Atheism = No Spiritual Dimensions To Reality?

[Perry Winkle]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

It's not so much "against" as "lack of". You can also be "against" but it isn't necessary. It is defined by theism in the same way that "gentile" is defined by Judaism. Before Judaism, everyone was gentile, but there was no need for a word for it. "Gentile" isn't a worldview or a belief system, and neither is "atheist".

I think that's a bad analogy for the theist/atheist comparison. Gentile is a label for an out group, not an in-group appellation. The atheists I know label themselves such, while no gentile I know uses that label unless referring to themselves from a Jewish perspective.