How the Term Atheist Is Being Used in a Contemporary Media Article Essay

How the Term Atheist Is Being Used in a Contemporary Media Article - Essay Example But, they do have a belief that there is an existence of god but the activities of god in operating the world dynamics are negligible. The concept of negative atheism is a midpoint between the two poles of pure atheism and anti-atheism. However, the overall concept of Atheism is based upon the belief on the existence of god rather than having the knowledge and evidence of the existence of god. This knowledge-based concept is also called as agnosticism. Brief History The historical evidences of atheism are not found until the seventeenth century. However, the French Enlightenment of sixteenth century may have some clues associated with the beginning of the concept of Atheism, but in essence the true evidence of Atheism are indicated by the historians in the mid of seventeenth century. Some historians argue that the modern day concept of atheism is the one which is narrow in its meanings. This narrow meaning of atheism (i.e. non-existence of god) established in seventeenth century, but prior to it, the more general and broader meanings of atheism did exist. Due to lack of appropriate synonyms, the word atheism was kept being used in its broader meanings such that the concept of non-existence of god was ignored in its usage. ... An article written by Marybeth Hicks in Washington Times published on June 5, 2012 also places an emphasis on this increasing trend. The author is a strong supporter for promoting freedom for religion in American society which is effectively on a declining trend as per author’s point of views. The major concern to the author is that American society especially the young generation is being moved away from the religion by strong atheist lobbies. America came into being with the intent to flourish and develop such a society where everyone would be allowed to practice the religion with absolute freedom. But in the recent times, the atheist groups have conducted a massive activity to make America â€Å"free of religion† rather than â€Å"free for religion†. In this way, the increasing activities of atheist groups have effectively made it extremely difficult for the people not only to practice their religions but also to have their say on religious beliefs. The empiri cal research of the author shows that young generation is changing their religious beliefs to atheism with a brisk pace such that around 30 to 40 percent of youth is converting as compared to a generation ago when this percentage was merely 5 to 10 percent. This is something very dangerous to those who believe in religious freedom because there is huge amount of concerns that once the ratio of atheists starts to increase more, there is a likelihood that they will gain more power and thus effectively cause abstinence to practice religions. For this, the author has asked the supporters of religious freedom to join hand and take out the rallies for preservation and protection of religious freedom across the country in