Tomas Halik's Concept of Atheism

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the main theses of the Czech philosopher, sociologist, and theologian Tomas Halik on atheism. He departs from the dogmatic understanding of atheism as the conviction of the non-existence of God or the lack of conviction of His existence and argues on the side of atheism as a way of purification and maturation of faith. The article consists of two parts. In the first one the context of the emergence, sources and main types of dogmatic atheism are presented. In the second part, the concept of atheism as a way of faith's criticism (criticism of inadequate concepts and ideas about God) and a form of existential experience (experiencing God's silence, absence and "death" and the insufficiency of human mental powers in His cognition) is outlined.