it’s difficult to lump atheists together. Nonetheless, to understand the various types of non-belief Robertson grouped atheists into four main groups:


1. Functional atheists.This is most people (and the largest group of atheists). These are people who believe in some kind of god or power yet it makes no difference to their lives at all. They live ‘functionally’ as if god didn’t exist.
[I think this is the group where liberal Christians belong, i.e. 'Christians' who accept something of the Christian message, but deny miracles or resurrection of Jesus. Their manifestation of 'god' does change their lives in some way (usually mystically), but they deny any supernatural (any external, ontological, transforming power), hence remain functionally atheist.]

New Fundamentalist atheists.He said that this group don’t like this term. But these people are akin to ontological atheists – they genuinely believe that there really is no god. This particular group have reacted to the ‘God is alive’ movement. This group are intellectually elitist i.e. that intelligent people progress to be atheist. They claim that science has disproved god and get angry when you challenge them. These are the people who are likely to follow people like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. Robertson proposed that this group claim, ‘there is no god and I hate him’. He confided that many in this group have had a religious background but have been exploited or abused.

Agnostic atheists.These are people who just don’t know if god exists or not, they they claim there isn’t enough evidence. Robertson divided this group into two types:
a) Ignorant, b) Intelligent.
The key difference between the two is that the ignorant haven’t really done any serious investigation into the question. Robertson suggested that those serious about investigating the question ‘is there a god?’ s

Christian atheists.Robertson used the illustration of Justin Martyr here where he proposed that Christians are atheists with respect to other gods e.g. Thor, Ra, but not to the god of the Bible. He said that he wouldn’t go ‘one god further’ [I've pointed out elsewhere that there is an enormous difference between monotheism and atheism.]
So what kind of atheist are you? Do you agree with Robertson’s categories? If not, how would you describe the different atheists out there (and there are very different types)?

tobechi20: it’s difficult to lump atheists together. Nonetheless, to understand the various types of non-belief Robertson grouped atheists into four main groups:


1. Functional atheists.This is most people (and the largest group of atheists). These are people who believe in some kind of god or power yet it makes no difference to their lives at all. They live ‘functionally’ as if god didn’t exist.
[I think this is the group where liberal Christians belong, i.e. 'Christians' who accept something of the Christian message, but deny miracles or resurrection of Jesus. Their manifestation of 'god' does change their lives in some way (usually mystically), but they deny any supernatural (any external, ontological, transforming power), hence remain functionally atheist.]

Explain the bolded.
"functionally as if God don't exist "? Isn't that what ALL atheists do?
BTW, the Christians that deny miracles, etc, are deist.

tobechi20: Agnostic atheists.These are people who just don’t know if god exists or not,

they are just agnostic ;I don't think the term "agnostic atheist" makes sense.
Atheists are at one end, theists on the other, while agnostics are in the middle. You can't be neutral and "extreme" at the same time.

they they claim there isn’t enough evidence. Robertson divided this group into two types:
a) Ignorant, b) Intelligent.
The key difference between the two is that the ignorant haven’t really done any serious investigation into the question. Robertson suggested that those serious about investigating the question ‘is there a god?’ s

tobechi20: Christian atheists.Robertson used the illustration of Justin Martyr here where he proposed that Christians are atheists with respect to other gods e.g. Thor, Ra, but not to the god of the Bible. He said that he wouldn’t go ‘one god further’ [I've pointed out elsewhere that there is an enormous difference between monotheism and atheism.]

Stephen Roberts said it best:

I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

--Stephen Roberts

So what kind of atheist are you?

I don't think there are different kinds, just people with varying degrees of disbelief.

Do you agree with Robertson’s categories? If not, how would you describe the different atheists out there (and there are very different types)?

No, I gave reasons.
The only thing all atheists have in common is their disbelief in God.

tobechi20: New Fundamentalist atheists.He said that this group don’t like this term. But these people are akin to ontological atheists – they genuinely believe that there really is no god. This particular group have reacted to the ‘God is alive’ movement. This group are intellectually elitist i.e. that intelligent people progress to be atheist. They claim that science has disproved god and get angry when you challenge them. These are the people who are likely to follow people like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens.

define "follow" in context.

Robertson proposed that this group claim, ‘there is no god and I hate him’.

How do you hate something that doesn't exist?

He confided that many in this group have had a religious background but have been exploited or abused.

How did he know?

Apatheist: they are just agnostic ;I don't think the term "agnostic atheist" makes sense.
Atheists are at one end, theists on the other, while agnostics are in the middle. You can't be neutral and "extreme" at the same time.

Allow me to disagree with you. I consider myself 'agnostic atheist.' One term reflects what I know and the other reflects my opinion. So do I know for sure that gods do not exist? No, I don't, so my state of knowledge is 'agnostic'; that is, I don't know. However my opinion is that gods do not exist, hence I am an atheist with regard to that.

onetrack:

Allow me to disagree with you. I consider myself 'agnostic atheist.' One term reflects what I know and the other reflects my opinion. So do I know for sure that gods do not exist? No, I don't, so my state of knowledge is 'agnostic'; that is, I don't know. However my opinion is that gods do not exist, hence I am an atheist with regard to that.

Technically, I'm agnostics-atheist.
Agnostic in regard to scientific "god" or creator. I believe that IF there was a creator, he/she/they will have created the universe scientifically.

Atheist in the sense that I do not believe in religious gods.


Tl;dr: I don't believe in religious gods, if there was a god(read: creator) it wouldn't be any of the religious ones ie Allah, Yahweh, etc.

I am a functional atheist.

Apatheist:
Explain the bolded.
"functionally as if God don't exist "? Isn't that what ALL atheists do?
BTW, the Christians that deny miracles, etc, are deist.

there are many atheist who belive in devils,ghost, and spirits but not in any creator of the universe.

There are also functional theist-christian who belive in jesus and christian god but not in baptism,speaking in tongues and other religious practices.

Wrong, deist are those who belive in mulitple gods

tobechi20:

there are many atheist who belive in devils,ghost, and spirits but not in any creator of the universe.

There are also functional theist-christian who belive in jesus and christian god but not in baptism,speaking in tongues and other religious practices.

Wrong, deist are those who belive in mulitple gods

I don't know even a single atheist that believes in devil or spirits or ghosts.

And deists believe in a creator of some kind but do not accept any religion.

tobechi20:

there are many atheist who belive in devils,ghost, and spirits but not in any creator of the universe.

Really? this is the first I'm hearing of it.

There are also functional theist-christian who belive in jesus and christian god but not in baptism,speaking in tongues and other religious practices.

They're still Christians.

Wrong, deist are those who belive in mulitple gods

That's polytheist.
Definition of deism:

deism [ dee -iz-uhm ]
noun
1. belief in the existence of a God on the evidence of reason and nature only, with rejection of supernatural revelation(theism).
2. belief in a God who created the world but has since remained indifferent to it.