The Delusion of Atheism

Nastika is the Sanskrit word for an atheist. It literally means one who is believing in 'not'. The opposite of that is an astika, one who believes.  In many texts, teachers are warned not to take a nastika as a student, indicating that atheism is not accepted into the variety of Vedic belief systems. And they accepted many belief systems and religious views, just not the religious view that there isn't something greater.

There were non-theist views like samkhya, that did not include god in their model of the universe; they believed there was matter that we were made of and a consciousness that brings inanimate beings to life. Though the question of whether god existed or not was considered unprovable and therefore irrelevant for their daily life and meditation. But as it was not possible to prove god, it was also not possible to disprove god. Therefore claiming that there is 'no god' is considered a religious belief system. The non-theist was acceptable but the not-theist (astika) was considered a low minded materialist. 

In western culture, sometimes, the term atheist is overused by those who don't agree with the state of organized religion. Some chose to say they are spiritual but not religious, which would be acceptable to the Vedic view, as being spiritual is contacting a deeper aspect of one's self or reality, whether named or un-named. To state that there is nothing other than what you see and science tells you is a 'belief system' called either atheism or scientism. 

If someone is firm in their faith, they are able to happily hold their viewpoint and respect the view of others. In modern psychological development theories, this ability to hold multiple views is considered an indication of healthy ego development and maturity.

Astrologically, there is a mathematical point called Rahu (known as the north node). When this point heavily influences the personality or is placed in the ninth house of the natal chart, it indicates atheist fundamentalism. Just as Evangelicals proselytize their faith and bash others to hell, the fundamentalist atheist spends their time trying to debunk natural health practices and spiritual belief systems.  They come from a place of negation of god (which is unprovable) and use a relatively new and quickly changing set of western statistical theories to bash other people's views. They are so set on their particular views that they spend large amounts of their time sending other peoples beliefs to science hell. 

Rahu represents blind sightedness; delusional thinking and an inability to be open to other people's views. A fundamentalist atheist believes that they don't have a religion. Just as they believe they are right that there is no god or higher conscious principle. They deny god and their own belief system.