What is the difference between a non believer and an atheist?

Answer 1

Answer:

Theists (this would include Christians) believe:

• in god or gods
• the intervention of god or gods to alter probability and natural laws either randomly or through prayer
• goodness comes from the gods not from human minds
• some sort of afterlife
• some "purpose" to life
• some sort of eternal part ot humans (e.g. souls)

While there is no atheist "Bible" of beliefs there are several common threads in most atheists' worldviews:

• there is no deity, heaven, hell, devil, salvation etc.
• science works and gives us the best available understanding of the Universe
• people are moral without the threat of displeasing a deity
• life is a wonderful thing, parrtly because it is so fleeting
• altruism is a god thing, everybody wins
• there are no miracles, just probability
• when you're dead, you're dead
• they don't want you to try and "save" them

Answer 2

Atheist : " One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods"

Non-theist: "covers a range of religious and nonreligious attitudes which are characterized by the the lack of or simply the exclusion of the beliefs in a personal god or gods and the general concept of theism." (definitions from Answers.com)

The term 'non-theist' is a much broader term and encompasses Atheists, Agnostics, and others.

Answer 3

Answer 1

An agnostic believes there is not enough evidence to decide the existence of God, an atheist believes there is no god or gods. In practice, philosophers describe 5 levels:

strong theist - certain there is a god

weak theist - an agnostic who believes there's not enough evidence to prove existence, nevertheless, believes there is a god.

agnostic - believes there is not enough evidence to decide the existence of God and has no opinion one way or another.

weak atheist - an agnostic who nevertheless believes there is no god.

strong atheist - certain there is no god.

Answer 2

Agnostic comes from the Greek "A" - meaning "no/against" and "Gnosis" - meaning "knowing". Agnostic, therefore, is someone who does not know whether or not a God or many gods exist. Atheist means someone who either does not believe that God/god-claims have met their burden of proof OR actively disbelieves in all God/god-claims. A person can be both an Agnostic and an Atheist at the same time.

In colloquial usage, though, people refer to themselves as Agnostics if they are unsure whether or not to believe religious claims and Atheists if they do not believe them, even though this is an incorrect use of the terms.

Answer 4

AnswerAn atheist is someone who denies the existence of god. A non believer is one who allows themselves to be open to suggestions, to possibilities. AnswerThe difference is pretty marginal for most purposes; philosophers do make a distinction between "strong" atheists - who are certain that there is no god, and "practical" atheists - who don't believe there is a god, but wouldn't dogmatically say there definitely isn't.

The other difference is that many atheists don't really identify themselves in that way; as Jonathon Miller says, "there isn't a special label for those who don't believe in faries, so why particular identify those who don't believe in gods?"

AnswerBoth the above are good answers. I would add that to a religious person, the phrase "non believer" may well apply to another theist who follows a different religion. For example, a Christian may regard a Hindu or a Muslim as a "non-believer", though they are far from being atheist. They do not, however, believe in the divinity of Christ, and are thus (from a Christian perspective) non-believers.

Answer

None. Consider the definitions:

• Atheist - one who does not believe in a god or gods
• Non-believer - one who does not believe

Answer 5

A theist is any individual who has a belief in a monotheistic God OR in polytheistic (multiple) gods. A Christian is therefore, by definition, a theist who believes in one God which is called monotheism.

Answer 6

Quite a lot.

An atheist does not believe in any god at all, let alone the God of The Bible and Jesus.

The Latter Day Saints (Mormons) believe in God and Jesus Christ, the same as all the other Christian faiths do.

Answer 7

A heathen is a follower of German or Anglo-Saxon Paganism. Paganism was practiced mainly in pre-Christian Europe (5-8th Century) as a polytheistic belief system - essentially believing that elements of nature (such as trees or rivers) had their own gods. In that sense, it's a little like modern Hinduism.

An atheist believes there is no god.

Answer 8

An atheist is a person who does not believe in god or gods.

An agnostic is a person who believes that whether or not gods exist is unknowable. Although skeptical about the existence of gods an agnostic is not a true atheist. An agnostic believes it isn't possible to decide if there is a god.

Answer 9

It depends on whether you are using laymen's definitions or theological/philosophical definitions.

According to a layman understanding, an Agnostic is a person who is unsure whether or not a God exists and, therefore, are not hedging a bet either way and an Atheist is a person who believes that God does not exist.

According to a theological/philosophical definition, the terms Agnostic and Atheist refer to two distinct characteristics. Gnosticism refers to having definitive knowledge of whether God exists and Theism refers to what people believe about God's existence. You could have a Gnostic Theist, which is someone who knows that God exists and believes God exists. You could have an Agnostic Theist, which is someone who is unsure about whether a God exists, but feels that sufficient evidence exists to warrant belief. You could have an Agnostic Atheist, which is someone who is unsure about whether a God exists and feels that insufficient evidence has been presented to warrant belief. Finally, you could have a Gnostic Atheist, which is someone who knows that God does not exist and believes that God does not exist.

Public Atheists today are trying to popularize the latter set of definitions over the layman's understanding in order to avoid the burden of proving that God does not exist, which would be necessary if they were Atheists under the layman's definition.