Yesterday NPR had a discussion with an Islamic guy (I forget his name), and they talked about Christianity, Islam & other world religions. The discussion got around to atheism.

The visitor distinguished between atheism, and what he called a sub-group of atheists, which he called "anti-theists."

He said that anti-theists represent only 5% of atheists, and atheists represent a mere 1.5% (IIRC) of the world population.

Here are the Definitions that Christa Tippets & her guest came up with:

Theists: People who believe in god.

Atheists: People who do not believe in god.

Anti-theists: People who do not believe in god, AND who think that believers are stupid, AND who actively persecute and do battle against believers by trying to change them into atheists.

I don't know if all that is accurate or valid. But it did make me think about Mormonism and Anti-Mormonism. If there's a parallel here, we'd need to add a new category of people, perhaps as follows:

Mormons: People who believe in Mormonism

A-Mormons: People who do not believe in Mormonism.

Anti-Mormons: People who do not believe in Mormonism, AND who think that Mormons are stupid, AND who actively persecute and do battle against Mormons by trying to change them into A-Mormons.

How would you define yourself?

A-gnostic non-theist a-mo comes close.

The author of the article was Reza Aslan

The creator of this new definition belongs to a religion that proselytizes to non-believers just as much as Christianity does, if not more. In addition, some nations and members of the religion this person practices (Islam) believe that all non-believers, including Christians and atheists alike, should be put to death if they refuse to convert. It is therefore very difficult for me to take this new definition seriously.

Apatheist

Not Mormon

Anti-cult tactic groups-not the members, but the unhealthy practices

Anti-ignorance

not only am I an Atheist, I am an anti-theist.

Her definition of "anti-theist" is totally absurd.

How about a category for anti-atheists?

These are the people who mock and ridicule unbelievers. They are those who say that atheists are satanists by default. I have been told that I can either follow God or follow the devil, and there are no other options. But I don't follow well.

0.06% of the world's population are active Mormons.

Don't have numbers, but I would bet there are more "anti-Mormons", between exmos and rabid evangelicals, than there are active Mormons.

Your "a-Mormon" group is HUGE, including most of the world's population. A huge subset of that group have never even heard of Mormonism.

I am reminded of the cartoon which shows 'a Christian' beating 'an Atheist' over the head with a large cross. 'the Christian is calling the Atheist "rat, scum of the earth, communist, blasphemer, pervert", etc

the Atheist grabs the cross and tries to break it over his knee and the Christian protests, saying "hey, hey, lets have a little respect here!"

lets be clear, theists (of all sorts) have a disproportionate amount of power around the world in all sorts of areas -media, Law, Politics, education, etc

now that wouldnt be so bad if it was simply a democratic example of 'people power' - the fact is they are pushing an agenda which is taught by preachers and religious leaders - and often this is an example of the most extreme kind of dogma - the kind of dogma which says you cant draw a cartoon of a prophet, gay people are evil, you cant criticise a deity on TV, you have to teach a stupid illogical religious idea of science alongside real science.

The Mormons welcome gays as long as they stay celibate, dont talk about homosexuality, dont criticise the morg stance on homosexuality, etc

it seems some theists have the same idea about atheists