(OT) Some advice for me / My Depression Thread / Thanks forumers

[Will]

Originally posted by Atrocities:
Some people may have a belief in God, but not in religion, are they considered atheist? I honestly don't know the answer to that question, but I would like to.

Well, if you go by the technical definition, "atheist" would be one without religion. But the word is commonly applied to one who has no belief in a deity. And really, the whole entire range of people -- from those who practice "non-belief" to those who believe in some sort of deity/higher power, but without a specific religion -- are generally thrown into a vast grey area labeled "atheist/agnostic".

There are several labels that I have seen to catagorize these areas ("atheist", "agnostic", "humanist", "spiritual", "free-thinker", and on, and on, and on...), and all of them seem to be given different definitions by different people. If you ask someone what the difference between an atheist and an agnostic (the two most common labels), you will find a lot of different responses, like:

• "There is no difference worth mentioning, both are heathens that will burn in Hell for an eternity"
  
• "Atheists just don't believe, agnostics are 'still deciding, confused'"
  
• "Atheists are arrogant people who refuse to acknowledge any possibility of God, and agnostics are searching for the true God"
  
• "Athe-what?"
  

You get the idea... Personally I just think the whole catagorization thing was doomed since it was thought of in this case, since the range of beliefs in the grey-area equals the number of inhabitants. It's an intensely personal thing that defies any sort of sorting.
So, to answer the question... it depends on who's definition of "atheist" you use