For some reason, it is generally accepted that an atheist is a person who does not believe in God. This is partly true, but in reality the denial of a higher deity does not mean a rejection of faith as such. Like the Nautilus of the 80s: "You can believe in the absence of faith." In this regard, the denial of the divine should lead to other steps: the revision of the value picture of the world and the adoption of a new model.
In fact, after all,
what is religion? This is the production of moral values, ethical standards of behavior. However, atheists (by the way, these are mainly Europeans and Americans), proclaiming themselves as such, remain in the bosom of the Christian code. It turns out a strange thing: the denial of God does not provoke the denial of religion.
The essence of man and his positioning in the world
Let's look into this issue. An atheist is not just a person who denies any manifestation of the supernatural. This, as they say, is not enough. He recognizes nature, the Universe, surrounding reality as a self-sufficient and self-developing reality, which is independent of the will of a person or any other creature. Cognition of the world is possible only by means of science, and a person is recognized as the highest moral value. Thus, an atheist is a person who adheres to ordinary, somewhat liberal views. Moral issues, of course, interest him, but only in the context of protecting their own interests. He can be cynic, sneaky, agnostic, honest, decent - any. But this does not mean a denial of the moral principles through which he lives and is part of the social whole - the circle of the family, work collective, circle, professional group, etc. Social habits formed on the basis of the same Christian upbringing (even if indirectly, through school), this is not going anywhere. And that means faith, just in a slightly different form, unusual for everyone.
If not God's servant, then whose slave?
You can often hear that an atheist is someone who hates the phrase "God's servant." On the one hand, this is understandable. For atheism as an ideological trend, it is important to recognize absolute freedom, however, like any liberal ideology. On the other hand, the same moral problem arises: if not God's servant, then who (or what) is then the highest ideal for such a person? And here emptiness arises - in return there are no offers to God. A holy place, as you know, does not happen empty ...
Atheist Communists
As a result, it turned out that the glory of almost the predecessor of communism was entrenched in atheism. Marx and Engels, of course, publicly positioned themselves as atheists, arguing that God exists only in the imagination of people. But, again, this does not mean denying God as a moral ideal. Moreover, classical Marxism did not analyze religion from an institutional point of view, as it was done.
on the example of economics, social relations, organization of labor in production. The Bolsheviks fought with all their might against religion, but before World War II. And they fought as a political institution in the form of the Church, but not with the way of thinking, which we call religious consciousness. As a result, we got the Soviet type of faith, the remnants of which we cannot get rid of until now.
Famous atheists
The first atheist in the world is considered the ancient Greek philosopher and poet Diagor, who claimed the personal essence of the gods, their intervention in the affairs of Athens and, in general, the ability to change the world. A little later Protagoras proclaimed: “Man is the measure of all things,” which, in principle, was consonant with the “physical” tradition of early Greek philosophy. In the XIX century they create the theory of human psychogenesis, B. Russell in the XX century - the thesis of absolute doubt. But this does not mean denying the gods and religiosity! Simply put, for some reason it is believed that an atheist is a person who is distinguished by a special type of philosophical and scientific mind, which does not directly mean his godlessness. He just does not think like everyone else. But is this a crime?