Atheist Axioms?

Educated people understand that atheism has no dogma, doctrine or dictates. The only qualification to be an atheist is to lack belief in God/gods (weak atheism), or to reject the existence of God/gods as real (strong atheism).

However, there is certain commonality of ideas, precepts, axioms whatever one wants to call them, that seem to be shared by most Freethinkers. Whether one had these ideas, and thus became atheist as a result, or one developed these ideas as a result of their becoming atheist is unclear to me. Possibly it’s both. I tend toward the former.

The following is a list of those ideas/axioms. They are not entirely my own, albeit, I have added to the list, revised, and expanded them. They come from “The Secular Web” at Infidels.com. It’s a great resource website for atheists, or those wishing to understand atheism. Here’s their link: http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/mathew/intro.html

I’d be interested on people’s take on this list. Does it represent your thoughts as an atheist, or agnostic? Agree, object? Are there others that deserve consideration?

Morality is not predetermined; it evolves and is defined by a culture / civilization to describe how that culture ought to work for the betterment of the group.

Be especially skeptical of extraordinary positive assertions. Extraordinary assertions require extraordinary evidence before they can be embraced.

If you want your life to have some sort of “meaning” beyond procreation and continuation of the species, it's up to the individual to develop that meaning.

There are no absolutes.

Search for what is true, even if it makes you uncomfortable or the answer is counter to your preexisting hypothesis.

Relying on some external power to change you is self deception; you must change yourself. Every person is responsible / accountable for their lives and actions.

Just because something's popular, widely “believed”, or has been “believed” for a long time doesn't mean it's true, or good.

Don't “believe” things just because you want them to be true.

All “beliefs” or hypotheses are open to challenge, questioning, and should be subject to testing by the scientific method.

Make the most of your life, it's the only one you'll have.