First of all the definition of Atheist is:

Atheist (a·the·ist n)

Somebody who does not believe in God or dieties

Encarta® World English Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

My standpoint:

Just like in any religion there are many levels of Atheism one can be. I am in the borderline between extreme Atheist and moderate. I follow some Atheist news and read some of the Atheist newsletters out there, but I really do not get incredibly involved within various Atheists groups. I become an extreme Atheist when, I get attacked by religious people by means when they say, You are lost or You are going to hell or when they try to convert me. Or when I hear crazy stories about neoconservative Christians. That is when I cherish my beliefs more and push myself away from these god-fearing religions.

Being an Atheist:

One of the things that I love most about being Atheist is the fact that there is no strict structure to follow. In order to be an Atheist you do not have follow the “rules” of being an Atheist. Nor do you we all have to read the same type of book or do the same ceremonies. I can choose to do what I want. Being an Atheist means freedom to do your own decisions. As an Atheist I have gone to church from time to time even a black gospel church. I either go with friends who attend that church or just to check it out. Some churches can be very entertaining.

Charity and community service

Another thing that I love about being Atheist is charity work is so much more enjoyable and rewarding. Many religions encourage you to do charity work because it is your duty as a Christian or something like that. Traditional religion gives the impression that you have to do good things for someone bigger than you. Atheist charity work is truly genuine and strait out of the goodness of our hearts. I love charity work I have done a lot of volunteer and donation work throughout my life and I do it not because I have to but because I truly want to. I am not trying to impress some higher being, I just want to help my fellow species because I want to. Believe it or not there are so many Atheists out there who contribute to charity and we do it to help our fellow species and not because someone is watching over us and judging us. Plus Christian charity work is also equal to trying to convert people. We will help you, but you just have to abandon your beliefs and worship our god That is not charity, nor community service! Religious organizations seem to be dominating service groups, that is one thing I wish Atheist would push for too.

Imagine an Atheist run soup kitchen:

We would be open all year round and not just during Christmas. Instead of praying or converting people who come in we just offer someone to talk to and someone to be able to listen to what they have to say. Why because Atheists are genuine in their ways and we do not have an ulterior motive for our actions.

Worldview and science

Atheist look for what is best for human kind. We strive to better ourselves, which is one of the reason we turn to science when it comes to our view of the world and life in general. Science is our faith. I love science because it is truth and it is not clouded up by imaginary characters or stories. There are millions and millions of scientific articles along with material evidence for our beliefs, compare that to one source ONE book written by white rich men thousands of years ago. Sure there are a lot of different variations but when it comes down to it, it is only ONE book. Unlike religions people Atheist are not afraid of the unknown, we cherish it we see it as a new challenge. It is okay for us to say I do not know because we are only human and do not have the answer for everything we have to look for it. We are not afraid to ask why and seek out an answer! We love what we do not understand we find it interesting. We rather find out the truth than believe what is written in one book or make up some fairy tale and be happy with that. That is not how we evolve. We evolve and expand our minds and abilities by asking why and by not being afraid of the unknown. A neoconservative Christian would rather hide, deny, or destroy the unknown. An Atheists looks for it and brings it out to attention saying We have to learn about this and find out what it is That is why neoconservatives ban things so quickly. It is easier to ignore than to find out the truth. But ignoring or destroying the unknown is not the answer, because all you are doing is denying your own evolution and preventing human kind to expand.

It is okay for an Atheist to be wrong.

Example:

Matter cannot be created nor destroyed (Fist law of thermodynamics)

Theoretical answer: Matter can be created

Atheist response: Interesting, lets test this new law and then let the world know of our new finding

Religious response: Oh My god! Thousands of years are down the drain if word gets out of this. People will loose faith and the entire world will crumble and god will come down and smite us all because we are not following his rules, we must destroy the truth!

Imagine the world if no body fought over religion. There would be no war and we will actually be focusing on REAL issues such as health care, human population, the environment, the economy, world order, etc. etc. There will be no more fighting over whose imaginary friend is better.

How can someone say you find peace through religion? Religion is the cause of war and violence. Stubborn vs. Stubborn. I am very peaceful person. My mind is free and open. I dislike violence, racism, greed, and war. I feel at ease believing what I believe and relieved that I know my place in life. I cherish every memory that passes and I help my fellow human when they are in need. I enjoy the fact that I am in control of my life, every action I take affects my future. My motivation is to try to better humankind and myself. Is that not peaceful? Vs. Pleading someone forgiveness and live your entire life fearing a entity while at the same time closing your mind to science, the truth, and other religions. Pushing your beliefs on to others while defending your stubborn way of thinking. Living your life based on faith? How is that peaceful? How do you sleep at night? Seriously.

Murder, Stealing, Cheating, and other crimes

One thing that I noticed about religions no matter what you do, you will be forgiven. You can rape and murder someone but god will forgive you if you ask him for forgiveness. So it is okay to break your own rules? How does that make sense? Now in the Atheist world, you do any of that it is your own dam fault. Your decisions are what factor what your life and future will bring. Make a stupid decision like rape or murder, you have just messed up your own life and NOBODY will fix it for you! It is best to make the right decisions in the first place and not throw your life away because you only have one, so you better make it a good one. Atheist strive one making ourselves better and improving human kind doing any type of crime would just not be Atheist. Have you EVER heard of an Atheist serial killer, rapist, or thief? Of course not! But you do see mass murders, rapist, thief pray to god and are active in their religions. You even have the crazies that kill because god told them to. How is that peaceful?

Death and after-life,

When you die, you die. But what is most important is what you leave behind, that is what is cherished more. So life is cherished more because each day that passes will never come again.

godless vs. Atheist

There is a big difference between both and they are not the same thing. Atheist is when you do not believe in any supreme entity. While godless is when someone rejects a certain or all religions based on personal issues. The godless also hate religions and hate god as well as have little tolerance for those who worship god. While an Atheist does not hate god because god simply does not exist how can you hate something that does not exist. Atheists do not hate other religions and they do tolerate people who worship god. If that were the case I would not have a catholic fiancé nor would I go to church with friends. We may not agree with Christians but we respect them and respect their beliefs. One of the things that irritate me the most is the godless calling themselves Atheist. YOU ARE NOT ATHEIST and you make Atheists look bad. Do not hate in our name! Atheist do not hate, godless do. The godless make fun of Christians, while Atheist enjoy a good debate with Christians, that way everyone learns something on both sides.