Who actually is an atheist?

In simple words. An atheist doesntt believe in God or prophet and doesn't belong to any religion.

"A (without) + theism (belief in a god) = without belief in a god. An atheist is one who does not believe in the existence of a god(s)"

Atheist either think that they don't need any pattern to follow in life, as a religion gives us a pattern to follow and make our lifestyle accordingly or they don't agree with any of the religions of the world.

for a moment i thought who would be willing enough to disclose his belief (or disbelief i should say :P). I agree with zainab partially that they dont believe in any belief system. however contrary to what zainab thinks, many atheists i know do follow pattern to life, they just dont want any religion to dictate it. they will keep amanat, they will speak the truth and they will do anything they like as long as it doesnt harm anyone and will urge others to do the same. they feel that belief in god is a ridiculous fairy tale.
Its a big discussion, and a single sweeping generalization is not good enough and if it carries on, i MIGHT find myself defending atheists because it seems people dont know them in entirety in pakistan. what i want people is to know why they are the way they are, because as i see it, the coming future is for the atheists (people go for qayamat ki nishanian and mahdi etc, but i personally feel that story is yet to come but not now). as time progresses, religions will be sidelined and within a couple of more generations, we'll have a large population on this planet adhering to belief in disbelief. in USA, according to a survey, disbelievers account for the second largest group of people after christians.. more than jews,muslims or blacks or hispanics.

i am in germany these days.. and it seems every guy i meet is an atheist. and from character, they seem pretty nice guys. and according to them "even without religion, good people will always be good and bad people will always be bad... but it takes religion to make a good person go bad."

arguments are strong from both sides. but whatever you bring up, make sure its rational and true.


PS: whenever i do discussion on this with a stranger or an acquaintance, i am mistaken for an atheist.. and its a lesson to people not to judge, coz i am not. (e.g. yeah! the guy sounds like an atheist, whats he gotta loose if he says he is a muslim :D)