Could someone who uses the term please explain what a "devout atheist"?

Are there degrees to Atheism or equivalent karate like belts? I understand what is being said. One can be devout by not questioning and in complete agreement with a set of principles.

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"Atheist" was probably first applied by the self-righteous to those they disapproved of and were "without God", as the Greek from which the word was derived implies, or "Godless". And it was probably applied to those who might have believed in God, but who behaved in a way that was thought sinful. It's now generally applied to people who don't believe in God, and the word's derivation seems to imply it's from a believer's point of view. Someone who doesn't believe in God wouldn't think there was a God to be "without". But I tend to use it for myself sometimes as a kind of shortcut when discussing religion, myth, folklore, superstition and related matters, because people now understand it to mean someone who doesn't believe in God or gods. I realised in mid-teenage that faith was based upon nothing but itself, that science explained nature satisfactorily without needing supernatural beings, and that religious beliefs were no different to those of ancient beliefs in gods and goddesses. Up until then I was a devout, practising Catholic. When I first had doubts about my faith I thought that maybe this was a test of my faith. So I made the effort to accept it even more so. But the doubts came again, and I wondered what would happen if we took faith out of the equation; the world and nature still made sense, so I saw no reason to get back into it. And my understanding is that there's no theoretical or mathematical need for a god or gods, and there's no valid evidence of it or them; so there's no reason to believe. At the time this was difficult intellectually and emotionally (I was a teenager, after all). That was over 40 years ago, and my escape from faith has freed me to embrace what science has to offer, which I consider far more plausible than belief in the supernatural, and is the nearest we can get to the truth about how nature and the universe work. I've felt a sense of freedom ever since, and am happy and at peace with this. So I'm very much closer to the opinion that there isn't a god than that we can't know whether there is or not (or that God is unknowable). So the word "agnostic" would not apply to me. I still have an interest in religions, mythology and related matters, and am fascinated that people still believe in things that to me are plainly just not true. And I now have the humility to admit that I don't know everything; and I prefer that to the pride involved in invoking supernatural beings to mask that.

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RE:

Could someone who uses the term please explain what a "devout atheist"?

The question about Kirk "let's watch creepy men jerk bananas" Cameron brought up the absurd claim that he was a "devout atheist" (I'm sure as a teenager shooting a weekly series he was just so busy "preaching the gospel of atheism"...yeah right) from one of the responders.

Will one of the people...

The way I see it is that it's not supposed to make sense. It is an oxymoron. There is no such thing as a "gospel of atheism"- it's just another silly thing we like to joke about. Atheism is not a religion, but lack thereof.

If someone did use this expression seriously, they are quite confused on the definition of atheist.

Define Devoutly

Both the Christians and the Atheists on YA can be "devout". The meaning I use is fanatical, overzealous, or didactic.

Many of them seem to be two sides of the same coin....."believe what I say or you're crazy!"

There are kind of... fake religions, like the church of the flying spaghetti monster, or the Invisible Pink Unicorn.

These religions were started to show "just how absurd these other religions are".

My guess would be that instead of being slightly agnostic, these people are absolutely sure that there is NO god and they are perfectly willing to explain to you why they believe that believing is for ignorant, "unenlightened" people.

I have a person like this at my school. On prom night last year, he tried to "convert" me to atheism, and it didn't work.

I've never used the term. But it's not a point worth dwelling on. It simply means one who is dedicated to Atheism.

Atheism is a religion and don't act like it's not ~ it's a way of life and it's a belief system that requires more faith than that of a Theist ..

kirk "bananas" Cameron is a stupid dumb@ss.

case and point.