(November 21, 2016 at 11:42 am)Neo-Scholastic Wrote: While a contemporary atheist may prefer one of at least four definitions that does not justify the demand that everyone else conform to that preference. I am mocking the mostly polite, but often strident, insistence that only one definition applies. Not only does the word have history, most notably the French Revolution, but the dismissive attitude of the prominent New Atheists betrays their tacit acceptance of a “god denial” connotation.
The problem with this complaint of yours is that it is almost always a religionist of one ilk or another who is insisting that all atheists comport to his or her preconceived notion of atheism -- and the overwhelming majority of the time it is hard, D7 atheism -- when the fact is that there is a spectrum of views regarding the beliefs people hold.
If you want to think that the modern atheist writers are making a hard negative assertion about the existence of gods, that's one thing, incorrect though you'd be. But to the extrapolate the opinions of a few writers to the mass of atheists (estimated to be anywhere from 700 million to one billion worldwide) is mentally lazy and ought to be beneath you.
