Is there any sensible reason there can be no athiests?

Question

I've read more than once that noone can know for sure, so there are no athiests. Wouldn't that same logic apply to every belief? Athiests hold to it as their best guess. Christians hold to it as gospel.

Answer 1

Watch this:

Santa Claus does not exist.
The tooth fairy does not exist.
Purple hedgehog trees do not exist.
The Easter bunny does not exist, and is not bringing eggs to all the children all over the world.

Are those guesses?

It's spelled "atheist", by the way.

Answer 2

It's all semantics and hair splitting really isn't it?

Believers presumably think they can somehow get on an even footing with atheists if they 'prove' atheism is based on belief. They can then turn arguments that undermine their own beliefs back on the underminers. Atheists on the other hand perhaps don't like to be lumped in with 'believers' they feel are mistaken and so contest the assertion with the 'lack of belief' or 'only an opinion' arguments.

Having been around Y!A for a few months now, I'm less than clear there's a sensible reason for anything anymore. So maybe that's my belief, in which case I'm sticking with it!
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Answer 3

I think the only 'sensible' reason there can be no atheists is because humans, by nature, want the sense of security a god brings, along with the feeling of "Maybe, just maybe, there's something more out there, something bigger..."
Even if this is true or not, all humans will probably feel the slight wonder that there just might be a higher power, and if you define 'atheist' as being beyond 100% sure that there is no god, well then, most humans won't be true atheists.

Answer 4

That's ridiculous. Technically the only thing you can be certain of is that you exist, based on your ability to think. Beyond that, there's a degree of uncertainty to every belief you could possibly have. So while it's impossible to prove that no god exists, that's no different from the way in which it's impossible to prove that your whole life hasn't been a hallucination.

Answer 5

Well sure, but using that "logic" - then there can be no a-fairyists as well. Alll lack of beliefs, such as lack of belief in fairys, ufos, big foot would also be "beliefs that these things do not exist."

That would be a silly way to define things I think

Answer 6

Atheists do have an identity, God does not.

Nothing can have an identity (to be identified) without existing. The fact that something is identified necessarily implies its existence, which necessarily implies existence in general.

What are the characteristics that make God?

Answer 7

~~~Stefan,,,, To educated and knowledgeable atheists, as myself, we do not "guess" that some Supposition is 'correct' and cling to it as The Basis of our Beleif System. I truly don't understand your Q,,,other than the concept of "nobody really knows for sure, etc, etc,",,,however there exists plenty of Esoteric Knowledge, esp. outside of christendom that transcends many mysteries of The Church,,,, .

Answer 8

just because you read it more than once doesn't make it true. I know for sure what I am doing right now, and if I want to continue doing this, I would make a practice out of it.

Answer 9

You don't need proof of no god to be an Atheist. You just have to believe there is no God. Just like you don't need proof of God to be a Christian, you just have to believe in it.

People who say there are no Atheists are just intolerant, and trying to tell people not only what they should believe, but what they believe.

Answer 10

Ultimately, we are all agnostics, really. There is no way for anyone to "know." However, we choose what we believe.