Is atheism a belief?

[Mister Agenda]

Why should I have to rely on 20 different terms, when two terms are sufficient for my purposes.

When in doubt, current dictionary usage is very helpful to avoid confusion. You should however, avoid the dictionary if you want confusion. In conversation, you can use any definition you want for any world you want, as long as you can get your audience to go along with it. You can say 'I define parrots as suitcases' and if you can get the people you're conversing with to agree to use that definition, you can move on with your conversation. Otherwise you're going to be stuck.

a·the·ism
/ˈāTHēˌizəm/
noun
noun: atheism
disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods.

---

Abour 20% of people who identify as atheist, also believe in God.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts...a42b25118a

Digging into the article a bit, it's 18% who say they believe in a 'higher power', which does not necessarily mean a deity, for example 'the Force' in Star Wars could be called a higher power, but it's not a deity. In twelve-step programs, a 'higher power' can be lots of things besides a deity: nature, consciousness, existential freedom, science (from Wikipedia). 'Higher power' is a vague term that can, and often does, mean something besides 'God'.

The most reasonable conclusion from the survey, is that since respondents were first asked 'do you believe in God' before being asked the follow-up question 'do you believe in a higher power' if they answered 'no', is that the 18% who say they believe in a higher power are not taking about God.