There is an article on CNN’s “Belief Blog” making the rounds that talks about “the six types” of atheists. This is hilariously funny… to me any way. Interestingly enough, a few years ago, I came up with a list of six reasons why people become born again. But that is a little different from saying six types of Christians.
The reality is that there is really only one type of Christian and that is the Christian that believes in the bullshit of an imaginary deity. Of course, I am putting it nicely. I treat Christians as people and acknowledge that the only thing that really separates them from atheists is that they happen to believe something that isn’t true.
Atheists aren’t as a whole argumentative, rebellious, confused, angry, indifferent, or dogmatic as the article suggests and Christians aren’t either. Christians are just wrong. The belief blog article tries to paint atheists into those six categories, but the reality is that all atheists really fit in one category and that is people who lack a belief in deities. I find it more interesting to learn why people believe or don’t believe what they do or don’t believe rather than categorizing them into “types.”
Personally, after reading the list of atheist types, I think I fall into all of them to varying degrees. But more importantly, I follow the evidence and when it comes to gods or Christianity specifically, there is none. Sure, I consider myself to be intellectual (I hope everyone does) and I love to argue. Yeah, am involved in politics and social issues (I hope everyone is) and I strongly support equal rights for everyone. Okay, they pegged me; I have an open mind and am always seeking new information (I hope everyone does). Yes, I also think that religious belief is extremely dangerous and I am an outspoken critic of dangerous and ridiculous beliefs (I hope everyone speaks out against dangerous beliefs). Believe it or not, I actually wish I didn’t have to be constantly talking about the evils of religion. I wish I could just apathetic and disinterested in ridiculous beliefs, but when those beliefs become dangerous and pervasive, I am left with little choice. But I really wish we could focus on science and the arts. And who doesn’t love a good holiday?
So I have to call this CNN article out as bullshit. More than that, I have to call this study bullshit and question the motivation behind such a study.
Related articles
- The six types of atheist | Andrew Brown (guardian.co.uk)
- ‘Atheists Must Believe X’ (skepticink.com)
- Atheism 101: Atheism is not a worldview (examiner.com)
- Klein responds to atheists over Time Magazine article; still doesn’t apologize (examiner.com)
- Atheism On Huffington Post (skepticink.com)
- ‘Not All Christians Believe X’ (skepticink.com)
