"And it is in his own image, let us remember, that Man creates God" (H. Havelock Ellis). This quotation is one of the common arguments that you could hear from atheists. They say that God is created by the wonderful mind of man. The word 'atheism' comes from the negative 'a' which means 'no' and 'theos' which means 'god.' Hence, atheism in the most basic terms means 'no god.' Atheism is thus characterized by an absence of belief in the existence of gods. Based from history, there is a common notion that atheists are also communists. This notion is not necessarily true for all atheists. It just so happened that notable communists are atheists too. Atheism is not a lack of belief born out of simple ignorance of religious teachings. Thus, real atheists were not ignorant of religious teachings. Others thought that atheism is another kind of religion. But, atheism is not a religion. Why is it so? Isn't it that if you have a religion, you have a belief in a Supreme Being? Thus, this just proves that atheism is not a religion at all. Atheists do not advocate the worship of Satan, molesting of little children, "New Age" beliefs, or persecution of religious people. Atheists do not worship any form of Supreme Being whether He is evil or good by nature since they do not believe that such exists. Moreover, they happen to know that children have rights too. Atheists are not "forcing their opinions" on the society. They are just standing up for themselves, for their constitutional rights.

Atheism is categorized into two positions: (1) weak atheism, and (2) strong atheism. "Weak atheism" is simple skepticism, disbelief in the existence of God. Using the weak definition of atheism would classify infants to be atheists as well. "Strong atheism" is an explicitly held belief that God does not exist. Not all atheists are strong atheists. Others may also perceive that people who do not believe in God are atheists. Disbelieving in God and disbelieving in God's existence is truly different. Disbelieving God would mean that God exists but you do not believe in His teachings. In short, disbelieving in true and disbelieving in false is different. In addition, there are groups of atheists that are called as militant atheists and agnostic atheists. Militant atheists are few in number are usually highly insulting and profoundly terse in their comments to theists, particularly Christians. Thus, having arguments with militant atheists is just a waste of time. Agnostic atheists are those who deny God's existence based on an examination of evidence. They say they are open further evidence for God's existence.

The two main arguments of atheists fall into two categories. First, they offer reasons why God does not exist. Second, they attempt to dismantle the proofs used by theists to demonstrate that God does exist. A common argument from atheists is that if there is a God then why do all evil things happen.

Like theists, atheists has a set of guiding principles or presumptions. These basic principles are: (1) There is no God or devil; (2) There is no spiritual realm, no afterlife; (3)Miracles cannot occur; (4)There is no such thing as sin; (5) The universe is materialistic and measurable; (6)Man is material; (7) Evolution is scientific fact; and (8) Ethics and morals are relative.

What's the philosophy behind atheism? People do not choose atheism - they realize that they have lost their faith and have therefore become atheist. One of the common reasons for this is that people simply realize that (for themselves, at least) better, more complete and coherent explanations about Life, The Universe And Everything can be found outside of religion - the universe just makes a lot more sense without any sort of God involved. Many atheists feel that the idea of God as presented by the major religions is essentially self-contradictory, and that it is logically impossible that such a God could exist. Others are atheists through skepticism, because they see no evidence that God exists. Likewise, there are some atheists who chose to be atheists without any justifiable reason at all. Atheism had its roots in the ancient philosophy of materialism that had been set forth by Epicurus and his followers--a world of atoms and empty space and nothing more. If reason could not discover God, said the atheists, there was no purpose served by deciding there was one. "Existentialist philosophy," says Gora, "recognizes the existence of the individual as the real purpose of human life. The recognition is basically atheistic and it encourages the individual to free himself from the impositions of custom, governmental authority, economic pressures, and cultural inhibitions." But he complains that existentialism lacks social responsibility, having been lopsided in its development. "The love of individual freedom has stood in the way of the appreciation of social obligations."

Strong position has disadvantages in public discussions at the popular level because it is easy to portray as dogmatic, unreasonable, and thus unscientific. However, these descriptions of the strong position being dogmatic and unreasonable are false. An atheist who holds the strong position claims that since there has not yet been found any evidence for God, it is reasonable to say that no gods exists. But should evidence for God be found, the 'strong' atheist could become a theist just as quickly as a 'weak' atheist could.

"Hallucinations and illusions are not facts useful for scientific investigation," he says. True morality, Gora says, is based entirely in the real world. "Because morality is a social necessity, the moment faith in god is banished, man's gaze turns from god to man and he becomes socially conscious. Religious belief prevented the growth of a sense of realism. But atheism at once makes man realistic and alive to the needs of morality." Thus, the notion of atheism as immoral is wrong. Atheists can be ethical too. They have a sense of what is right and what is wrong. Atheists are realists and are not idealists like most theists do. Theists believe that God would save them from harm but for the atheists, they are just being realistic that it is them or other people could save them from harm. There are also some arguments raised by Christians that how could an atheist prevent himself from doing harm to anyone especially that they do not fear God simply because they do not believe in one and that they do not have absolute moral code. Like in the previous statement above, atheists have conscience.

"No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God" (George H.W. Bush). This quotation is in violation with the right to choose whether to belong to a certain religion or not. This statement also degrades the morale of atheists and in return, they are thus insulted.

Sources: