What do you call a non-believer where you live?

[purplepoppy]

Pagan comes from the Latin for village dweller while heathen from the German for someone who lives on heathland. Both signify that someone is an outsider rather than belonging to the main group. Infidels means unfaithful or untrusting but has largely falling out of fashion. As has the term Turkish to describe a non Christian item, eg, turkey birds.

Now I reckon which word you hurl at people probably depends on where you live. I'm sure we were all called little pagans/heathen by some religious old relative when we were kids. I'm guessing in the UK pagan is more western and heathen common to the east.

[Chazmatazz269]

I would argue that “pagan” is out of place in this context. Pagans have belief systems. Not believing the same as i do doesn’t make someone a nonbeliever.
Contrary to popular belief, even atheists’ beliefs are dogmatic. Any “atheist” that claims to know that there’s no such thing as god is ridiculous. Agnostic is about as close to honest and intelligent atheism is one can get.
That said, “atheist” is probably the most common word used to describe nonbelievers. I haven’t really heard “heathens” since i was a kid. It was mostly used to describe unruly kids. I always associated it more with law than religion.
There are so many ways to not believe that it varies based upon the context. “Infidel” works for someone who believes in a diametrically opposed system of beliefs. There are fair weather Christians, who like to publicly thank God for their blessings but they never pray. I’m sure other faiths have similarly casual mouthpieces. We have the holiday Christians who only attend church on Easter and Christmas, who otherwise do absolutely nothing based upon the faith the rest of the year. I honestly think they anger the devout more than atheists. Ell oh ell! I’m a big fan of the “spiritual” people who see the order in the chaos, but refuse to commit to any one religion or philosophy. It’s a clever way to believe in the stuff that makes sense without having to justify the inconsistencies and discrepancies of an entire ideology. True believers might suggest all of them are nonbelievers. The path of the righteous is narrow. So sayeth the righteous. Ell oh ell!

[Anonymous]

I call them Steve, or Susan. Maybe Sarah. Sometimes I'll even call them John. It depends on what they're name is, 'cause that's how I address them; by their name.

I'm also not religious. At all. I don't believe in God, Zeus, Odin, or any other divine icon. Therefore, I don't see any reason to apply a label to someone who isn't part of my cult. I treat them as people, not outsiders.

I do, however, find it amusing that the very religions that supposedly preach "love thy neighbor" have so many followers who condemn those who don't follow the same faith. Isn't that odd? I wonder what their various holy books would say about that. 🤔

[Opinion Owner]

Apparently my autocorrect is possessed by the Devil, and screwed up my *their/they're, too.

[FreyaRed]

godless, soulless human husks. Pagan zombies... We have two religious TV channels and they describe atheist, agnostic and pagans in a negative way.
However we had a month ago a scandal with Pedo priest, attitude even in most retarded villages changes steady against church. In some villages churchgoers demanded to remove a priest because he demanded money for pastoral visits which is common among Catholics here. Such "heresy" wouldn't happen 10 years back. It's only question of time someone sues those catholic TV channels for incitement to violence.

[AviatorTom]

Someone who isn't sure if they believe or not is an agnostic.

Someone who is sure they don't believe is an atheist.

Then there are Democrats and Republicans, who keep changing what they believe.

Remember to this is an Independent speaking.

[Anonymous]

- Pagans are not non-believers - they believe in pagan gods.
- Heathen is just another word for pagan, therefore, not non-believer.
- Heretic is someone who distorts certain religion in specific ways, but still - not non-believer.
- Atheists, unbeliever, disbeliever, and nonbelievers are non-believers.
- Agnostic are people who don't know whether to believe or not to believe in any god (s).
- Freethinkers are philosophers, they can be non-believers, or believers - but not restricted by any religious dogmas.
- There are also Pantheists - They don't believe in "god" as a person, but they believe in force of nature, cosmic energy, power of human mind.
- Deists believe in god, but not as omnipotent being, just much higher being than humans.

[TonyMetal___86]

An atheist who will burn in hell! Joking 🤣
But yes we call them atheists and it's not my job to determine what will happen to them here and in afterlife, i mean it's their choice and they will be judged according to the choices that they have made in their lifetime...

[BigBang1001]

Kaafir (disbeliever)
Murtad (some who has disbelieved after they had believed, basically change their opinion about the religion)
Mushrik (Polytheist)
Zindeeq (Corrupt/inhumane)
Munafiq (hypocrite)
Mardood (the caste out)

[mstbooblover]

In French: non-croyant, athée, infidèle, hérétique, libre-penseur (depending on people's culture and origin), and in Flemish: ongelovig (e), niet gelovig (e), goddeloos, goddeloze, ketter, vrijdenker.

[DryGermanGuy]

In a religious context: Heide (heathen).

In a broader context: Ungläubiger (unbeliever).

[OneViewpoint]

Non believers? I call them intelligent, confident, secure personalities.

[Phoenix98]

Honestly we don't really call them anything where I live they're just people who don't believe.

[NathanDavis]

one I often hear around here is for Christians to call everyone else "ordinary"

[Pavy1981]

If they have never been to church they are unsaved and if they have been raised in a church attending Christian family they are back sliders

[Dargil]

Non observant.

[loveslongnails]

Non believer in WHAT?

[Snakeyes7]

We call them by their names.

[msc545]

An heretic or a heathen.

[Deserter3]

Free-thinker is a weird one

[FunkyMonkee]

Smart.

[Shiprex]

Normal

[jJanSmit]

Humans

[beefcakebradybatson]

Their name.

[Anonymous]

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