(November 19, 2016 at 2:37 am)robvalue Wrote: An atheist is a person who lacks belief in God, or believes there is no God...You can't simply ignore part of the definition because it's convenient.I'm being hyperbolic but only in the service of highlighting what I believe is somewhat silly cliche - defining atheism as simply a lack of belief. Of course anyone can see that the underlying assumption is that it applies to people (and not cabbages) and, yes, it is a total nit-pick.
At the same time, outside the small circle of atheists I don't think there is much sympathy for that self-definition, because it is a very trivial way to define an intellectual position about which self-described atheists are not indifferent. They care. Otherwise they wouldn't be posting and debating on AF. They care. Otherwise there wouldn't be clubs and magazines about atheism. What I mean to say is that many, if not most, AF members have rather strong feelings about whether god(s) exist. Even the so-called agnostic atheists are not indifferent on the issue. No one can deny that nearly every self-described atheist harbors a modicum of incredulity to the proposition that god(s) exist. From the outside, and not just among particularly obnoxious theists like myself, that incredulity is a defining feature of atheism. I really find it hard to believe that you guys don't embrace the obvious.
To say an atheist is someone who lacks belief in god(s) puts it on the same level as lack of belief about pretty much anything for any reason. Saying someone is an atheist, thus defined, falls in the same category as the benign ignorance of a child who never heard of the Alepo Codex and therefore doesn't believe in it's existence. It trivializes the concept of atheism. That is why I think the currently popular definition of atheism is a kind of dodge, probably and inadvertent one in most cases.
