My sister's boyfriend thinks that Atheism is the disbelief in a god and that being an Atheist means you go to Atheist groups. HELP!?

As an atheist, I find the concept of atheist groups or "atheist churches" to be a bit ridiculous... But so long as you aren't an ssa about shoving your atheism into others faces there is nothing wrong with being one. Atheists can be just as annoying as some religious people, it's just finding a stable balance. So long as you are a nice person, who know right and wrong, and doesn't try to force whatever belief system you may have, even if that is atheism, it doesn't matter.

Your sister's boyfriend is partly correct, the word atheist does mean a person who disbelieves or lacks belief in any God, or gods. He is misinformed about "atheist groups". Really those do not exist, beyond clubs at schools or universities that have grown up as a kind of self-help for people who are just discovering atheism.

A few "atheist churches" have popped up in recent years but they're really just comedy shows put on by standup comedians who figure that they can attract an audience by mocking or lampooning religious "revival tent" shows. They are usually not very *good* comedians which may explain why they cooked up this gimmick to attract an audience.

Okay? So what's the question? Atheist is the disbelief in any gods and if he wants to go to atheist groups than so be it

Explain it to him.

Theists are those who are certain

that at least one hypothetical deity,

that they are imagining,

is actually real.

Everyone else

(who lacks that defining certainty)

is atheist, because all that atheist means is

'not theist'.

Knowing that someone is 'not theist'

does not even imply why they are not theist.

It could be because they don't have

the mental development to have

this defining certainty.

(i.e. clams, new born babies, rocks, trees, etc.)

It could be because they have not yet

heard of the concept of hypothetical deities.

It could be because they have considered

one or more hypothetical deities

and found them unlikely.

Or any other reason.

It's not rocket science.

--

Regards,

John Popelish

Atheism means. You don't believe in imaginary things.

Atheism is the disbelief in all of the thousands upon thousands of gods mankind has created. Do you really care what he thinks?

You could tell him that it's true that atheists don't believe any gods exist, but that doesn't imply attending any group.

Tell him that getting atheists to come together en masse on any other topic is rather like trying to herd cats.

(As an aside, please don't capitalize atheist or atheism. They are not proper nouns)

You didn't give him the password, did you?

Did you tell him the location? If you did you know we must kill you right?