Atheism is typically thought of as being a binary idea:
you're either a believer or you're a non-believer.
To be an atheist is to entirely reject belief
in the supernatural, or belief in a God or a deity.
But I actually think that it's a much more complex,
and much more interesting story.
Even among atheists,
there's lots of different ways of conceptualizing this idea.
For instance, some atheists say that it just means
that they're not religious,
and it doesn't even necessarily mean
that they have no interest in spiritual ideas or practices,
but that they just reject traditional religious dogmas.
Other atheists actually can be thought of as being,
what's referred to, as 'Emotional atheist.'
They actually have a very negative feeling
towards the divine, which is interesting
because it suggests to be angry at something means,
at some level, to have a concept of its existence.
Other atheists are, what you might refer to,
as, perhaps, 'Social atheists,'
in that they feel like there's no reason
to have a public religious tradition,
or they have no interest
in the cultural religious practices,
but are themselves interested in spiritual questions
and even questions of the divine.
So there's lots of different ways
that atheists think about themselves,
think about each other.
There's lots of different ways
that believers think about atheists.
It's often a very abstract concept,
even though it seems so simple.
Teleological thinking is really any type of thought process
that involves assuming that there's purpose or design.
And so it turns out that,
even though this really is a form
of supernatural thinking, right-
to assume there's some sort of grander purpose to things-
that atheists aren't immune from this type of thinking.
For instance, in studies of atheists
who are asked to describe certain life events,
they frequently use teleological language
in their written description of those events.
So for instance, they might say, "I didn't get this job,
and it wasn't meant to be,"
as if there's a part of human nature,
even if people consciously reject the supernatural,
that pulls them to these ideas.
In some instances, our own conscious awareness of something
or our own conscious beliefs may not tell the whole story
of the way our brains work.
There is some research focused on atheists
and their lack of belief, and the implications of that.
They asked atheists to say things that shouldn't bother them
because they don't believe in God,
such as wishing God would do harm to their friends.
Now, believers don't like saying this stuff,
and indeed, in these studies
when believers were asked to say that,
if they complied, they immediately expressed
that that made them very uncomfortable.
When atheists were asked to say these things,
they reported immediately that it didn't bother them at all.
But what's interesting about these studies is
the researchers didn't just rely on people's self-report.
They actually hooked them up to equipment
that measures a physiological response.
If you start to look a little bit deeper beyond self-report,
a lot of times the body tells a different story
than what we consciously report ourselves.
When it came to measuring their physiological response,
atheists looked indistinguishable from theists.
One of the biggest challenges that I think creates conflict
between hardcore religious believers
and hardcore atheists is a misunderstanding
not just of each other, but of themselves.
Hardcore atheists think that they're not at all guided
by supernatural ideas and concepts,
but we know from research that they do have a tendency
to engage in teleological thinking,
to see things in terms of design and purpose.
Likewise, on the other side,
hardcore believers often think
that most of their life decisions are guided
by their spiritual nature,
when in fact, like atheists,
they also rely on evidence and science,
they often have the same struggles,
religious questions and uncertainties
that other people have.
It's easy to divide people into groups over something
that seems so powerfully different about people,
such as whether or not they believe in a God
or particular religious tradition,
but if we take a step back
and try to look beyond these surface-level differences
that seem like they should divide us
and turn us against each other,
we'll see a deeper part of the human condition
that really is a story of commonality-
and a story about what it means
to be a complete human trying to live a flourishing life.