Seven

 

Overheard on the interwebs:

>>>There is a new book out by philosopher John Gray – 7 Types of Atheism.

>>>The reviewer in the TLS (Times Literary Supplement) described the 7 types as 1/ ‘new’ atheists from the nineteenth century and up to the present who see religion as discredited proto-science. 2/ optimistic secular humanists 3/ atheists who make a religion out of science 4/ various modern political religions 5/ those who loath the idea of god 6/those atheists who have no illusions about humanity 7/ atheists who are sympathetic to mystical and negative theologies.

>>>I guess atheists can straddle several categories.

This is actually an interesting typology. I´m not even sure whether I´m an "atheist", but let´s say I am. Then I was number 4 in my sadly misspent youth, and today I would be 6 and 7.

On the interwebs, the most common types seem to be 3, 4 and 5. Although the 4s pretend to be 2s! The real 2s must have died out some time ago. There is also a vociferous minority of 6s. Usually "based" Social Darwinists. OK, I´m not a 6 in *that* sense. Sam Harris is the only known 7. (Not sure what 1 even means. What´s a "discredited proto-science"?).