Clearing Up Definitions and Misconceptions

For the past years, many articles and surveys like this, this, and this have given rise to this unsettling general consensus: Atheists are one of the least trusted people, almost in par with rapists and pedophiles. Well, you might think that these surveys are biased, outdated, and these only apply to Americans, but think again. A recent event had demonstrated the severe consequences of speaking your mind and daring to challenge the religious institution, which just goes to show how grossly discriminated the atheists are.

This roughly translates to "we want to kill them for expressing their views!"

Thankfully, the Philippines is much more tolerant when it comes to these matters, although "ignorant" maybe a better term. Here's a simple social experiment to test this study: try to ask ten strangers what they think of atheists. If you're a well-informed person, you will immediately notice how the majority of them will give you wrong definitions. Or go to your christian fellowship or community, and when asked of your religious views, tell them you're an atheist. Two things will surely happen: their facial expression will change (from a relaxed, pleasant face to somewhat concerned and indignant), and they'll start asking questions. Really malformed questions. 

I'm sure you will get responses exactly like this.

 

So why do the majority of the population still holds these misconceptions on atheism? The one simple answer is PREJUDICE. There was a great chunk of Philippine history where it was dominated by Spain. And for more than three hundred years, The Spanish Government had established its culture on Filipinos, including the Catholic faith. Of course during that time, Filipinos had no choice but to believe. Freethought wasn't really an option, for the consequences were dire. Well nowadays, society has now became more tolerant and reasonable, but the problem is, the old ideas remained. The Christian faith became more of a rite of passage, a requirement, a necessity. And preserved within that faith is both the fear and the bias against those who dare not believe. This lingering irrationality is one of the problems of this country, but sadly most Filipinos just don't have the care to solve it. Ignorance and apathy are the causes of prejudice.

So how do we remove prejudices? By taking out ignorance and apathy, of course! Now I can't make people give a damn about this; I'm not a very persuasive person. What I can do is to remove ignorance, using this article. There are many terms related to atheism which carry a lot of misconceptions, and we atheists need to stand up and clear these once and for all. These are some of the most misused terms that people use to define non-believers.

1. Skepticism: According to Wikipedia and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it is defined as "generally any questioning attitude towards knowledge, facts, or opinions/beliefs stated as facts, or doubt regarding claims that are taken for granted elsewhere." Also, "the method of suspended judgment, systematic doubt, or criticism characteristic of skeptics." 

 

Note that this doesn't mean to doubt everything, but what it means is to have disbelief as a default position to evaluate an unproven claim. This is a critical attitude that almost all scientists have, because they cannot afford to be gullible when experimenting or observing. They can recognize which claims are bogus or authentic using skepticism.

 

2. Religion: "The service and worship of God or the supernatural; commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance" and "an organized collection of belief systems, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values."

Take a look at the words "God," "supernatural," and "spirituality." Simply put, religion is any belief system concerned with spirituality or the adoration to a supernatural deity. I've heard so many people asserting that atheism and science is a religion. Well guess what, atheism is not a religion, because 1) it is not a belief system but a position of non-belief, and 2) it is not concerned with any supernatural and spiritual deities. Same goes with science. If there's no god, no spirits, or no supernatural, it isn't a religion, period.

3. Atheism: "In a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Most inclusively, atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist."

 

You'll find either of these three in any dictionary. You may say that there are no differences with these definitions, but atheism is in fact more complex than what people might think. Basically, atheism is split into two parts: gnostic (strong) and agnostic (weak) atheism. Gnostic atheism is the position that says "I believe that god does not exist, and I have proof!" while agnostic atheism is the position that says "I don't believe that god exists, and all I'm just waiting for is some reasonable proof." Note that the former position implies a claim, and thus must have a burden of proof, while the latter just implies a lack, or rejection of a claim. So before you ask an atheist for proof of god's non-existence, be sure to check their positions first. They might be just agnostics.

4. Science: "A systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe." And, "knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method."

 

I'm sure all of us here are familiar with the scientific method. How do we answer a question about the natural world? First, you observe a phenomena, then you hypothesize on it, then you perform an experiment to test your hypothesis, you collect data, and you experiment again, and again and again. After that, you draw your conclusions to see if it matches your hypothesis. If it does, then you have a theory. Lastly, you share your theory to other scientists for peer review (let them disprove your theory). This is how science works. If a field of study claims to be scientific but they're not doing this process, they are pseudosciences (bogus sciences lol).

 

5. Theory: "the term 'theory' refers to scientific theories, a well-confirmed type of explanation of nature, made in a way consistent with scientific method, and fulfilling the criteria required by modern science." And, "a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena."

 

The problem with this word is, people use "theory" when they mean hypothesis (speculations and guesses), and they equate this definition with that of scientific theories. That's why many people often shout with conviction such ignorant statements like "evolution and the big bang are JUST theories!" The fact of the matter is, a theory is what happens to a hypothesis upon being confirmed by repeatable evidence. A scientific theory is the highest form of explanation of facts and scientific laws using consistent, testable and repeatable experimentation. Therefore, a scientific theory is ALWAYS subject to many refinements over time, in fact it makes it more scientific and accurate.

 

Moreover, theories DO NOT become laws. Why? Because the two are completely different, and they're not connected in a hierarchy. Scientific laws describe a phenomena, while scientific theories explain how and why those laws work the way they are. In fact, scientific subjects like evolution, the Big Bang, relativity, gravitation, atomic and germ theories all comprise of two things: a descriptive law stating an observation, and a theory to explain that law.

In summary, these definitions are part of our reality. People don't get to create their own definitions to match their prejudices; they must adhere to the established rules and realistic definitions. Misconceptions only exist because people don't bother to study and research, but rely on obsolete understandings. Erase the misconceptions, and you erase prejudice and hate, in turn leading to a much better social interaction with people of different worldviews. 

 

For theists, the next time you meet a non-believer, make sure to check your facts first before spouting off biases and misconceptions. Your conversations would be better if you'd just care enough to clear things up.

 

 

References:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/