Nem said:
Ok, so you are an Atheist but are not clear with the concept. I will try to explain.
Atheism is not the belief that God does not exist. Atheism is the lack of belief in a God. This is because the default position is to not believe anything that isn't proven to exist (cookie monster, talking butter, dragon in the basement, etc.). Say, you say you believe God doesn't exist. This is a proposition you can never prove. It's impossible to prove something doesn't exist, because it's obvious it doesn't exist until it's proven to exist. It is therefore an illogical proposition. Atheism/t is the guy who gets told by the religious guy: There is a God! Pray to him! The atheist says: Ok... wheres your proof? You have none? Well... screw that then. You were as much an atheist before the religious guy asked you the question as after. Before he asked, you didn't know anything about it, so you naturally didn't assume it's existance. After the proposition, you were not shown proof and your position therefore didn't change. This is the same for any claim. The space cookie monster for example. Had you thought about him before? Did you think it was real before i brought it up? If i say he is and fail to present evidence, did your position change? See, the burden of proof is in the person that makes the claim. The atheist makes no claim. He rejects the claim made by the religious guy. The "rejection" is the default state for everything. If it wasn't like this everyone would live in chaos and fear of everything and anything being real at any moment.
In the same way: Baby is born. He doesn't know what God is. This mean he doesn't have a belief in God. He is therefore Atheist. Maybe he gets shown the proposition later and decides to accept it, he becomes a theist, or not and mantains the position.
This is apparantly very shocking for our fellow religious buddy there, wich i find hilarious. Anyways, hope this helped you understand it. Feel free to ask if you still have questions. I'll try to answer to the best of my abilities. |
Yes, atheism is the lack of belief in a god, which is why the terms atheist and agnostic are not mutually exclusive. I myself would be considered an agnostic atheist, though when asked I generally tend to refer myself to the latter as there are also theistic agnostics. But calling someone who does not know of the concept of a god an atheist doesn't make sense as they could begin to believe in one as soon as they become aware of the idea, and thus in terms of debates and discussion it shifts away from the central argument.
