Atheism a faith?

Question

To begin, I wouldn't consider myself atheist OR theist.

Atheism is just as much a faith as theism.

An atheist believes there is no God. This notion is unmerited. There's no evidence of a God so there isn't one? That's a hasty conclusion. A theist believes in a certain God or Gods. You trust the first set of tenets that come by because you're told they're divine? What rash decision making.

May either of you try proving your point.

Answer 1

Yes it is, the more they try to deny it, the more you know they are trying to avoid the truth.

Answer 2

Yes, atheism is a faith. Unless you don't have the ability to think, therefore you can't believe in anything, then your opinion is a faith. Any belief that we have on this matter would be considered a faith, because we haven't proven anything absolutely right or wrong. Just seeing, touching, tasting, smelling, or hearing anything and believing that it was caused by a real thing is faith, because who's to say that our senses are giving us an accurate picture of the world.
Just to point out, I believe there is no god, not because there is no evidence for god, but, among other things, because I believe that inventing a benevolent entity is a primitive way to explain what we do not understand. All primitive people capable of pondering their existence created a god or gods, or something similar to explain what they did not understand. I think it is unlikely that these theories made by people with rudimentary knowledge of things, even compared to us, are actually true.
Though I stand by this opinion, I'll point out that my, and even the smartest person in the world's knowledge of the universe is infinitesimally small compared to everything there is to know. So if I were to say that without a doubt there is no god or something like it, I would be being ignorant, I just think it's the most likely that there is not.

Answer 3

if you're not atheist or theist, you're atheist because you don't believe in anything, unless you mean you're in that phase where you consider the two possibilities

Some atheists have many more reasons for not believing, though that is a main one that proves to be unreliable.

And no, i don't believe in them because i'm told they're divine. I believe in God because I've felt that he's divine. I've felt him. And some atheists may say that it's emotion based- but think about this. When i was suicidal, my emotions were saying jump, yet I still felt God which is why i didn't do anything 2 yeras back.

may either of you try to prove our point? There are many points in religion but that's what faith is- it isn't weighing each other out and seeing which religion is best. is seeing what you perceive from your heart as real. i myself was basically atheist as i went to church, but one day he brought me into his arms.

to the guy above me- not that i'm atheist, but no, christians aren't atheists. i'm pretty sure that to be part of atheism you have to believe in nothing. and yes, doesn't it take faith? dont' you need your faith to believe in something other than Gods, or simply not accepting the concept of gods/God. what does faith have to do with service and worship? you have faith in many nonreligious ways. if you have a parent or guardian, you have faith that they'll feed, house, and take care of you, but you dont' worhsip them do you?

Answer 4

Is Atheism really a faith?
What do Atheists believe in? Who do we worship? Where do we attend service?

How can we define someone by that in which they don't believe?
Most people don't believe in Dragons, would we then define humans as "Dragon-Disbelievers"?
Theres no evidence Dragons don't exist, so surely they must be real?

Wouldn't Christians be Atheists in a sense for not believing in the hundreds of 'others Gods' claimed by Eastern religions?

Atheism can only be considered a faith, when language no longer means anything.

Answer 5

Faith is just acting on a belief. Atheists believe that God doesn't exist so they act on that by living their lives without reference to God. So yes, they have faith that God doesn't exist.

But agnosticism makes no sense either. We have to live our lives and so we must make a choice. Live our lives in reference to God or not. Agnostics don't, I think.

I thought freebird's answer was interesting:

"I've searched for evidence with far more diligence than virtually any other decision in my life. "

This search for evidence shows the fallacy of the atheist Santa/Pink Unicorn/Flying Spaghetti Monster argument. Even without evidence, God is important enough to search for, whereas those other things are not. If the atheists equate God with the Pink Unicorn, why didn't freebird search for the Pink Unicorn with such diligence?

Answer 6

Atheism is the belief that no Gods of any religion can exist in any commonly accepted sense of the word. To believe that with absolute certainty, faith is required. That's a blind adherence to an idea--the idea that what we can, and have observed is all there is.

An agnostic, however, is an atheist squared. He sees that faith is required to be certain of anything and therefore is faithful to no absolute idea. They are infallible, but they stand for nothing--it seems like a fair trade off to me.

Answer 7

You write off the lack of evidence of a God as "hasty". I don't. I consider the lack of evidence as profound.

For the same reason that I consider it safe to cross the street when I see no car coming, I consider it safe to harbor my atheist beliefs when I see no God.

I've searched for evidence with far more diligence than virtually any other decision in my life. In fact, the decision that there is no God is probably the most researched condition in my life. I've risked my life on decisions made with less input than whether atheism is valid. Could there be a God? Of course. But all of the evidence I've seen, felt, heard, or tasted has failed to even hint at evidence of a supreme being.

But, like Bigfoot or UFO's, I realize that perhaps I don't have the personal resources to fully investigate the situation. Personal evaluation alone is not adequate. So, I give the experts a shot at proving them for me. In today's world, I have vitrually millions of "experts" on any given subject at my WWW command. And yet, none have presented one shred of credible evidence of God.

So, I cross the proverbial street.

Answer 8

faith=belief that is not based on proof
belief=an opinion or conviction

All faith and belief is tenuous.
You see your friend at the coffee shop. You believe it is him. You have an innate faith in your eyesight and facial recognition skills. You playfully kick him in the ***. You realize that this is not your friend. You are a little embarrassed. Your faith and beliefs are shattered.
I am an atheist and I believe in nothing. I do what I can do...and that is all I ask of anyone else.

Answer 9

NNNo..... they dont have a faith....
Faith is believing GOD...
Faith is the substance of things we hope for