Atheism is a topic in conversation that many people aren't familiar with. There are enough atheists now in the United States that people are beginning to care about what they have to say, and firebrand atheists. The actions they choose to make are becoming a common news topic, both in the South and just in general throughout the United States.

The constitution and the Supreme Court have made it known that a variety of actions are unconstitutional, which include things like having sports coaches leading students in prayer, or having a prayer being broadcast throughout a school by teachers. Those are the moments in which atheists begin to appear and secular groups are called upon to assist in ensuring that public space and public speech remain secular.

So what is atheism? Some would have you believe that atheism is a religion, perhaps centered around science. It isn't quite that simple though. Atheism is the lack of a belief in a deity, or deities. Now this isn't the same thing as saying that deities do not exist, although there are some atheists who choose to make that claim. If someone had to simplify atheism, it would merely be the state of rejecting a claim made by other people. This then leads to another question: is this a religion?

The main definitions of religion are: the belief in a god or in a group of gods; an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods; an interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or group. Atheism is not any of these things. Atheism is a single word, which is a reaction to a single question, "do you believe in any deity, or deities?" Atheism is a part of a worldview, but that doesn't make it a "religion" by any stretch of the definitions provided above.

Atheism has no principals, no rituals, and no requirements. Atheists are an extraordinarily diverse group of people, despite being rather small in terms of population. This is due in part to the fact that many prominent atheists are people who started off as theists- those who believe in a deity, or deities. I myself am a former Catholic.

Atheists can and do believe in a lot of things, including supernatural things such as ghosts, psychics, all manner of supernatural myths, and ideas that are commonly claimed to be "unscientific". This doesn't make someone "less" or "more" of an atheist by definition because supernatural things are not limited solely to deities or a deity. Atheists can believe in literally anything and be atheists so long as the things they believe in are not deities. Despite this fact, many famous atheists try to be as logical and as reasonable as possible such as: Jaclyn Glenn, AronRa, Matt Dillahunty, and David Silverman. This is because these individuals seek to normalize atheism, in a society that is overwhelmingly theistic and Christian, which is something I myself try to do as well.

It is important that people realize that atheism has a tiny definition and that it isn't a religion or oftentimes even an important aspect of a person.

In a world that is increasingly affected by religion and struggles that are made worse due to religion, where people of a political faction use religion to justify slaughtering people, it is good to show people that there are alternatives to religion and that these alternatives are not "evil."

Atheism is simple. Hopefully, now there will be more people who understand this.