[Serious] Atheist Dogma

[Belacqua]

Are lizards atheists?

The definitions of atheist and theist address the beliefs of people. Why does it matter if a lizard is an atheist? Is the lizard a theist?

The lizard lacks a belief in God. 

I maintain that the lack of belief in God that lizards, stones, and newborns have is trivial. If we really want to say that atheism is lack and nothing but lack, that's OK with me, but it says nothing about adult thinking people.

People who have heard religious claims and failed to accept them are not atheists in the same way that lizards and newborns are atheists. Atheist grownups reject religious claims according to standards of judgment. Examples of these standards include "revelation is not reliable" or "the Bible is not a good source of truth." 

These standards of judgment are things we hold to be true -- they are beliefs. Thus our atheism is the result of what we hold to be true. My atheism is not trivial in the way that newborns' atheism is.