appeared. And this is not surprising, since this concept is identical with materialism.
Atheism consists of philosophical, historical, scientific criticism of religions. The goal is to reveal their fantastic character. In fact, it is impossible to say unequivocally what atheism is, since this is a rather complicated concept. For example, atheism reveals the social side of religions, and from the point of view of materialism, it can explain how and why religious faith appears, and also explains the role of religion in society and methods for overcoming it.
The process of development of atheism was characterized by a number of historical stages and characteristic directions. Among them were such fairly common types as antique, free-thinking under the feudal world, bourgeois, Russian revolutionary-democratic, and so on. The most legitimate follower of atheism of all ages was the Marxist-Leninist doctrine.
Individual defenders of some religions who do not fully understand what atheism is, arguing that this concept did not exist beforeit was in general, but the communists came up with it. But this is completely false. Atheism is a perfectly legitimate result of the development of advanced thoughts of all mankind.
Today there are two main types of atheism - it's spontaneous and scientific. Adherents of the first option simply deny God, following common sense, and the second - based on the clear data of science.
The concept of spontaneous atheism
The author of spontaneous atheism, which arose earlier than scientific, is the common people. That is why this species can be safely considered recognized and popular. It manifests itself, as a rule, in oral folk art (various epics, all kinds of legends, songs, sayings and proverbs). It reflected the main principles of the belief that all religions serve rich people who are exploiters. They are beneficial only to the rich and the clergy. Among the many sayings that have survived to this day, the most famous are “A man with a bipod, and a pop with a spoon”, “God loves the rich.”
From time immemorial, the symbol of atheism has been characteristic of the entire Russian people. One of the existing epics even brought out the general image of the famous freethinker Vaska Buslaev, who rebelled against the then injustice and various religious prejudices. He believed only in himself, and the religious force hostile to people in this epic is presented in the form of a pilgrim-monster. Vaska Buslaev struck the church bell, which was on the head of this monster.
The concept of scientific atheism
Scientific militant atheism gradually developed as knowledge about nature, social society and human thinking was accumulated. In each era, courageous and proud people were born who, despite the wrath of the clergy, were not afraid of all sorts of persecutions and various persecutions. They countered religions with the power of science.
Scientific atheism is the most important side of the materialistic worldview. Since this is a philosophical science, in the process of explaining the essence and criticizing religion, it emerges from historical materialism. At the same time, the main strength of scientific atheism lies not precisely in the criticism of religion itself, but in establishing the he althy foundations of the general spiritual life of the whole society, as well as each person.
Types of atheism
There are two kinds of atheism in human culture:
- Militant atheism (materialistic), whose adherents directly declare that there is no God and all stories about him are fictions of people. They either do not know the relationship of natural phenomena, or they want to have power over the ignorant, speaking on behalf of a God who does not exist.
- Idealistic atheism, whose followers directly declare that there is a God. But they are moving away from all religions, because they understand that the Bible is an erroneous concept, because Jesus cannot be the creator of the universe, and on the seventh day after the creation of the Earth, God does not rest.
Today, materialistic scientific atheism, under the pressure of various discoveries, is being rebuilt into an idealistic one. Followers of the second are rather passive. They walk away from the Bibleconcepts and absolutely do not seek the truth, while believing that religion is a deception and manipulation of people.
Believe it or not?
If we talk specifically about God, who is absent in churches, then on the basis of an incorrect religious feeling it is impossible to build a complete picture of the worldview and have a personal culture of knowledge that has great potential. The human mind is limited, which means that people's knowledge is also limited. Thanks to this, in the history of mankind there are always moments that are taken only on faith. It's not for nothing that many atheists really claim that atheism is a religion.
God proves his existence to all people and every person in some characteristic strictly individual form, and to the extent that people themselves are righteous and responsive and believe in God. God gives irrefutable evidence of his existence to people precisely according to their faith, but not to reason. He always hears prayers and answers them, as a result of which the life of the believer then changes, which is manifested in the events happening to him.
Indeed, God communicates with people only through the language of life circumstances. Any accidents that happen to people are direct hints aimed at the need to make any changes towards the righteous path. Of course, many are unable to notice these clues and react to them, since they are sincerely convinced that atheism is a religion that allows them not only to stand out from the surrounding masses, but alsohave faith solely in their own strength.
Communication with God
Undoubtedly, God communicates with people mainly through the language of life circumstances. Faced with any accident, an intelligent person must think about it, after which he will begin to clearly distinguish what exactly God is telling him: whether he promises his support or warns against any upcoming possible sins, mistakes and delusions.
Despite all these judgments, atheists are present in huge numbers around the world. Moreover, the majority of adherents of such views live in Europe. Atheism in Russia is a fairly common concept. There are many people here who sincerely believe in God, but there are also those who are convinced of his absence.
The first argue that communication with God cannot be somehow built with the help of various intermediaries. All churches claim their role. Direct connection with God is filled with physical meaning. However, it is absent from demonic personalities, since they are not based on the providence of God, but on their own personal calculations.
Besides, people who use alcohol are generally not able to fix any investigative connections of their actions with the situations they caused. Their life is very often filled with adventure and catastrophe. It's no secret that Russian people are famous precisely for their addiction to alcohol, so such a phenomenon as atheism in Russia is quite relevant and widespread.
As for true believers, they may not realizeall the possibilities of conversation with God and are sure that prayer will always be heard. When certain changes in life do not occur, a person, according to the meaning of his prayer, receives several other explanations why this did not happen. However, God can help people only in those moments, to explain which they themselves make every effort. It’s not for nothing that people say that trust in God, but don’t make a mistake yourself.
Who are atheists today?
It has historically happened that today almost all state special programs in the field of education, culture, he alth care, law with the support of the media lead to the formation of only materialistic views in people. Atheism refers to such a worldview as three main concepts: the scientific direction of atheism, evolutionism and humanism with all its derivatives.
Ideologists have recently been able to quite firmly convey to the public consciousness the idea of such a concept as atheism-materialism. This is the only scientific and historically progressive outlook that has been the correct achievement of the natural sciences throughout its existence.
Atheists are now perceived by many as sane, free, enlightened, educated, cultured, progressive, civilized and modern. Now even such a word as "scientific" has become synonymous with the term "true". Thanks to this, any worldview that differs from materialistic views can be considered not next to scientific ones.hypotheses, but contrary to them.
Defining atheism
Based on the fact that atheism is, the definition of which is quite difficult to unequivocally, we can conclude that atheists have only one authority in knowledge - modern official scientific data. That is why the bearers of scientific and atheistic worldviews have the same views on many things. This fact is evidenced by a clear answer to the question of what atheism is. The definition of this concept says that atheism is godlessness, which is based on scientific knowledge.
In other words, such a philosophical materialistic doctrine denies the supranatural existence of God, just like any non-material, but at the same time it recognizes the eternity of the material world. As is commonly believed in Christianity, the basis of atheism is that it conditionally proclaims its opposition to religions. In fact, according to the content, this concept represents one of the many forms of religious worldview.
Satanism and atheism
Many people have the misconception that atheists support the views of Satanists. Moreover, there is an opinion that the history of atheism includes such a direction as Satanism. This is completely untrue, and such a false version is being promoted by the clergy. For example, followers of the Christian faith see satanic machinations in many things and situations that are contrary to their interests.
In fact, Satanism is an ordinary religious movement with its own churches,clergy and the bible. In other words, religious atheism can be attributed to Satanism in the same way as to any such system. That is, the existence of Satan is denied, and the thoughts associated with him are considered unfounded. Therefore, no Satanist can be an atheist, and vice versa.
