Today, when it has become fashionable to consider themselves adherents of a wide variety of religions, some people, trying to emphasize their disbelief in God, call themselves atheists. Who are atheists? Can a person who denies belief in God (Allah) call himself an atheist? What are such well-known atheists as Friedrich Engels, Pyotr Gannushkin, Vitaly Ginzburg, Evgraf Duluman and their followers? Let's figure it out.
Who are atheists?
Atheism is a term that translates as "Godless". The concept came from France, but combined all forms of the denial of God and religion. Atheists are sure that any religion is an illusory consciousness,
based on the denial of the natural world. How are atheists different from believers of any denomination? The first believe that the nature of things is natural, and religion, whatever it may be, was invented by people. The latter, 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 every phenomenon.
Are all people who do not believe in the divine origin of the world and do notbelonging to any of the confessions can be considered atheists? No, not all. Who are atheists? People for whom disbelief and the desire for scientific knowledge of the world is the basis of their worldview. They bring their unbelief to the world, but do not impose it by force,
and try to educate people. This can be done only by knowing well the history of religious teachings and the characteristics of each faith. But people who simply deny their belief in God, but believe in ghosts, druids, Cthulhu, lamb or other mystical manifestations, cannot consider themselves atheists.
Atheist's Handbook
In Soviet times, they even issued a special manual for lecturers. It was called "Atheist's Handbook". The target audience of the publication were 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?". Employees of universities and well-known scientists who took part in compiling the manual and its appendix (it was called "Atheist's Companion"), introduced the history of religious movements and directions, their features. The compilers warned of the harm of wholehearted adherence to the teachings and the perniciousness of blind faith. On the other hand, the publication was quite politicized and often characterized religions not in terms of scientific achievements,
but from the standpoint of partisanship and ideology. This way of presentation was not always conclusive. Today's publication is of interestfor modern atheists and collectors of rare books (although the mass circulation of the manual cannot be called rare).
Summarize
So, real atheists are people who:
- learn the world around them by scientific methods;
- recognize the inherent 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 against religion, but carry out explanatory work, assert their worldview and defend human rights.
Someone of the greats said that atheism is just another religion. There is a sound grain in this statement: believers believe in God, while atheists believe in atheism and the power of science.
