2007-10-25

Labels Galore

We nonreligious have a remarkable number of labels with which we identify ourselves. I acknowledge that each has a unique denotation and connotation, that we disagree amongst ourselves what each one means, that we debate the merits of the options and that we often change labels, but the terms greatly overlap and tend to describe essentially the same group of people. Here is an incomplete list:

  • agnostic
  • antitheist
  • apatheist
  • atheist
  • bright
  • doubter
  • freethinker
  • godfree
  • godless
  • heathen
  • heretic
  • humanist
  • ignostic
  • infidel
  • irreligious
  • materialist
  • naturalist
  • nonbeliever
  • nontheist
  • nonreligious
  • rationalist
  • realist
  • secularist
  • skeptic
  • unbeliever
We often subdivide atheism into at least two types:
  • weak / strong
  • negative / positive
  • implicit / explicit
And we have at least two words to label those who used to be religious:
  • apostate
  • deconvert
If you have another fairly common label which I have forgotten, please post it in a comment and I will consider adding it to this catalogue of nonreligious labels. I have almost certainly forgotten one of the numerous names we call ourselves.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Non-practicing atheist.

There are a lot of us out here in the rural south.

Ralph.