I’ve been seeing some writing lately about the types of atheist there are. I don’t know how there can be a type of atheist when atheism strictly means a non-belief in god(s). there’s actually no more to it. There are people that son’t necessarily believe in god, but are unsure because they don’t think that the answer is knowable. These are agnostics. I always cringe when I see articles about Atheists and Agnostics because it seems the author(s) are attempting to place us in a category of “unbelievers” when it’s clear they belong in different categories entirely.

I don’t know that there are no gods but I believe their aren’t because I have never seen any proof that there is a god or group of gods somewhere. I mean, look through time and all of the various religious beliefs that have been discarded over millennia. there were cults that was very popular during the rise of Christianity, like the cult of Mithras, Isis, Dionysus, among others. These are all banned by Emperor Theodosius in 391 C.E. Christianity became the state religion and that’s how this cult itself was allowed to grow and flourish in Europe and the eastern part of the empire.

Atheism, however doesn’t require any declarations or even announcements. It may be banned in several countries today, but then, if there’s no organized atheist group, how does one know if they even exist? Most atheists go about their daily lives without anyone knowing about their non-belief. In fact, even though we are fairly open towards atheism today, there are still places where. atheists are discriminated against. not openly, as that would be illegal, but subtly.

I digress, as usual it seems because what I really want to discuss here, if even briefly the belief in teo types of atheists. these have been called gnostic atheists and agnostic atheists. Gnosticism declares that something is knowable or is known where, as I already mention beging agnostic is the opposite. Richard Dawkins, in his book, The God Delusion, outlined a scale of belief to non-belief, a seven point scale (expanded to ten a few years later by someone else) from strong theist to strong atheist (someone that knew there was no god), Dawkins rated himself a six on that scale. that’s where i am and most people I know. I have heard of people that declare they are certain (7) there is no god, but I’ve never met one. I think that the people that came up with agnostic atheists as a category might place me, maybe you as well, there. But I disagree but I don’t say that the existence of god is unknowable, just that I’ve never seen any proof of existence.

I would really like to see some article or book by someone claiming absolute knowledge of there being no god(s). I think the argument would either be compelling or trite. In the meantime, I think I’ll ignore any additions to the word atheist that does nothing but confuse the public at large as to what an atheist is or isn’t.