Reply To: Is Atheism considered a "worldview?"

[SteveInCO]

@Davis: For doG’s sake, I wish you’d quit your fence-sitting on this issue and pick a side, already. 😛

OK, with that tongue-in-cheek upbraiding out of the way…

The phrase “world view” to me implies a much more detailed view of how the world works, a lot more than just “doesn’t have a god in it,” and even more so with respect to “doesn’t look to me like it has a god in it.”

One’s view of how the world works is one’s worldview (that’s not a very precise definition, but right now there is too much blood in my caffeine stream–it’ll have to do for starters, and hopefully it’s close enough no one will think it’s just wrong). There’s no implication that it’s either a rational, evidence-based conception or not.

It is, however, quite possible for someone’s world view to be an atheist one. Not the atheist one, but an atheist one, if it does not include a doG. Or doGs. (Some people seem to have at least 101 Dalmatians in their worldview though dropping the first two digits is more fashionable these days.)

The point being that atheism is very non-specific. All you’ve committed to by claiming atheist is one position on one question. “I don’t think there is a god” does not logically imply anything else about you other than that most likely you don’t engage in certain activities on Sunday morning. (Though I am sure that many atheists out there go through those particular motions.)

This is why I get a little irritated by people who try to co-opt “atheism” by implying the only “correct” way to be an atheist is to adopt their particular agenda [(*cough*)Atheism Plus(*cough*)] on logically unrelated matters. That’s not to say that I don’t have positions on issues, but if you disagree with me, that doesn’t make you somehow “less of an atheist” or even an inconsistent atheist. Groups like A+ are basically engaging in the same behavior Belle’s friend engaged in, trying to make atheism more than it is. (And I see it in many local groups, which end up being monthly propaganda sessions for the unrelated political agenda of their chairmen/chairwomen.)