Starting from the assumption that atheism as a personal conviction – in a similar way to religious belief – may appear in different forms, the basic aim of this paper was to verify the hypothesis on the existence of 7 different types of atheists, which resulted with preliminary scientific survey research conducted in 2008th on a stratified proportional quota sample (N = 353) of students at the University of Zagreb. The research has shown that it is possible to talk about 5 types of atheists: rational type, positivistic type, anti-theist type, fatalist type and admirer of force majeure. The rational type is absolutely convinced in the absence of God and believes that religion is a set of meaningless settings and logical inconsistencies. The positivistic type blindly believes in science. He/she also believes that science will one day explain the meaning of all existing. The anti-religious oriented atheist or anti-theist type is not even interested in cognitive issues, or in questions of meaning; instead, he/she is primarily interested in the personal social environment. This type usually spends time with atheists, considering them more intelligent than believers. The fatalist type is neither a classic atheist nor a believer. Instead of faith in God, this type is prone to another kind of belief. He/she believes in fate and he/she looks for answers in horoscopes and similar sources of alternative explanations of his/her own life and the lives of people around him. The admirer of force majeure is a cognitive relativist, a believer in the existence of force majeure. The only type determined in the research which is considered to be a “real” atheist is – the rational atheist. All others are merely different types of alternative believers.

Temeljna ideja ovog rada jest da se ateističko uvjerenje – na sličan način kao i religijsko – može pojaviti u različitim oblicima i klasificirati na različite načine. U tu svrhu pokušalo se empirijski provjeriti hipotezu o postojanju sedam različitih tipova ateističkog uvjerenja. Tijekom 2008. godine provedeno je preliminarno znanstveno istraživanje metodom ankete na stratificiranome proporcionalnom kvotnom uzorku (N = 353) studenata i studentica Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. Istraživanje je pokazalo da je moguće govoriti o pet tipova ateista: racionalist, pozitivist, antiteist, sudbinist i štovatelj Više sile. Ateist racionalist apsolutno je siguran u nepostojanje Boga te smatra da je religija skup besmislenih postavki i logičkih nedosljednosti. Ateist pozitivist slijepo vjeruje u znanost i drži da će znanost jednog dana objasniti smisao svega postojećeg. Antireligijski orijentiran ateist ili antiteist nije zainteresiran za spoznajna pitanja, kao ni za pitanja smisla postojećeg; njega zanima društveno okruženje. On se obično druži s ateistima, smatrajući ih inteligentnijima od vjernika. Ateist sudbinist nije ni klasičan ateist niti je vjernik. Umjesto vjere u Boga on vjeruje u sudbinu, a objašnjenje svega što mu se događa traži u horoskopima i sličnim alternativnim izvorima objašnjenja vlastitog života i života ljudi oko sebe. Štovatelj Više sile spoznajni je relativist, koji vjeruje u postojanje Više sile. Zaključak je da je jedini »pravi« tip ateista ateist racionalist, dok su svi ostali samo različiti tipovi alternativnog uvjerenja, po strukturi analogni religijskom uvjerenju.