>God as a variable is pertinent to being an "Atheist"
>
>What might an Atheist say to you:
>
>"I don't believe in God".
>
>"God" is still part of the equation, you call him into being
>by asserting him as an entity, and then identify yourself as
>someone that does not believe in him.
>
>Try to be an "Atheist" without God. You can't.
>
>A good diagram of what I am talking about would be a triangle
>with "God" as the apex, the believer and non believer on the
>two opposing ends of the base. Both are reliant and dependent
>on the idea of God.

ok. but why does "God" have to be apart of the equation? as an atheist, there's plenty of other gods i don't believe in as well. such as zeus, vishnu, thor, allah etc.

>Keep in mind, this only works if you actually call yourself an
>"Atheist". People in my circles used to identify themselves as
>Atheist until they learned the term has become a label that
>carries a lot of weight with it. If you are going to take a
>label on, you should realize that there are thousands of
>people who share it. That can be dangerous as there are many
>asshole Atheist's out there that put as much time into
>promoting non belief as Christians put into pro-belief. They
>are two sides of the same coin and I always chuckle at people
>who think they stand on higher ground by calling themselves
>Atheists.

but atheist IS the correct term. a theist is somebody that believes in a god or a creator. the prefix 'a' is added to determine a non-believer. no "God" needs to be added to any "equation." atheism is the belief that nothing exists. or, more correctly, it's the belief that we haven't as yet found anything that resembles a god.


>
>The safest bet is to say "I don't know" or "I don't believe in
>anything." You can't label someone who says that and it free's
>them from the burden of having to prove their point, which
>ultimately only leads to conflict anyway. A true non believer
>will not discuss the topic under the guise of a banner other's
>use in an evangelical or oppressive way.
>

nah. the "safest bet" is to say, "Up to now, there has been no evidence to suggest that there is, has been, or ever will be a god." much like it's the safest bet to assume that there has never been a fire-shitting, pink elephant.

i appreciate that you may have religious beliefs, but you can't try and lump atheism into the same pile of them.