Implicit and Explicit Atheism

Implicit And Explicit Atheism

(Sizes in the diagram are not meant to indicate relative sizes within a population.)

Implicit atheism and explicit atheism are subsets of atheism coined by George H. Smith (1979, p. 13-18). Implicit atheism is defined by Smith as "the absence of theistic belief without a conscious rejection of it". Explicit atheism is defined as "the absence of theistic belief due to a conscious rejection of it". Explicit atheists have considered the idea of deities and have rejected belief that any exist. Implicit atheists thus either have not given the idea of deities much consideration, or, though they do not believe, have not rejected belief.

Read more about Implicit And Explicit Atheism:  Implicit Atheism, Explicit Atheism, Other Typologies of Atheism

Famous quotes containing the words implicit and, implicit, explicit and/or atheism:

    The true colour of life is the colour of the body, the colour of the covered red, the implicit and not explicit red of the living heart and the pulses. It is the modest colour of the unpublished blood.
    Alice Meynell (1847–1922)

    The vanity of men, a constant insult to women, is also the ground for the implicit feminine claim of superior sensitivity and morality.
    Patricia Meyer Spacks (b. 1929)

    I think “taste” is a social concept and not an artistic one. I’m willing to show good taste, if I can, in somebody else’s living room, but our reading life is too short for a writer to be in any way polite. Since his words enter into another’s brain in silence and intimacy, he should be as honest and explicit as we are with ourselves.
    John Updike (b. 1932)

    He talks about the Scylla of Atheism and the Charybdis of Christianity—a state of mind which, by the way, is not conducive to bold navigation.
    Norman Douglas (1868–1952)