Is atheism a belief?

[bennyboy]

Why are atheists fighting so hard to be seen as people who simply lack a belief, and not as those who believe certain propositions are likely false?

Perhaps because the majority of them are, like you, agnostic atheists?

I'm not an agnostic atheist.

I'm gnostic atheist on all normal definitions of God that I've heard, and agnostic in general.  I don't accept the term "atheist" as a descriptor of myself in general, because I believe there is almost certainly either some philosophical principle or quantity, or some massive intellect so beyond our own, that it could be called God.  Whether you would  call it that is a different issue.

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Would you accept that I claim that you are the spawn of your mother mating with beelszbub? Of course not.

If you made that claim, I wouldn't say I lacked that belief. I'd say I believed otherwise, or that I believed you were wrong.