Some people get confused between an 'atheist' and an 'anti-theist'.

To be an atheist, you simply need to lack a belief in a deity. To be an anti-theist, you need to deliberately oppose theism.


Many atheists are indifferent to God belief and some even support the belief in God or the institutions that uphold that belief because they think our society is based on religious morals, symbology etc. and may think that to get rid of religion would be dangerous, even if they don't actually believe in the truth of those religions or more specifically, their God claim.



For example, there is a line between being a moderate religious person, a fundamentalist and an extremist. There is also a difference between an anti-theist who opposes theism using words and arguments from those who would like to see state sanctioned atheism, where there is no such thing as freedom of religion.


In the extreme, both are equally dangerous and need to be guarded against - a state that seeks to enforce atheism on its citizens is as dangerous as a theocracy that tries to impose belief of a deity on its citizens.


There are a great many anti-theists who wouldn't want to force non-belief on anyone else but who also believe that society would be better off if people came to the conclusion that there were no God on their own.


Surprisingly enough, there are even theists who are anti-theists.

You could conceivably run across a theist who believes in a God or Gods but believes that a belief in God is harmful to society.

You can also find anti-theist atheists who attack other atheists when they defend religion or try to poke holes in their arguments. The anti-theist might argue that the atheist who somehow supports other theist is standing in the way of progress


A person who packs a live bomb into a church because they want to wipe all religion out is just as dangerous as someone who wishes to burn non-believers at the stake. People - whether religious or non-religious - need to work together to defend against the extremists of any ideology. Open and fair debate along with a sharing of ideas is what freedom is all about. Trying to impose your beliefs on others is the opposite of freedom and leads to tyranny.
Like I said at the beginning of this article, it's really a matter of degree.

I'm a triple A: agnostic atheist antitheist.