Logic of being atheist in a default D&D campaign.

[Samloyal23]

So if you acknowledge the existence of gods but simply do not care and do not put any faith in them, are you an atheist? If you say, "So, okay, that's a portal to Olympus, and I went through it and saw Zeus, but so what? What does he have to do with ME?" are you an atheist? Hmm...

 

[Aegir]

Technically, the definition of atheist is that you dont believe in God, in any form, so no that'd be more agnostic. Atheist would probably be the right word for someone who believed the Gods were just very powerful mortal (or formerly mortal) beings, but not true Gods.

 

[Samloyal23]

Is atheism about devotion and loyalty or factuality? Agnosticism implies you do not know one way or another...

 

[steenan]

Technically, the definition of atheist is that you dont believe in God, in any form, so no that'd be more agnostic. Atheist would probably be the right word for someone who believed the Gods were just very powerful mortal (or formerly mortal) beings, but not true Gods.

Then the question is what do you mean by "true gods".

For most of our world history, "gods" meant just "powerful beings who control some aspects of reality". In D&D high level spellcasters satisfy this definition and creatures described as deities in the books do it for sure.

Most D&D deities can be killed, so they probably count as "mortal".

So your atheist actually believes in the same things as most people in the setting.

 

[Zadmar]

Is atheism about devotion and loyalty or factuality?

In the broadest sense, atheism is simply the absence of belief in the existence of deities, it is not a positive assertion.

Agnosticism implies you do not know one way or another...

Right, it's the absence of knowledge, or the view that the truth is unknown and/or unknowable.

If you were roleplaying in a Stargate setting based on the original movie, I think all of the following beliefs would be valid character choices:

Gnostic theist: I believe that Ra is a god, I've seen the miracles he performs.

Gnostic atheist: I don't believe that Ra is a god, the evidence proves that he's just a Goa'uld.

Agnostic theist: I believe that Ra is a god, but I don't think there's enough evidence to prove it.

Agnostic atheist: I don't believe that Ra is a god, but the evidence doesn't prove he isn't one.

Of course all four viewpoints recognise that there's a guy called Ra, and I doubt anyone would dispute that he's powerful, but not everyone would consider him a god. I think the same could apply to many fantasy settings.

 

[Andor]

There is also the question of viewpoint. In the theological chinese firedrill that is the forgotten realms a devout believer in Torm, for example, might well have never heard of several dozen perfectly legitemate deities. Does that make him an atheist just because he's never heard of Blipdilopodol?

 

[Janx]

Then the question is what do you mean by "true gods".

For most of our world history, "gods" meant just "powerful beings who control some aspects of reality". In D&D high level spellcasters satisfy this definition and creatures described as deities in the books do it for sure.

Most D&D deities can be killed, so they probably count as "mortal".

So your atheist actually believes in the same things as most people in the setting.

This was my earlier point. Get a list of descriptors for Thor and friends, and a medieval NPC would say those describe a god.

I think we've all got a much more hoity toity meaning to the word "god" now that pretty much excludes everything. Ironic, because all the old gods were traditionally flawed charaters (zeus, thor, etc).

I would differentiate a God from a spell caster. The nature of a god is that they are worshipped. through such worship, they grant favor or protection. A wizard generally doesn't do that (though it's not impossible for them to run a protection for worship racket).

Things get fuzzy with gods that don't have worshippers, or don't deliver services for worship rendered, but I'd say those gods are designed to be contrary to standard.

 

[Celebrim]

I think we've all got a much more hoity toity meaning to the word "god" now that pretty much excludes everything. Ironic, because all the old gods were traditionally flawed charaters (zeus, thor, etc).

A Greek polytheist would have had no particular trouble identifying an individual tree or spring or even an unusual rock as a god, worthy of reverence, and likely to reward service and punish disrespect.

The word people keeping looking for here is impious.

 

[WayneLigon]

Pathfinder has an 'atheist' people in Rahadoum, but rather than deny the existence of the gods, they hold that no man should be dependent or beholden to one.

How do you justify being an actual atheist in the default D&D world? I'm sure atheists could exist because any form of aberrant human thought is certainly going to find expression in the world, regardless of the truth of the matter. (As outside observers, we know the truth of the matter as regards the base default D&D world, but for those within that world it might be an open question to many. Simply seeing apparent miracles isn't enough. A well-travelled or educated person is going to know about the various things wizards and sorcerers can do as well, and might use that knowledge to question the existence of gods or make many of the conclusions already discussed.)

They simply find out they are wrong when they die, but even their shades returning to tell their friends or someone using an item to bring a atheist into the presence of an actual god possibly isn't going to convince them of the truth - the human mind is infinitely plastic when trying to rationalize things. Certainly most would be convinced by the sheer presence of an actual god, but some will not be. They'd still be wrong, though

 

[WayneLigon]

For most of our world history, "gods" meant just "powerful beings who control some aspects of reality". In D&D high level spellcasters satisfy this definition and creatures described as deities in the books do it for sure.

High level wizards don't control reality in any real fashion, topping out at 20th level as they do. They can't make planes, create worlds, light stars, sink nations, make races, print souls, etc, etc. They are pretty obviously limited to 'human level' magic, and never have the power to make large, permanent, global changes without the benefit of GM handwavium.