Apatheism

I never heard the term "apatheist" before, though I understand the concept quite easily. An apatheist is basically someone who doesn't believe in God, but far from Richard Dawkins worshiping anti-theistic atheists, simply doesn't care about the question.

As far as the declarative definition goes (who knows how many people identify as one but have their own special definition like many atheists and theists alike), apatheists are not interested in accepting or denying claims about God. They are almost agnostic, except that instead of not accepting or denying claims and taking a position of genuine uncertainty, the apatheist does take a stance in that they believe God to not exist, but with much less fervor and interest than the atheist.

The necessity of this word is questionable. If someone takes a stance on not believing in God, regardless of why, that person is an atheist. If someone does not take a stance on believing or not believing in God, they are agnostic. If they believe in God, they are theistic. The current use of the term apatheist is, if I had to take a wild guess, likely due to the stigma attached to atheists. It is possible to not believe in God and not be a busybody about it, and "apatheists" probably weren't keen on lumping themselves into the same category as militant, ideological atheists like Mr. Dawkins.

Historically, it looks like the term was "practical atheism," and it was not looked upon favorably. Now, it's been rebranded as "pragmatic atheism," and by many others as "apathetic atheism."

What's interesting about apatheism is that their arguments for their disbelief in God are similar if not exactly the same as the atheists'. I suppose they are just far less adamant about it. It sounds to me like anyone who may identify as an apatheist probably put more time into their decision than they want to sound like they did. I'd assume the truly apathetic atheist put much less thought into it than anyone who took the time to learn about and identify with this label. I would simply call these people "secular," though realistically if they are truly apathetic about the question of God, then they don't call themselves anything.

Apatheism apparently has three "main" arguments, though I'm sure there are plenty if you found one and asked them. These arguments are absence of motivation, indifference, and lack of evidence. They are all rather self explanatory, though I suppose apatheists who use the "lack of evidence" reasoning simply put less effort into it than your typical atheist. Ultimately, the most interesting part about the apatheist is, at least according to these sources, they don't believe the question of God has any bearing on their life.

This stance, whether taken by a self-identified apatheist or militant anti-theistic atheist, is the most puzzling to me. Even when I was an atheist, the reality of the scenario that if God did exist it would be most troubling for me was not absent from my thought process. The thing was that, at the time, I actively believed He did not exist, and therefore I believed I would not be in the trouble that I was aware I would be in if He did. To somehow take the stance that the question of His existence is entirely meaningless is showing ignorance to the reality of the situation.

I believe these people are experiencing a classification error - they are ignoring the philosophical reality that the answer to the question "Does God exist?" is either yes, or it is no, and that both of these answers have a very real impact on your life. The belief that the question of God has no impact on your life is not apathy, it is naivety. If He does not exist, then life and all existence is entirely meaningless. We will all die, along with the universe, and nothing we have ever done or ever will do matters for anything. If He does exist, then there is hope and there is meaning, but then there is also consequence for those who would deny Him. While you may attempt to argue that the impact on your current life is minimal if He does exist, the impact on your ultimate destiny is much greater - severely so.

Religion, however, could be argued to not have an impact on your life one way or another. While I would disagree, as attending a church was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, quality of life boosts I've experienced, the merits of organized religion - as it exists within the context of a flawed and finite people - can be argued. There are pros and cons, in relation to the type of organized religion and the specific congregation of people you'd be amongst. And, ultimately, we have the reality that "going to church doesn't get you into Heaven" (though it does help).

I would assume that many people who believe the question of God would have no impact on their life are misconstruing the philosophical reality of the question of a higher power with the various pros and cons of being affiliated with and participating in a religious organization.

The problem with "apathic atheism" and atheism in general is that the vast majority of them fail to bring their thoughts and beliefs to their conclusion. You can believe that there is no God all day, but until you bring that belief to its conclusion, you won't understand the implications of that belief. Professional atheists who do bring their belief of a God-less existence to its conclusion rightly state that atheism necessarily entails nihilism - the belief that nothing matters. That is to say, nothing at all matters, at all, ever, for any reason. Nothing.

Nihilism is a position of pure hopelessness. While some people have attempted to paint nihilism in a positive light, these people, too, have failed to draw their beliefs to their conclusions. Believing that nothing matters is cute and fun when you're young and want to do drugs and have sex at parties, sure, but the reality that if nothing matters, then any decision you've made about what to do with your life and how to live it is, ultimately, meaningless. Nothing you do matters - you will die and cease to exist, as will everyone you've ever known, everyone who will ever exist, and the universe and all potential life that could ever exist. It will all wither away and there will be nothing. Everyone you ever loved is meaningless, the things that brought you joy are nothing. To attempt to draw a positive light out of this situation is purely cognitive dissonance - painting over hopelessness with bright colors and a smiling sun wearing sunglasses is disingenuous at best.

You can only remain apathetic toward a position of pure hopelessness by packing your life with mindless distractions and busy work. We are thoughtful creatures and our minds ultimately will wander toward the question of meaning in our lives - to stay "apathetic" to the question of God is to willfully keep yourself thoughtless.