1. Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods.
2. The doctrine that there is no God or gods.

[French athéisme, from athée, atheist, from Greek atheos, godless : a-, without; see a-1 + theos, god; see dhēs- in Indo-European roots.]

Atheism. Dictionary.com. WordNet® 3.0. Princeton University. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/atheism (accessed: May 03, 2009)

Freedom from Religion

2009 Bill Muehlenberg | ... While separation of church and state – rightly understood – can and should be promoted, there is no – and can be no – separation of religion and politics, or religion and the public arena. That is because religion is about worldviews, about the way people look at the world. Everyone has a worldview; therefore everyone is religious. Even the secularist and atheist have a worldview, and are thus religious. To argue that religion should have nothing to do with public life is to argue that no one should have anything to do with public life. This is simply impossible and nonsensical.

Everyone brings his or her beliefs and values to the public arena. When someone says murder should be illegal, that is bringing a worldview belief to the public arena. If someone writes an article or comment on a public website and seeks to argue that religion should have no place in public discussion, he is simply bringing his secularist worldview to the public arena.

Destroying the Foundations of the West

2008 Bill Muehlenberg | The Judeo-Christian worldview was essential for the rise of the West. Without it the world would be a radically different place today. Most of the features that we now enjoy about the West - such as freedom, democracy, limited government, education and the universities, the rule of law, the rise of progress and science, human rights and separation of church and state – would largely be absent or greatly diminished if it were not for the rise of Christianity.

Yet the West appears to be hell-bent on denying, eradicating or undermining these very foundations. Examples are legion. Let me just mention the most recent. In Victoria the school system has agreed to allow atheists to teach religious education classes, telling primary school kids that there is no evidence that God exists.

Never mind the glaring contradiction here: atheists have long denied that atheism is in fact a religion, or even a worldview, yet here we have atheism being taught in religious education classes. So which one is it? But the real issue is, by attacking Christianity in particular and theism in general, they are undermining the very ground on which they stand.

That is, the main reason why they have the freedoms to engage in atheistic proselytising is because of the Judeo-Christian heritage of the West. Freedom to believe in various religions – or no religion – is one benefit of Christianity. So too is the freedom to attend different types of schools, to hold to contrary views, and to enjoy freedom of conscience. All these benefits flow in large measure from the very Christianity which these atheists so deeply deplore.