Where the Rubber Hits the Road

A NYT columnist (Charles M. Blow) writes about the generational difference between his personal faith convictions and those of his son. It is an instructive vignette that helps to shed light on a process that is only now really making its presence felt: that the Gen X'ers and after are shedding the personalist conception of a god concerned with their welfare. It makes for interesting reading. Religion and Representation - NYTimes.com

What is an atheist? Most people would say that an atheist is one who believes there is no God... but they would be mistaken. A person who believes that God does not exist is an anti-theist, not an atheist. An atheist is properly described who does not believe that God exists. The difference is hard for believers to comprehend but it is an essential difference. An anti-theist has made a decision of 'faith'. He states definitively that he 'believes' that God does not exist. An atheist makes no such decision but simply asserts that he does not believe in the existence of God. Many atheists are anti-theists, but one need not necessarily be an anti-theist to be an atheist. Most of the articles that have been directed at 'atheists', which attribute to them a 'belief' that God does not exist ends up offending many who bristle at the allegation that they 'believe' anything about God. “Atheism is no more a 'belief' than not collecting stamps i...