(January 4, 2019 at 12:26 am)bennyboy Wrote: I'm obviously pretty late to the party, but whether atheism is a belief depends on which etymology the word is constructed from.
a+theist = not a theist, and this doesn't require any particular belief
ath(eos) + ist = one who hold the doctrine of not-God as true
According to Wikipedia (with emphasis mine):
The etymological root for the word atheism originated before the 5th century BCE from the ancient Greek ἄθεος (atheos), meaning "without god(s)". In antiquity it had multiple uses as a pejorative term applied to those thought to reject the gods worshiped by the larger society, those who were forsaken by the gods or those who had no commitment to belief in the gods. The term denoted a social category created by orthodox religionists into which those who did not share their religious beliefs were placed. The actual term atheism emerged first in the 16th century. With the spread of freethought, skeptical inquiry, and subsequent increase in criticism of religion, application of the term narrowed in scope.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism