Hello,

Personally, as much as I try to make people aware of my atheism, I
think that a symbolic representation of it is not a wise thing to do.
I've said it plenty of times in the past: - as have others - atheism
is purely the absence of belief in god; it is not an ideology or a
doctrine; it is pure disbelief. Therefore, I think it seems
inappropriate to assign a symbol to it. Granted, atheists might share
certain views, but in no way does atheism represent a coherent world-
view.

I think that an organisation like the National Secular Society is the
kind of group to which we should belong. It is not exclusively
atheistic; indeed, many of its members are believers who are keen to
keep religion separate from the State. A group such as this - like
the Brights, I guess - is a 'catch-all' one, i.e. it aims to attract
as many secularists as possible, and thus attract many atheists. I
think that this is the way forward for atheists, because it
demonstrates that we are, most importantly, positive (and not the
pessimistic cynics that we may have been branded as by some), and
progressive. Rather than just proclaiming a simple disbelief, I think
it is important that we belong to something constructive, which seeks
social and political change vís-a-vís religion. This way, we gain
credibility, and actual appear to be positive. Secularism thus
becomes our aim; our atheism merely lurks in the background, as a
simple disbelief.

Off the point, again...

- Matt

P.S., I did add some pictures to the 'photos' section of this group
when I joined it a couple of years ago - there are a few which some
people might want to use as an atheist symbol. I wouldn't support an
atheist logo, however, for the above reasons.

--- In atheismuk2@..., ranterjmc <no_reply@y...> wrote:
> --- In atheismuk2@..., "annelieseglitz"
> <anneliese.glitz@l...> wrote:
> > Hi,
> > Does anyone know if there is an international symbol for atheism?
> If
> > Christians have a cross why shouldn't we have a symbol? Then, if
> one
> > was in an accident etc. people would know what we believed, and
we
> > would be spared religious advisors hanging around our hospital
> > beds. Equally, one would be able to recognize ones fellow
> atheists.
> > What do you think.
>
> I'd be very much in favour of a suitable symbol for all the reasons
> you've given.
>
> I've given some thought to it in the past. I did think of a circle
> expressing completeness - possibly a smiley face. I don't think we
> should have a "crossed-out cross" or something to emphasise
> non-belief or non-something.
>
> I'm not too keen on this "brights" stuff myself.