Vlad,
Do antitheists exist and is there any relationship between them and the similar sounding “atheists”?
They’re different categories of belief, despite your endless attempts to use them interchangeably.
An atheist sees no good reason to believe there to be god(s). Atheism says nothing about whether believing in god(s) is a good thing or a bad thing.
An antitheist thinks believing in god(s) does more harm than good, so opposes it. Antitheism says nothing about whether beliefs in god(s) are justifiable.
Thus:
- an atheist can also be an antitheist. That is, he sees no reason to believe in god(s) and thinks the fact that some people do believe in god(s) does more harm than good;
and- an atheist can be a pro-theist. That is, he’s sees no good reason to believe in god(s), but thinks the fact of other people believing in them anyway does more good than harm;
and- an antitheist can be theist. That is, he thinks there are good reasons for believing in gods, but also thinks those beliefs to do more harm than good;
and - an antitheist can also be an atheist. That is, he thinks belief in god(s) does more harm than good, but also that there’s no good reason to believe in them in any case.
That’s why your use of these terms indiscriminately is a category error. Atheism is an epistemological claim about the
validity a belief; anti-theism is a functional claim about the
effects of a belief.
