How Many Atheists Does it Take to Believe in God?

Agnostics are people who believe it's impossible to know whether there is a god or not, no connection or disconnection to spirituality is implied in the term.

You know, over time, I've found that not only do you seem to have a rather low opinion of atheists, you've made no effort whatsoever to understand us. And yet, you keep writing about us. What gives?

I think people are very complex and are often able to hold muliple divergent beliefs at once.  I am guessing that a lot of nuances about people who may not believe there is no G-d but feel that atheism most closely matches their core prinicpals.

In my case I am an atheist.  I not only do not "believe" in G-d but I have enough evidence to satisfy myself that there isn't one (obviously other people come to a different conclusion).  At the same time I attend Temple 3 out of 4 days a month, and consider myself a Reform Jew.  Does this present a paradox, I believe so, our  prayers explicitly announce a belief in G-d.  And my reading of Torah doesn't  give space to my atheism.  

I want to clearly say that I am NOT weighing in others positions about G-d/Judiasim/Atheism.  I just want to give the viewpoint of someone who hasn't figured it out, and until then will look very odd on simplistic polls (I suspect that you will get a lot of people like me).

-Matt 

I normally enjoy your articles, but I have to admit most of your posts concerning atheism piss me off. Your contempt for them is thinly veiled.

 First, however, I want to address this: "This atheism confusion is almost as upsetting as the revelation that
one in five Christians speaks or prays in tongues from time to time.
Holy shit. Or should I say Baholloy Gutoirily Falswatahlisa?"

 As someone who use to attend a Pentecostal church, it agitates me when people dismiss those who pray in tongues. Unless you heard the actual language yourself, you have no grounds to be flippant towards the practice. As an atheist, the one and only thing that still bothers me the most in my past experiences is having had witnessed people who have spoken in tongues. I can't communicate why it bothers me so, and that is why I encourage those curious or even opinionated on it to find a Four Square church (or equivalent) and objectively listen for yourself. I, personally, don't know what to believe.

 As for the rest of this post: I'm an atheist who prays. Why? Because I've been brought up all of my life as a Christian with a couple of anxiety disorders - namely OCD. Praying, for me, is a ritual that releases anxiety. It's why I keep doing it. I know this, and I'm conscious of it, but it still works, and I still feel calmer. I don't attribute it to a higher power, I attribute it to years of brainwashing. But I'm a practical person, and besides, I don't see the harm. Maybe there is something out there that listens to prayers and response? Maybe they'll help me out if they exist. I don't think they do, but if praying is a gamble, it's a safe and logical bet.

Also, at times I'm slightly inclined to believe in a "higher intelligence," but I will ALWAYS claim to be an atheist. Why? Because my definition of a "god" is so far from the current notions of what we describe as "God" that it wouldn't be right to  call myself a theist. It simply wouldn't be accurate. And to sum up any notion of a higher intelligence under the apparently catch-all-label of "God" would obliterate the small but important nuances that separate my concept of an ordering physical force from the supernatural "God" that carries all the religious connotation that it does. 

I personally suspect that many atheists who believe in a "god" do so in the same vein that I do: we're all against the belief in the religious "God" as assumed when the word is used. But if pressed, we'd probably reveal our concept of a "god" that uses an entirely different definition than that used by most religious believers.  

I was going to post something about how atheists who believe in G-d or heaven or hell manifest a child's belief in such concepts, and therefore just get confused.  But seeing some of the comments, I've changed my mind.  I do think that people who claim to be atheists are in their own way very close to monotheism.  Because the skepticism which begins with Abraham is a skepticism about all simplistic--and childish--representatives of the divine.  So atheism, in some cases, actually becomes a rebellion against those concepts: a cultural statement rather than a theological one. www.openmindedtorah.blogspot.com

Two things are guaranteed when Tamar writes about atheism: One, she doesn't like atheists, and two, she won't respond to criticism.

Actually, I don't believe in the ooey-gooey-means-whatever-it-is-you-want-it-to-be "mature" version of god, either.

I know this will shock people, but sometimes I don't respond to comments because I don't have time--besides being a writer I'm a full time caretaker, and a waitress, and an artist.  So if I don't respond to you calling me an asshat it might be because I don't want to get into name calling escapades, or it might be because I've got other things to do with my time.

Anyway.  I don't dislike atheists.  Some of my best friends are atheists!  (The last guy I dated was afraid I would dump him when he told me he's an atheist, but we were together for six months.  So there!)  There have been days when I've thought of myself as an atheist.  But I get really frustrated with people who claim to be atheists because they had a bad experience in Sunday school, or because they think radical Islam is dangerous.  I have high expectations for everyone, which means I expect observant Jews to have thought seriously about their beliefs, and I expect atheists to have thought seriously about their beliefs.  I often find (as in the case of this study) that people who call themselves atheists are reacting to something negative in their past, and not making a serious theological statement, and that annoys me.  I'm sorry, but you cannot be an atheist and believe in God.  You can pray even if you don't believe in God, you can observe mitzvot, and live a completely Jewish life, but if you're an atheist, by definition you don't believe in God.  It also annoys me when people who are observant Jews or Christians or Mulsims say dumb unfounded things about their faith, and I call them on it, too.

I happen to think that belief in God is an integral part of Jewish life, but if someone wants to call him or herself a Jewish atheist I'm fine with that--I just want them to have a clear sense of what that means, even if it's a highly personal understanding.  And hey, believing in God can mean any of a number of things, and I don't particularly care which definition a person chooses, I just want it to be one they've though out.

And Zingara, I have actually heard people speaking in tongues at church.  I still think it's kind of creepy, but in this case I was reacting to its apparent prevalence.  I had no idea so many people were into that. 

"But I get really frustrated with people who claim to be atheists because they had a bad experience in Sunday school, or because they think radical Islam is dangerous."

Maybe you know people like this, but I've never met one who actually became an atheist because of these things. It just seems like you consider this to be the default atheist position. 

One most certainly can be an atheist Jew. Most of us agree that one can celebrate one's culture without believing in the supernatural. 

I completely understand your sentiments. I use to have those same "high standards," until I realized that that philosophical and theological inquires do not lead to neat answers always. Besides, life is about living and growing, and sometimes contradictory answers produce deeper results and more understanding than only siding with one face of an argument.

As for speaking in tongues, I agree that its prevalence is a bit disconcerting. They're probably just subconsciously reiterating what they learned in 10th grade Spanish without realizing it.

"The Lord, Our God, The Lord Is None"