You can't not know if you believe in something, either you do or you don't. Belief isn't just some opinion you have, it's a mental state, and the options are a binary yes/no.

You can be unwilling to talk about it or not believe but have no problem with other people believing because you're not that invested in it. That's what made people suddenly flock to agnostic a few years after atheism became synonymous with also being an asshole to people who do believe. I.E. "I don't believe, but I'm not a pretentious cunt about it"

And yes people need an identity. But atheism in a literal sense has nothing to base an identity on, it's a negative, it's the lack of belief in a supernatural god, you can't base an identity on an empty space. That's why atheism as a primary identity label wasn't about not believing, it was about being an antagonist to those who do believe. The two aren't intrinsically linked but the ones who chose to make their identity about it were all the latter because it gave them an actual unifying purpose, the former just didn't care and made their identity about being a NASCAR fan or their career, something tangible.

Frankly the biggest loss of people's foundational identities in the last few generations hasn't even been religion, that had already waned considerably and been replaced with nationalism and patriotism as the dominant identity of the majority, with the United States being one of the few western entities where religion and patriotism became more of an equitable symbiosis rather than replacement. But since WW2 national identities have been on death row, and not even the cold war or a war on terror managed the reverse that verdict. When that happened with only globalist consumption and weird commie brainwashing being offered as alternatives was the real start of the breakdown.

You can't not know if you believe in something, either you do or you don't. Belief isn't an just some opinion you have, it's a mental state, and the options are a binary yes/no.

You can be unwilling to talk about it or not believe but have no problem with other people believing because you're not that invested in it. That's what made people suddenly flock to agnostic a few years after atheism became synonymous with also being an asshole to people who do believe. I.E. "I don't believe, but I'm not a pretentious cunt about it"

And yes people need an identity. But atheism in a literal sense has nothing to base an identity on, it's a negative, it's the lack of belief in a supernatural god, you can't base an identity on an empty space. That's why atheism as a primary identity label wasn't about not believing, it was about being an antagonist to those who do believe. The two aren't intrinsically linked but the ones who chose to make their identity about it were all the latter because it gave them an actual unifying purpose, the former just didn't care and made their identity about being a NASCAR fan or their career, something tangible.

Frankly the biggest loss of people's foundational identities in the last few generations hasn't even been religion, that had already waned considerably and been replaced with nationalism and patriotism as the dominant identity of the majority, with the United States being one of the few western entities where religion and patriotism became more of an equitable symbiosis rather than replacement. But since WW2 national identities have been on death row, and not even the cold war or a war on terror managed the reverse that verdict. When that happened with only globalist consumption and weird commie brainwashing being offered as alternatives was the real start of the breakdown.

You can't not know if you believe in something, either you do or you don't. Belief isn't an just some opinion you have, it's a mental state, and the options are binary yes/no.

You can be unwilling to talk about it or not believe but have no problem with other people believing because you're not that invested in it. That's what made people suddenly flock to agnostic a few years after atheism became synonymous with also being an asshole to people who do believe. I.E. "I don't believe, but I'm not a pretentious cunt about it"

And yes people need an identity. But atheism in a literal sense has nothing to base an identity on, it's a negative, it's the lack of belief in a supernatural god, you can't base an identity on an empty space. That's why atheism as a primary identity label wasn't about not believing, it was about being an antagonist to those who do believe. The two aren't intrinsically linked but the ones who chose to make their identity about it were all the latter because it gave them an actual unifying purpose, the former just didn't care and made their identity about being a NASCAR fan or their career, something tangible.

Frankly the biggest loss of people's foundational identities in the last few generations hasn't even been religion, that had already waned considerably and been replaced with nationalism and patriotism as the dominant identity of the majority, with the United States being one of the few western entities where religion and patriotism became more of an equitable symbiosis rather than replacement. But since WW2 national identities have been on death row, and not even the cold war or a war on terror managed the reverse that verdict. When that happened with only globalist consumption and weird commie brainwashing being offered as alternatives was the real start of the breakdown.

You can't not know if you believe in something, either you do or you don't. Belief isn't an just opinion, it's a mental state.

You can be unwilling to talk about it or not believe but have no problem with other people believing because you're not that invested in it. That's what made people suddenly flock to agnostic a few years after atheism became synonymous with also being an asshole to people who do believe. I.E. "I don't believe, but I'm not a pretentious cunt about it"

And yes people need an identity. But atheism in a literal sense has nothing to base an identity on, it's a negative, it's the lack of belief in a supernatural god, you can't base an identity on an empty space. That's why atheism as a primary identity label wasn't about not believing, it was about being an antagonist to those who do believe. The two aren't intrinsically linked but the ones who chose to make their identity about it were all the latter because it gave them an actual unifying purpose, the former just didn't care and made their identity about being a NASCAR fan or their career, something tangible.

Frankly the biggest loss of people's foundational identities in the last few generations hasn't even been religion, that had already waned considerably and been replaced with nationalism and patriotism as the dominant identity of the majority, with the United States being one of the few western entities where religion and patriotism became more of an equitable symbiosis rather than replacement. But since WW2 national identities have been on death row, and not even the cold war or a war on terror managed the reverse that verdict. When that happened with only globalist consumption and weird commie brainwashing being offered as alternatives was the real start of the breakdown.