There are some very narrow views on what atheism is... especially among theists. Though some may claim there absolutely is no god, most atheists I know would never hold such a view. It is obviously dishonest to state as fact things which are not evidently true, and that is what faith requires. It is also dishonest to shift the burden of proof onto someone who simply does not believe your unsubstantiated claim.

Atheism is no more than lacking conviction that there must be a god. Being unconvinced about someone else's unsubstantiated assertions cannot be called a belief in itself. It is inappropriate to shift the burden away from those asserting mere speculation as though they were a matter of fact, to instead label my already justified suspicion as though it were somehow equivalent to a belief system. If I have reason to believe, I will. If I don't, I can't, and my lack of conviction cannot be considered a positive proclamation of any belief system. Dis-belief is not a belief. As superpunk quoted above.. Atheism is a belief like NOT collecting stamps is a hobby.

Theist makes an Unsupported Assertion that there is a god
Atheist makes the supported observation: there is no substantial proof of god, therefore i have no reason to believe such claims.

If you said "Maybe there is a god", I might even say it with you, because that is an honest comment, but once you drop the word, "maybe", you've drawn a line I cannot cross. Likewise, it is completely honest to say "There evidently is no god", which is the sole perspective common to all atheists.

Last Edited By: Mar 9 10 12:03 PM. Edited 1 times.