What's the difference between atheist and heathen?

Atheist


Definition:

  • (n.) One who disbelieves or denies the existence of a God, or supreme intelligent Being.
  • (n.) A godless person.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Maryam Namazie, an Iranian-born campaigner against religious laws, had been invited to speak to the Warwick Atheists, Secularists and Humanists Society next month.
  • (2) The reason to be an atheist is not that it makes us feel better or gives us a more rewarding life.
  • (3) My views almost six years ago would be considered by the Australian government as extreme and myself an Islamic extremist, although I was still an Atheist, a little confusing I know,” he wrote.
  • (4) Expressing the belief that it was important for Christians to engage in "a sincere and rigorous dialogue" with atheists, Francis recalled Scalfari had asked him whether God forgave those "who do not believe and do not seek to believe".
  • (5) Ultimately, it suggests the question: had he actually been Muslim, or instead been Hindu, Jewish or atheist, would he be any less American?
  • (6) Even Roberts couldn't dictate terms to the almighty, which may have been why he was an atheist.
  • (7) Eight members of the banned Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), including a senior cleric who is said to have founded the Islamist group, were convicted late last year for the murder of atheist blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider in February 2013.
  • (8) Now I’ve found some of my favourite comedy here: the anarchic young sketch groups, Stewart Lee’s Top Gear bit, James Acaster’s bit on apricots and Daniel Sloss’s unapologetically dark atheist stuff spring to mind.
  • (9) Atheist offenders will have their beliefs challenged too, by those who say Muslims are a persecuted minority who deserve protection from the dominant culture.
  • (10) No it's not, says atheist "pastor" Sanderson Jones .
  • (11) Rome: Open City stars Fabrizi as a priest, Don Pietro, who aids the Italian opposition and forms a close bond with an atheist, communist resistor.
  • (12) In Omaha, Nebraska, several atheist and humanist groups planned to visit the local Islamic Center on Saturday to express their support .
  • (13) Whatever delusion turns you on just don't expect me (an atheist) to go along with it.
  • (14) I think it's in Kansas, you'll have to fact check that, that they're not teaching evolution theory anymore, and apparently there was an online poll of English teachers, British teachers and it was something like 60% thought it should be taught alongside creationism, which for me is really shocking, but... Like I say, I don't think it is a film about atheism, but for me, as an atheist, to have a viable alternative is incredibly important.
  • (15) The figures neatly reverse the proportions among those who identify as religious, only 5% of whom are convinced atheists.
  • (16) A moral framework provided by religious belief is also likely to influence behaviour, with atheists more likely to keep the money than those who associate with a religion.
  • (17) More importantly still, this is only one view, and most atheistic outlooks contain no such consolations.
  • (18) With the use of computer graphics, the film portrays the sweep of Balkan history as a prolonged expropriation of inherently “Muslim lands”, first by “crusaders”, then atheistic communists, and finally nationalists.
  • (19) American sceptics, atheists, scientists and science educators are engaged in numerous battles.
  • (20) Speaking to Eugenio Scalfari, a co-founder of the Italian daily newspaper and an atheist, who exchanged letters with Francis over the summer, the Argentinian pope said he agreed it would be difficult to reform the Vatican .

Heathen


Definition:

  • (pl. ) of Heathen
  • (n.) An individual of the pagan or unbelieving nations, or those which worship idols and do not acknowledge the true God; a pagan; an idolater.
  • (n.) An irreligious person.
  • (a.) Gentile; pagan; as, a heathen author.
  • (a.) Barbarous; unenlightened; heathenish.
  • (a.) Irreligious; scoffing.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The heroine of Jane Eyre is hypnotised by this cold and saintly missionary, who proposes that they marry and go to India together to convert heathens (and perish doing God's holy work).
  • (2) Heathens are unredeemed outcasts from heaven who roam the planet without hope of surviving the deaths of their bodies.
  • (3) Ye satanic windmills are verily heathen science bequeathed by snollygosters that fail to honour the old ways and displeaseth the coal gods,” it said.
  • (4) No way should bishops or imams or rabbis have the power in parliament, unelected, to influence the way we heathens (or humanists) should live our lives.
  • (5) Study the expressions on the faces of Barack Obama or Ben Bernanke talking about "growth" as if it were a heathen god to be appeased by tipping another cauldron's worth of fictional money into the mouth of a volcano.
  • (6) I also don't say this as a heathen: good quality tea is essential to making the perfect cup.
  • (7) In 2011 he released the album Toy, which dated back to 2001 and comprised tracks from Heathen and their B sides plus versions of older material.
  • (8) There have been suggestions that both the looting and the government's failure to tackle it results from the rise of Islamists who are culturally opposed to Egypt's heathen heritage.
  • (9) a) Herbert Grönemeyer b) Peter Maffay c) Udo Jürgens (the "joke" is that it spells out a sentence "If Lattek wears Klinsi's shorts, Jürgen wears Udo's" (it's Udo Lattek and Jürgen Klinsmann) d) Patrick Lindner 300 Flower of the year in 2012 is a) Katholikenuschi (Catholic Uschi) b) Baddhistenbaerbel (Buddhist Baerbel) c) Protestantenwaltraud (Protestant Waltraud) d) Heidenelke (Heathen Elke) 500 If the idiot (Depp… so means Johnny Depp in this context) doesn't have his debit card on him, how does he pay?
  • (10) Sadly, he hasn't gone for Transformers Plasters, the heathen.
  • (11) A fortnight ago McConnell told his congregation at the Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle: "Islam is heathen.
  • (12) Heathen swingers destroying the notion of Britishness.
  • (13) Based on data of two Canadian Protestant missions in China before 1937, this study reveals that medical missionaries were generally ignorant of Chinese medicine, and they regarded Chinese medicine as part of an inferior, heathen culture.
  • (14) It reminds me a little of Everyone Says "Hi" from 2002's Heathen.
  • (15) The following year, he was artistic director of the Meltdown festival on the South Bank in London, opening the event by performing the first concert of his own Heathen tour, in support of his album of the same name.
  • (16) The unusual event has been celebrated for centuries and is thought to have its roots in a heathen festival to celebrate the return of spring.
  • (17) Improvements on the MBMs (No 479 in a series of 389,457): "Unthinkable as it may seem, I think I've found a better way to follow the tournament than with the MBMs," writes heathen Philip Hucknall.
  • (18) The arrival of his daughter, Alexandria, in 2000 opened a joyous new dimension, though he kept working, delivering 2002’s Heathen , a dreamy confection of old and new material, and 2003’s Reality , a crafted call to “face the music and dance”.
  • (19) We were called pagans and heathens and spawn of the devil," she says.
  • (20) Terrible omens preceded the raid, the chroniclers wrote, “whirlwinds, lightning, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the sky”, and then “the ravaging of wretched heathen people destroyed God’s church at Lindisfarne”.