Let’s start with the basics. What does “Atheism” mean? It’s a word derived from the Greek word “theos”, meaning “God”, and the prefix “a-“, meaning “without”. An atheist is someone without a belief in god. It is as simple as that. Nothing more, nothing less. It is not a belief system that tells me how to behave or what to eat. It is a simple statement of my lack of belief in God. I could be a fascist, a communist, a monetarist, a narcissist. All of these other belief systems and characteristics are supplementary to, or supplemented by my atheism.
My atheism doesn’t make me special: I’m one of about 15 million other people in this country who do not describe themselves as religious. I’m not writing this blog to “evangelise” either: I’ve argued through many a night with religious friends, but never seen any wisdom in trying to “convert” them. I know all too well that what we don’t choose to believe what we believe – we just do. I’ve been invited to contribute to this column, and I see this as a good opportunity to clear up a few misconceptions.
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