Athiest Symbol

[Wells]

I was surfing the net one day and came across this symbol;

http://intepid.com/res/430.gif

It is a proposed symbol for international Atheism. It is of course an Asterix. Here's the reasons the site said why:



1.It is rotationally symmetrical, thereby privileging no single direction.

2.The odd number of arms means that no one is in direct opposition to any other, discouraging overly simplistic binary interpretations [good/bad, love/fear etc].

3.As a typographic element, it alludes to the significance of writing without being [too] language-specific.

4.It is easy to reproduce.

5.The asterisk is commonly employed to draw attention to things, so it is kind of anti-complacent.

6.The asterisk is commonly used as a “wildcard”, capable of representing a multiplicity of real things, and so it evokes the unknown without invoking the unknowable.

7.It’s kind of existential, but not too much… don’t you think?

8.It looks a bit like a little person reaching out for a hug. Very humanist.

9.It’s kind of gooey and organic, avoiding the negative connotations sometimes associated with “hard” scientific thinking.

10.It also looks a bit like a flower, and apparently the pansy [a flower!] is considered a symbol of free thought. Marvel at how some of these pictures of pansies are vaguely asterisk shaped!

What do you think?

[Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor]

I symbol implies uniformity when it comes to thought. Atheism is not a religion, and a symbol is not needed to simply stand for "non-believer." I certainly do not want to unite with people simply because they are atheist. Atheism is just common sense, not some movement, in my opinion.

[violencia.Proletariat]

...that we don't need a symbol :)

[LSD]

I don't really see why "we" need a symbol.

There's actually very little that "binds" the "atheist movement" aside from the one negative judgment on the supernatural.

Fascists, racists, "Stalinists", libertarians, and straight-out political lunatics could all be grouped under "International Atheism"; and I have no desire to be "associated" with any of those types, not even tangentially.

The lack of belief in "Gods" is no more unifying an "ideology" than a lack of belief in, say, astrology.

And anti-astrologists hardly need a "symbol" do we! :lol:

[OneBrickOneVoice]

I think the anarchist symbol should be adopted by atheists of course that'll piss off the world's total of 5 Anarcho-christians

[CCCPneubauten]

Originally posted by [email protected] 24 2006, 09:57 PM
I think the anarchist symbol should be adopted by atheists of course that'll piss off the world's total of 5 Anarcho-christians
Ehhh, there are already athiest symbols.

http://img.meetup.com/photos/event/d/0/7/f/event_53375.jpeg

And

http://www.evolvefish.com/fish/media/Q-AtheistSymbolWt.gif


never heard of the first symbol that was said. Although it is a good symbol after I read over the reasons.

[Wells]

Oh its you violencia.Proletariat, I'm not being too liberal in your presence? As I said, I just found it one day and wanted to know what you think. I quite agree, Atheism is not a movement, its just logic. It proberly does not need a symbol. The above symbols were also at the site, but there were arguements against them.

Here:
Atheist Symbol (http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://intepid.com/res/430.gif&imgrefurl=http://intepid.com/2005-05-25/00.39/&h=200&w=200&sz=3&tbnid=Fk-Bnfupf04QNM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=99&hl=en&start=4&prev=/images%3Fq%3DAtheist%2Bsymbol%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3D en%26lr%3D)

[TC]

The atheist atom symbol i think, is really only used in the United States i think. Its used by the American atheist (a lobby group) and its used on US military cemeteries for atheist soldiers. Its still probably the only recognizable 'atheist symbol' though.

Its a kindof dumb looking symbol though.

[Comrade-Z]

Yeah, I think an atheism symbol is unnecessary. It kind of goes against the grain of what atheism is (rational, free-thinking and not getting caught up in irrational myths, symbols, etc.).

In fact, there have been a lot of anarchists and situationists who have said that we shouldn't employ revolutionary symbols for that same reason, or, at the very least, we should make our symbols a statement against symbols themselves (the anarchist black "anti-"flag) and/or we should get rid of the symbols post-revolution.