Is atheism a belief?

[fredd bear]

Personally, I'm convinced that adults states of belief in x y or z can be and are as commonly a-rational as any kindergartners.  God beliefs...."natural atheism"....and this very thread.... are all wonderful examples of that.

SAd hoc rationalizations are not reasons in anything other than a low colloquial sense.  We can say that the man skullfucked his neighbor because a neon flashing toucan told him to - that's the reason he did it, without implying (or even attempting to imply) that this is an example of reason at work.

So let's say a person has very superstitious feelings of the category which others might call "superstitious"-- maybe, because they are very strongly ingrained from childhood.  So whenever they walk into a church they "feel there's something out there, though they don't really believe the Bible stories"  But intellectually, they'll agree with you that no god exists under any rational description they've ever heard.  Should they be said to believe, or not?


I'd say a person in conflict can definitely be unable to resolve the complexities of their brain function down to a binary answer-- i.e. they cannot be said to really understand whether they hold a belief or not.

 I think it was Carl Jung who wrote that our most powerful beliefs are based on experience.

With a lovely sense of superiority, we atheist like to claim our lack of belief has been reached rationally. eg due to a lack of proof. I'm not sure human beings are capable of that level of reason. As general principle, I think it may be argued that atheism is every bit as a-rational as any religious belief. Of course, I'm sure there are many exceptions.

In my experience, human beings can rationalise literally any action or intellectual/ philosophical position. The evil person does not usually see himself as evil. Nor, in my experience  does the truly good person usually consider himself thus.

I read somewhere, I forget where "Man is not so much a rational animal, as a rationalising one"