It still amazes me every time I hear a theist say, “atheists don’t believe in anything.” Had I not had several people say this directly to me, I would have a hard time believing that theists ever actually say this.
The statement seems so nonsensical to me that I barely know how to respond. The first time someone told me that I didn’t believe in anything because I am an atheist, I was literally dumbfounded.
I do not understand how anyone could make the leap from a person not believing in one thing to assuming that they don’t believe in anything. Do they think that about any other rejected claims? What if it a person said they don’t believe in alien visitation? Would they also say that someone who does not believe that aliens have visited our planet does not believe in anything? If not, what’s different about the god claim that makes some theists think that if it is rejected, so are all other beliefs?
Another reason the assertion that atheists don’t believe in anything is so perplexing to me is because it is hard for me to even imagine that it would mean not to believe in anything at all. I am not sure that a person’s brain could even function without any beliefs whatsoever. How could a brain take in sensory input and reject all of it?
All of this leads me to conclude that those theists who make the assertion of atheists don’t believe in anything might mean something else by it. However, if I am right, I have no idea what they actually mean. I would like to know.
Join the conversation
Theists
If you are a theist who believes that atheists don’t believe in anything because they lack a belief in any deities, please tell us more about what you mean by this and how you came to this conclusion.
You can leave your explanation as a comment on this article or as a comment on the Skeptic Mom Facebook page.
Atheists
I am also interested in hearing from atheists on this topic.
Have you heard the assertion that atheists don’t believe in anything? If so, what was the context and how did you respond?
You can leave your explanation as a comment on this article or as a comment on the Skeptic Mom Facebook page.
I’m looking forward to a great discussion!
Follow up post: Response to Atheists Don’t believe in Anything
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What I clearly see is, that the only belief is, that Atheist dont believe in God. And if you dont believe in God, you dont believe he exist. Im seeing this, that and the other, but nothing on what Atheist believe in..?? Other than believing in Gods non existence. What do you believe in?
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Hello,
Thank you for asking.
Atheists are not a monolithic group. We are just people who haven’t been convinced that any gods exist. Just because atheism is a rejection of a claim and not an assertion of a claim does not mean that they don’t believe anything. Many atheists probably hold beliefs identical to yours, minus one. (And, if good evidence of any god’s existence were to be found, most atheists I know, would become theists.)
It might be easier to understand with Bigfoot. Some people believe Bigfoot exists. Others do not. If enough people started pushing the idea that Bigfoot exists and belief in Bigfoot is necessary and tried to make it part of biology class, etc., then those who didn’t believe might start going by the term abigfootists. You might even be one. All of those abigfootists might have different beliefs from one another, but they would have beliefs.
I can only speak for myself. But, I believe in a great many things. Most likely we share many beliefs. But one belief I will mention is that we (people) should try to make the most out of the one life we know we have. And, by that I not only mean that we should try to enjoy our lives but we should do what we can to promote human flourishing and make the world a better place for everyone.
Thanks for the discussion,
Have a great night!
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BTW, I have been meaning to thank you for your post, callsbrook. I helped me to see what theists might mean when they say that atheists don’t believe in anything. It has always been a very confusing statement to me.
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Excellent blog, and I love that you encourage joining in on discussions! I’m going to very much enjoy having you on my feed.
As a former Christian, and current Atheist, I’ve seen both sides of the fence. As a Christian, it can be very hard to see meaning in existence without a relationship with the Creator. Thus, even if we can logically see that the Atheist does believe things, it appears as “nothing” in comparison. Add in the whole life after death spiel and it makes sense in the theistic mind.
As an Atheist now, I hear this most from my mother and I can’t really respond but to roll my eyes (on the opposite side of the phone, of course). As a skeptic Atheist, I suppose it is epistemology true to say I do not believe in anything (or rather, that knowledge can be obtained without reasonable doubt to it’s truth) but I think the important part is in our actions as individuals. How do we as Atheists act? Not very different from the every day Christian, really. No matter our “beliefs,” our ethics are very similar at the core, even if divergent on modern day hot topic issues.
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Hello Nikeyo,
Welcome to Skeptic Mom! Thank you so much for the compliment and for adding to the discussion! I hope you will continue to contribute your thoughts either in the comments section or on the Skeptic Mom Facebook page (1skepticmom). Your experience with religion as a former Christian and as an atheist will make for great discussions.
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and sorry for my bad English
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No need to apologize!! I really appreciate your comments!
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I am an atheist and I heard, “you do not believe in anything” a lot, for example I saw a facebook post that atheists are people who believe that universe evolved out of nothing, “nothing” is important here,…that is what theists think, that we believe that everything evolved out of nothing…when I said one of my friend about few scientific theories about the origin of universe..especially big bang,he asked me” what happened before big bang is still unknown..so doesn’t that mean..Some miracle happened before it.?”,well I know the answer to that question,that we don not know about something does not mean that god’s presence is there..once man never understood what caused rain,lightning, and all…so he believed god did those things…now the real reason is evident and we know it is not god..who cause these things…I never wasted my energy explaining this to my friend because..theists won’t listen to anything that is contrary to their beliefs …and..ironically it is the Bible which give the message..that at least some thing was formed out of nothing..”Let there be light and there was light” no just bible..almost every holy books are filled with scientific inaccuracies..theists say that we believe in nothing because…they don’t know anything
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Hello Freethinker95! Thank you for joining in on the conversation.
So, it sounds like from your experience, when theists use the phrase “don’t believe in anything” they are mostly referring to where everything came from? That’s interesting. I had not really thought about that before. But, I could see that some may think that. I have never really known what the theists who use that phrase mean. It just hasn’t made any sense to me when they have said it. 🙂
Maybe some theists will be willing to join in on this conversation and give us their take on it.
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Only a few theists in my knowledge,listen to atheists and spare some time to ‘think’ about atheist views,they are scared that if they support atheist or if they read ‘God delusion’, they will be punished by God.
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I hope that is changing, at least somewhat, now that more atheists are getting more vocal.
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Yes, let’s see what theists has to say about this………
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