Posted on 09/25/2008 7:58:38 AM PDT by Sybeck1
“Atheism is a belief.”
The burden of proof is on someone proposing a positive preposition. ie belief in a deity. Saying that atheism is a belief incorrectly attempts to reverse that burden.
We need to distinguish between those who claim to have an open mind on the question—”nontheists,” say—and those who have reached a conclusive rejection of the proposition.
As an “atheist” is literally one without God, that amounts to a fairly positive rejection of the theist case, and, therefore, a positive belief about the universe. One can feel fairly confident (or not) about how one reached that belief, but it is, in fact, a positive belief.
The word for those without belief on a particular point is “incredulous.”
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