Atheism vs. Nihilism

Quick poll/discussion.

I'm neither but I was wondering how many of you 'atheists' are actually 'nihilists'?

I'm an atheist. I'm not a nihilist.

how does your belief differ?

The universe is indifferent, but people are not.

ni·hil·ism



1. Philosophy.

1. An extreme form of skepticism that denies all existence.

2. A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.

2. Rejection of all distinctions in moral or religious value and a willingness to repudiate all previous theories of morality or religious belief.

3. The belief that destruction of existing political or social institutions is necessary for future improvement.

4. also Nihilism A diffuse, revolutionary movement of mid 19th-century Russia that scorned authority and tradition and believed in reason, materialism, and radical change in society and government through terrorism and assassination.

5. Psychiatry. A delusion, experienced in some mental disorders, that the world or one's mind, body, or self does not exist.

I would think that very very few atheists are nihilists. The two points of view are very different. Atheists do not believe that a deity exists, nihilists do not believe that anything exists. The connection is trivial.

Atheist, not a nihilist.