The Atheist Creed

[LifeisSweet]

I am sure many of you have seen some version of an Atheist's Creed, although I did not find one in searching this site.  This my version.  I welcome comments, additions, modifications, or deletions.  Maybe we can come up with a Creed most of us can agree on and endorse.

The Atheist’s Creed

I believe there are no gods, deities, spirits, or other supreme beings.

I believe life is finite, death is final, and my sense of being ends totally with death.

I believe I am not being watched, listened to, or judged by invisible supernatural entities.

I believe that life and the universe are derived from the random application of physical laws on mass and energy.

I believe the origin of physical laws, mass, and energy are mysteries that are simply unknown at this time.

I believe mysteries can only be explained through the application of scientific methodology with facts and logic.

I believe religions exploit man’s fears and desires in order to gain power and wealth.

I believe life has only the meaning and purpose I assign it, and I am responsible for my future.

I believe happiness is a state of peace, tranquility, and security, and free of fear, physical pain, and mental anguish.

I believe my purpose in life is to be happy.

[xSilverPhinx]

I believe most atheists cannot be herded as a group and so these "atheist creeds" for all are probably impractical. We're a complex bunch of people with different backgrounds who all agree on only one thing: that there are no gods. The rest is all possible. There are atheists who believe in the supernatural, who are anti-science, who believe in conspiracy theories...you get my point. 

As for me, I can accept most of your version. There are just two points I'm not so sure about:

I believe my purpose in life is to be happy.

At what cost? Oftentimes someone's happiness comes at the expense of someone else's sadness and suffering. The main example in my life is that of my father, who in pursuit of his happiness cowardly saw another woman for years behind my my mother's back and when she traumatically found out it almost destroyed her (it pushed her to religion, even ). He used to say that often, that his happiness was more important. To hell with the happiness of his wife of 20 years and four children.

(If he was that unhappy he shouldn't have been such a coward and should have gone about it a different way, but now I'm ranting off topic )   

I believe religions exploit man’s fears and desires in order to gain power and wealth.

Given she became a born-again "spiritual but not religious" Christian after that traumatic experience, and it kept her relatively sane, I'm not sure about this point either. I'm not pro-religion but it seems it's a real crutch for many people, so no, it's not all about exploiting man's fears and desires in order to gain power and wealth. For many it's about community, social support and feeling like there is some magical being that is capable of watching over them, and that all the shit that happens in their lives is somehow for the best.

[Icarus]

 Lots of we heathens are on the same basic wavelength, LIS.

[No one]

World domination, that's my creed.

[Randy]

I dislike and avoid the use of "believe" and relative derivations because it sounds like I have "faith" which I don't. I'm confident, based on the evidence, that this is all there is and, to the best of my abilities, make my own happiness. i try not to hurt anyone although sometimes I do. I guess it is inevitable in the human species.

[Sandra Craft]

I believe religions exploit man’s fears and desires in order to gain power and wealth.

Given she became a born-again "spiritual but not religious" Christian after that traumatic experience, and it kept her relatively sane, I'm not sure about this point either. I'm not pro-religion but it seems it's a real crutch for many people, so no, it's not all about exploiting man's fears and desires in order to gain power and wealth. For many it's about community, social support and feeling like there is some magical being that is capable of watching over them, and that all the shit that happens in their lives is somehow for the best.

The bolded describes my Dad and stepmother's use of religion.  Yes, they could have found all that in non-religious ways but they didn't, it was religion that appealed to them as the foundation for those things.  And they used that foundation to very good effect for both themselves and those around them, whether we were religious or not.

[Sandra Craft]

World domination, that's my creed.

My creed is "leave me alone, I'm reading", or maybe that's a credo.  I should look it up.

[Recusant]

No thanks. That's my polite response to all proposals or asseverations of a "creed" of any sort. I've had more than my fill of creeds.   

[Tank]

World domination, that's my creed.

Why? All those people to control. I would have thought becoming a hermit was more your line?

[Tank]

No thanks. That's my polite response to all proposals or asseverations of a "creed" of any sort. I've had more than my fill of creeds.   

This!

Too many people try and layer too many things on atheism. It's just the understanding that there is insufficient evidence to support theist claims of an existence of god(s). It's not a creed or dogma, it's freedom. If you want a creed then try humanism.

[hermes2015]

No thanks. That's my polite response to all proposals or asseverations of a "creed" of any sort. I've had more than my fill of creeds.   

This!

Too many people try and layer too many things on atheism. It's just the understanding that there is insufficient evidence to support theist claims of an existence of god(s). It's not a creed or dogma, it's freedom. If you want a creed then try humanism.

  Very well said. In my own little domain I have always, even as a teenager, instinctively lived by what William Morris declared:

If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. — William Morris

[Bluenose]

No thanks. That's my polite response to all proposals or asseverations of a "creed" of any sort. I've had more than my fill of creeds.   

This!

Too many people try and layer too many things on atheism. It's just the understanding that there is insufficient evidence to support theist claims of an existence of god(s). It's not a creed or dogma, it's freedom. If you want a creed then try humanism.

I completely agree.  Atheism simply means that one has no belief in any god or gods.  Beginning and end of it.

[Davin]

What a waste of time and effort to try to shoehorn a group of people into accepting a creed. Most of these are dumb, some are redundant, and all are useless.

Why do atheists even need a creed?

[Randy]

I've done fine without a creed all this time. I don't want to be boxed into a set of statements that doesn't always represent me.

[billy rubin]

I am sure many of you have seen some version of an Atheist's Creed, although I did not find one in searching this site.  This my version.  I welcome comments, additions, modifications, or deletions.  Maybe we can come up with a Creed most of us can agree on and endorse.

The Atheist’s Creed

I believe there are no gods, deities, spirits, or other supreme beings.

I believe life is finite, death is final, and my sense of being ends totally with death.

I believe I am not being watched, listened to, or judged by invisible supernatural entities.

I believe that life and the universe are derived from the random application of physical laws on mass and energy.

I believe the origin of physical laws, mass, and energy are mysteries that are simply unknown at this time.

I believe mysteries can only be explained through the application of scientific methodology with facts and logic.

I believe religions exploit man’s fears and desires in order to gain power and wealth.

I believe life has only the meaning and purpose I assign it, and I am responsible for my future.

I believe happiness is a state of peace, tranquility, and security, and free of fear, physical pain, and mental anguish.

I believe my purpose in life is to be happy.

hey life

i personally don't believe in anything except what i experience myself, and i can't assert that my experience represents reality anyway. this is a partly quaker position, in which one's own experience is the primary guide to one's apprehension of reality.

your creed is an honourable one, and frankly, if everybodu followed it i think the world would be a better place.  but there's lots of things in it that i don't consider knowable.

is there life after death? i dunno.

can facts and logic explain everything there is? i dunno that either.

are there gods? i do not know that. all i know is that i've never encountered one unequivocally, and i've never personally seen evidence for gods that couldn't also support not-gods.

i'm happy to continue in a state of ignorance on these matters, but i'm equally happy to maintain an open state of mmind, rather than asserting knowledge that i really don't havcve,

so for me personally, no creeds really fit.  they require me to believe in things, and i don't think i really have many genuine beliefs.