Outline of atheism

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to atheism:

Atheism – Philosophical theories characterised by absence of belief in deities.^[1]^[2]

^ Simon Blackburn, ed. (2008). "The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy". atheism. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (2008 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-954143-0. Retrieved 5 December 2011. Either the lack of belief that there exists a god, or the belief that there exists none. Sometimes thought itself to be more dogmatic than mere agnosticism, although atheists retort that everyone is an atheist about most gods, so they merely advance one step further.
^
Religioustolerance.org's short article on Definitions of the term "Atheism" suggests that there is no consensus on the definition of the term. Most dictionaries (see the OneLook query for "atheism") first list one of the more narrow definitions.
- Runes, Dagobert D., ed. (1942). Dictionary of Philosophy. New Jersey: Littlefield, Adams & Co. Philosophical Library. ISBN 0-06-463461-2. Retrieved 9 April 2011. (a) the belief that there is no God; (b) Some philosophers have been called "atheistic" because they have not held to a belief in a personal God. Atheism in this sense means "not theistic". The former meaning of the term is a literal rendering. The latter meaning is a less rigorous use of the term though widely current in the history of thought {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) – entry by Vergilius Ferm