Is atheism a belief?

Question

I'm getting different feeds from different atheists. Some atheists say that atheism is not a belief but I'm read atheists posting that they don't believe in god or done believe god exist.

Also an athiest on another question said that the atheism is based on belief and agnosticism is based on facts. Can you base the arguement of non-existance of god on facts without being an agnostic?

ok, ok, you say god doesn't exist. Now, try to answer the question.

Snarky Atheist: No I can't. My belief is purely based on faith in the Bible, witnesses of the believers and my personal experience with God. It's sort of like this. I hope you watched the movie Contact with Jody Foster. She experienced soemthing that she cannot imperically explain but every fible of her being tells her what she has experienced was true. That is my faith and my truth.

I'm sorry about misspellings. Obviously, English is not my first language :)

Answer 1

i think blind atheism is just as bad as blind theism. the existence of a god can't be proven or disproven on either side.

Answer 2

My take on it is that I don't believe that any gods exist. I don't base my lack of belief on belief, but on a lack of evidence for any of the possible deities.

It's very similar to what Christians think about all other gods than their own, except I extend it to all gods.

I personally view agnostics as more undecided rather than fact based. The only way that I'd be agnostic is if there was enough evidence to indicate that there might be a god, but not enough to be compelling.

Edit:
There maybe some confusion because of the imprecision of language and how people use it. Also, atheism is not a unified organization with a set of dogmas like a religion, so each atheist may express the same thing differently.

Edit 2:
It's amazing to me that so many Christians know more about my apparent "belief" than I or other atheists do. Talk about having a closed mind in the presence of the facts.

Answer 3

I am an atheist, among other things.

Yes, atheism is a "belief," in the sense that "belief" is a mental state about the truth or falsity of some proposition. In response to the proposition, "Gods exist," atheists say "No." Most atheists that I know come to that conclusion after considering the evidence (scant or terrible in quality) supporting the "Gods exist" proposition. Most atheists would say that they don't merely have a "belief" that no gods or other supernatural beings exist -- they are convinced (confident to a 95 or 99.995-percent degree) that gods and supernatural beings don't exist. "Absence of evidence is evidence of absence." Or as Carl Sagan may have been the first to write, "Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence." Most atheists do their best to be consistently rational, demanding of evidence, and skeptical of claims that are extraordinary when viewed through the "lens" of the scientific method.

So atheism is not a "belief" in the same sense that a religious person or superstitious person believes in an immortal soul, or life after death, or the ability to heal injury or cure illness through prayer. Religious belief is a mental stance that affirms the truth of a proposition without evidence, even defiantly and proudly in the face of clear evidence that the proposition is false or highly improbable. As Tertullian wrote early in the Christian era, "I believe because it is absurd."

Even the most outspoken atheists (such as Richard Dawkins) will usually concede that the non-existence of a supernatural being or anything else (or the impossibility of the existence of such a beastie) cannot be PROVEN through logic alone. So an atheist's conviction that gods don't exist is a statement of very, very high confidence (99 percent or more), or, stated conversely, a conviction that the existence of supernatural beings is so extremely improbable as to be worth ignoring or treated as impossible.

Some non-believers, notably Michael Shermer, would label themselves as "agnostic non-theists," meaning that they (1) concede the vanishingly small possibility that gods might exist, (2) acknowledge the impossibility of absolutely "proving a negative" (that gods don't exist), but (3) conduct their lives on the sensible assumption that there are no gods.

Answer 4

it's all perspective. i say it's not because it is disbelief in any and all deities. other see it as a belief because it is the belief that there is no god or gods. it's both a belief but at the same time it's not.

and yes you can base the non-existence of god on facts without being agnostic.

edit: to Karen J. yes i am an atheist but i am spiritual. this is the religion and spirituality section not the god section. go get a brain.

Answer 5

Most atheists understand the human limits on knowledge and are thus technically agnostic, but this term would be quite misleading given our level of confidence. Basically this question is about semantics, but it also perhaps depends on what philosophy of science is being applied. Ideas such as the (infinite) set of possible gods that could exist (and not be evident) are unfalsifiable, which many would suggest makes them useless ideas. That is a fact.

