# Sick of the term "atheist", is there a better alternative? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 15, 2006, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-term-atheist-is-there-a-better-alternative/372831 "2006-09-15T13:57:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-term-atheist-is-there-a-better-alternative/372831/121 "2016-11-22T01:18:14Z")
> [@CatandMouse](#): > > It’s nice to see that there are a few atheists on this forum. > > I normally advise people that I’m not religious if the topic comes up. When asked, my sister says she’s “Independent.” ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-term-atheist-is-there-a-better-alternative/372831/122 "2016-11-22T01:45:24Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > As I define it for my purposes, religiosity is about belief in some supernatural something or other. It may be a god or gods. It may be more amorphous, like the Force, karma, etc. It’s belief in stuff that’s not obviously real. > > Ethics is a functional form of community. Humans can’t live well alone on an island. We live better in groups. We live best in groups that mutually support us all as well as practicable. > > What behavior standards followed by each of us makes that group work best? That is the essence of ethics. I also hold that believing something like “what works best is for me to be a wolf and everyone else to be a sheep” is fundamentally dishonest. If you wouldn’t be willing to take the opposite side in a deal you just made, well it wasn’t an ethical deal. > As you can see, there’s just about zero overlap between these two ideas. Where I get muddy is trying to define a clean dimensional difference between ethics and morals. They ought to be orthogonal, but they aren’t really. To me religion is a subset of ethics, a written code of behaviour for the best of humanity. Religion often implies it is based on divine or supernaturally inspired wisdom. Morals, to me, is the doing of what is right regardless of a written code of conduct. In Won Buddhism ‘belief’ is defined as a ‘motive force’ that quiets the mind. In other words belief allows us to define things beyond what we can directly sense, and be OK with that. That type of belief is equally defined by religion or ethics as we both pose them here, they are identical. They allow us to act outside our own limited sphere and fall back on a set of standards. Standards one believes that are based on some form of wisdom. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-term-atheist-is-there-a-better-alternative/372831/123 "2016-11-22T02:01:25Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > When asked, my sister says she’s “Independent.” I use “devout heathen.” It’s not strictly accurate, but the “Huh???” reaction it provokes in mainstream Xians is great. ---
**Author:** ![Waxwinged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@Waxwinged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waxwinged)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-term-atheist-is-there-a-better-alternative/372831/124 "2016-11-22T14:07:16Z")
I go with the term ‘spiritual’. While I’m not a fan of organized religions and do not believe in existence of higher powers, I do hold to a few little superstitions that are personally comforting and are not hurting anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-term-atheist-is-there-a-better-alternative/372831/125 "2016-11-22T14:16:00Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I find “not religious” to be the best term to use with most people. I have no interest in getting into philosophical debates about the existence of God with every Tom, Dick and Harry that I meet, so it’s a convenient way of removing myself from the fold without getting them all worked up about trying save my soul or some other tedious thing. And if my fellow travelers prefer atheist over agnostic, more power to them. Whatever works. My thoughts and attitude exactly. I’m afraid though that I may run into someone who would consider a “not religious” person to be someone ripe for conversion, the cartoon person who goes wide-eyed when the Message of Christ is finally Explained to them as if no one in America had heard it before. But thankfully few people ask about my religiosity so that hasn’t happened yet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-term-atheist-is-there-a-better-alternative/372831.md?page=6)