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Atheism is typically thought of as being a binary idea: you're either a believer or you're a non-believer.
人们通常认为无神论是一种二元观念：你要么是信徒，要么就不是信徒。
To be an atheist is to entirely reject belief in the supernatural, or belief in a God or a deity.
作为一名无神论者，就是完全拒绝相信超自然的事物，或者完全拒绝相信上帝或神。
But I actually think that it's a much more complex, and much more interesting story.
但其实我认为它要更复杂、更有趣。
Even among atheists, there's lots of different ways of conceptualizing this idea.
即使在无神论者中，也有很多不同的方式来概念化这个观点。
For instance, some atheists say that it just means that they're not religious, and it doesn't even necessarily mean that they have no interest in spiritual ideas or practices, but that they just reject traditional religious dogmas.
例如，一些无神论者说，这只是意味着他们不信教，但不一定意味着他们对精神思想或实践不感兴趣，而是他们只是拒绝传统的宗教教条。
Other atheists actually can be thought of as being, what's referred to, as 'Emotional atheist.'
其他无神论者其实是所谓的“情绪化无神论者”。
They actually have a very negative feeling towards the divine, which is interesting because it suggests to be angry at something means, at some level, to have a concept of its existence.
其实，他们对神有一种负面情绪，这很有趣，因为对某种事物感到愤怒，在一定程度上意味着他们冥冥中认为它是存在的。
Other atheists are, what you might refer to, as, perhaps, 'Social atheists,' in that they feel like there's no reason to have a public religious tradition, or they have no interest in the cultural religious practices, but are themselves interested in spiritual questions and even questions of the divine.
其他无神论者或许可以被称为“社会无神论者”，他们认为没必要相信公共的传统宗教，或者他们对文化宗教实践不感兴趣，但他们自己对精神问题，甚至是神圣的问题感兴趣。
So there's lots of different ways that atheists think about themselves, think about each other.
因此，无神论者有很多不同的方式来看待自己，思考彼此。
There's lots of different ways that believers think about atheists.
信徒对无神论者的看法有很多不同的方式。
It's often a very abstract concept, even though it seems so simple.
虽然它看似简单，但却是一个非常抽象的概念。
Teleological thinking is really any type of thought process that involves assuming that there's purpose or design.
目的论思维指的是假设有目的或设计的任何类型的思维过程。
And so it turns out that, even though this really is a form of supernatural thinking, right- to assume there's some sort of grander purpose to things- that atheists aren't immune from this type of thinking.
所以事实证明，即使这真的是一种超自然思维的形式--假设事物存在某种更宏伟的目的--无神论者也不能幸免于这种类型的思维。
For instance, in studies of atheists who are asked to describe certain life events, they frequently use teleological language in their written description of those events.
例如，在一些针对无神论者的研究中，他们被要求去描述某些生活事件，在文字描述中，他们经常会使用目的论语言。
So for instance, they might say, "I didn't get this job, and it wasn't meant to be," as if there's a part of human nature, even if people consciously reject the supernatural, that pulls them to these ideas.
举个例子，他们可能会说，“我没有得到这份工作，这也不是我的本意。”就好像即便人们拒绝超自然现象，但人性中也有一部分会让他们产生这种想法。
In some instances, our own conscious awareness of something or our own conscious beliefs may not tell the whole story of the way our brains work.
在某些情况下，我们对某些事的有意识意识或我们的意识信仰并不能反映出大脑全部的工作原理。
There is some research focused on atheists and their lack of belief, and the implications of that.
有一些研究专门研究了无神论者、他们信仰的缺失及其产生的影响。
They asked atheists to say things that shouldn't bother them because they don't believe in God, such as wishing God would do harm to their friends.
他们要求无神论者说一些本不会让他们困扰的事情，毕竟他们不相信上帝，比如说希望上帝去伤害他们的朋友。
Now, believers don't like saying this stuff, and indeed, in these studies when believers were asked to say that, if they complied, they immediately expressed that that made them very uncomfortable.
信徒可不喜欢说这种话，确实，在这些研究中，当信徒被要求这么说的时候，即便他们照做了，也会很快就承认这让他们感到不安。
When atheists were asked to say these things, they reported immediately that it didn't bother them at all.
当无神论者被要求说这种话时，他们立马表示这完全不会让他们产生困扰。
But what's interesting about these studies is the researchers didn't just rely on people's self-report.
但这些研究的有趣之处在于，研究人员并不仅仅只是看人们的自我表态。
They actually hooked them up to equipment that measures a physiological response.
他们还会把受试者连接到能测量人们生理反应的设备上。
If you start to look a little bit deeper beyond self-report, a lot of times the body tells a different story than what we consciously report ourselves.
如果你在自我表态之下再深挖一点，会发现很多时候，身体呈现出来的反应和我们有意识的表态并不相同。
When it came to measuring their physiological response, atheists looked indistinguishable from theists.
从生理反应方面的测量结果来看，无神论者与有神论者是一样的。
One of the biggest challenges that I think creates conflict between hardcore religious believers and hardcore atheists is a misunderstanding not just of each other, but of themselves.
我认为，在坚定的宗教信徒和坚定的无神论者之间制造冲突的最大挑战之一，不仅仅是他们对彼此的误解，更是对他们自己的误解。
Hardcore atheists think that they're not at all guided by supernatural ideas and concepts, but we know from research that they do have a tendency to engage in teleological thinking, to see things in terms of design and purpose.
坚定的无神论者认为他们根本不受超自然思想和观念的指导，但我们从研究中知道，他们确实有目的论思维，会从设计和目的的角度来看待事物。
Likewise, on the other side, hardcore believers often think that most of their life decisions are guided by their spiritual nature, when in fact, like atheists, they also rely on evidence and science, they often have the same struggles, religious questions and uncertainties that other people have.
同样，另一方面，坚定的信徒往往认为他们的生活决定大多是由精神本质来指导的，而实际上，他们也像无神论者一样，需要依赖证据和科学，他们也经常会有和其他人一样的挣扎、宗教问题和不确定性。
It's easy to divide people into groups over something that seems so powerfully different about people, such as whether or not they believe in a God or particular religious tradition,
根据人与人之间一些完全不同的特质，比如是否要相信上帝或某种宗教传统，把人们分门别类，这很简单，
but if we take a step back and try to look beyond these surface-level differences that seem like they should divide us and turn us against each other,
但如果我们后退一步，看看除了这些划分我们、让我们针锋相对的表面区别以外的东西，
we'll see a deeper part of the human condition that really is a story of commonality- and a story about what it means to be a complete human trying to live a flourishing life.
就会发现人类所拥有的共性，会发现成为一个完整的人类，过上欣欣向荣的生活到底意味着什么。
