Atheism is a belief system

Monday, February 2, 2026

It seems that British comedian Ricky Gervais said “Saying atheism is a belief system is like saying not going skiing is a hobby”. Yes it’s funny. But it’s wrong. Atheism is a belief system like every other belief system. Monotheistic belief systems postulate that there is exactly one God, atheistic belief systems postulate that there is no God. See Everybody is faithful and About faith.

I’d suggest that Ricky isn’t fighting against religions but against cultures that teach a mystical world view. He’s a disciple of the scientific world view. I define these terms as follows:

scientific world view

A world view that claims to believe only in provable facts, in reality.

mystical world view

A world view that doesn’t worry about science and believes in all kind of things.

One property of the Bible is that it works for both world views.

In February 2017, Ricky pointed out an interesting observation: “Science is constantly proved over time. If we destroyed any fiction or any holy book, in a thousand year’s time it wouldn’t come back just as it was. Whereas if we took any science book and every fact, and destroyed them all, in a thousand years they’d all be back because all the same tests would be the same result.” (source: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert)

I read a blog post “Ricky Gervais: Why I’m an Atheist” about an article of same title in Wall Street Journal behind a paywall: https://skeptical-science.com/atheism/ricky-gervais-im-atheist/

I saw how Gervais makes fun about creationism https://www.facebook.com/reel/3972808156370122

I have no problem with atheists, I have a problem with people who believe that their their world view is the only correct one.