Answer 6

Atheism is defined as a lack of belief in gods, or divinity.

You can no more disprove invisible pink unicorns, mermaids, dancing elves or the gods.

I guess you could play with words and say that not believing in 'batman' is actually a belief of not believing in 'batman' since you cannot disprove his existence.
And hey, he does have books, games, and shows all about himself. He just might exist. Anything IS possible.

But let's be rational, shall we?

You have freedom of speech. I respect that.
If it makes you feel better to define 'atheism' as a belief system, based on 'faith' like your own. So be it.

Do know though that some will think you ignorant because of that. I'm glad you've found your truth.
May I now enjoy mine?

-- Agnostic Buddhist.

Answer 7

I'm a big fan of the omnipotence paradox, personally, which is derived from facts.

A supposedly omnipotent being is impossible by its very nature, as it calls for such questions as "Can it make a rock too big for even itself to carry?".

Then there's also the omniscience problem, with a supposedly omniscient being already knowing one's fate before he/she is even born (which really screws with "free will"). And bringing somebody into existence that is already predetermined to suffer "eternal damnation" is the epitome of evil, coming from a supposedly purely good being.

EDIT: Oops, I forgot to answer the question. I don't usually do that. Sorry. Atheism and agnosticism are both founded on facts, they're just two different interpretations of what is already known, that lead to two different conclusions. So there is a factual basis for both, although to say that atheism has no belief factor whatsoever would probably be stretching it.

...whoa, English isn't your first language? I never would have guessed. (Seriously, I'm not being sarcastic). Your English is quite good and your spelling is exponentially better than many of those who have English as their first language.

Answer 8

Arnold K - You are striving to appear as a bright person so maybe you can help me, a committed Atheist. First, you need simply to understand that an Atheist has no beliefs in a God or Gods. Nothing more than that. Now, it is apparent to me you believe there is a God. Would you mind so terribly much giving us non-believing Atheists just a wee bit of your empirical evidence that supports your belief?

Answer 9

There are only one major fact that proves the existance of God and that is the existance of the Jews as a faith and a race in our midst !!! Reading the history of the Jews should prove that point very well !!! I hate to say this but there will be many Jews who will take acception to this !!!

You might say that atheism and agnostism is a belief system based on the non-existance of God !!!

Answer 10

nicely, a concept is something somebody believes, be it authentic or fake. believe it or no longer, there are people that believe that the earth is flat. (The Flat Earth Society) it fairly is their "concept." subsequently, every person who would not believe in a god is an atheist and it fairly is one in each and every of their ideals and an element of their concept equipment...end of tale. As for the "attractiveness and certainty" of your guy or woman concept equipment, you're heavily inaccurate. I certainly have heard that a lot of people on acid adventure an exceptionally alluring reflects of coloration and excessive emotional reviews with profound consequences. Tat would not make what they're doing precise neither is it something I certainly have any pastime in attempting. It incredibly doesn’t make their strikes or their thought that their strikes are ok...the reality. Your bible or the Quran or despite holly e book you subscribe too could convey you some form of convenience and you're able to locate some attractiveness in it fairly is pages, yet that would not make all of it peaches and it incredibly would not make it authentic or the reality. This absurd thought that anybody's ideals could desire to be time-honored as certainty is assigning. in case you pick to concept a lie, it fairly is your prerogative and that i've got not any precise to circumvent you from believing what you prefer. yet purely as I scoff on the acidheads and pot heads and alcoholics for waiting their lives and the adults which could’t differentiate between technological know-how fiction and actuality and spend countless hours an afternoon enjoying video games for the comparable reason, so too do i think approximately people that could positioned faith in such an antiquated and ridiculous thought as god. ~~

Answer 11

Just like when you hate your politician and vote him out doesn't mean you have elected a new candidate.

When you don't want to believe in the religion you think you know you oppose it. I am sure if they read and understand a religion ( try a few) they will convert since every man has a soul that is god fearing!