Atheist
has been in the past a term of reproach, and most men of
position in the world who have denied the existence of God have resented being
called by that name. More recently, however, with the rapid spread of atheistic
communism and the organization of such groups as the American Association for
the Advancement of Atheism, the name has lost much of its opprobrium. Men who arc
atheists at heart according to the dictionary definition of the term, disclaim
the title by making up their own definition of God. If a man recognizes that
there is an active principle in nature, he may call that God. Another might
define God as force, or motion, or thought, or natural law. If we are willing
to relinquish the definition of God and permit it to mean any of these things,
then we would have to say that there are no atheists in the world. However, if
we hold to the true meaning of God as a personal, extra-mundane, all-powerful
Being, then we will have to call one who denies the existence of such a Being
an atheist.
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