And Atheistism: The Existence Of Atheism

Atheism is defined as the doctrine or belief that there is no God, gods, or supreme beings. The word atheism comes from the prefix "a," meaning without, and the root "theism," meaning a belief in a god or gods. As many as 20 percent of people surveyed worldwide identify themselves as "nonreligious," and describe themselves as either atheist or agnostic. Agnosticism is the belief or doctrine that the existence of gods cannot be proven to exist or not to exist.

Atheists cite many reasons for their non-belief in a supreme being. Some have been raised without religious instruction or have lived their lives in a secular society. Others feel that science adequately accounts for the origins of life and don't feel the need for faith in an unseen creator.

Atheists believe the onus is on religion to provide proof of its validity. However, religious believers argue that the presumption of God's existence is based on reason, and that the proof of God's existence is in the unanswered questions about the universe, which remain unaddressed by science.

Those who believe in a god feel that the essence of faith is the ability and willingness to be true to one's beliefs without proof. They believe that their god has a plan in spite of the appearance of chaos and cruelty in the world, and it may be that this plan is beyond human

Seventeenth-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes wrote that it would be impossible for Moses to have written all of the books of the Bible for which he is given credit. In 1779, German scholar Johann Gottfried Eichhorn wrote that the stories in the book of Genesis were not historically accurate but were, instead, myths. The stories, said Eichhorn, should not be read as if they were the actual word of God but should be considered in the same spirit as the mythologies of ancient Greece and Rome. In 1835 another German, David Friedrich Strauss, wrote the same of the New Testament stories of Christ; that they should be read as myth not as truth. In 1841, German Philosopher and anthropologist Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach wrote that God did not create mankind but was instead a creation of man intended to comfort humanity in the face of fear and