A Believer's Thoughts on Faith

[Mister Agenda]

 i'm starting to wonder if i know exactly what atheism is, so a definition (in one's own words) would also be helpful.

For most of history, atheism has been defined as the belief that God doesn't exist. An atheist is a person who says "God isn't real." 

Recently, especially on the Internet, some people have started using a different definition. They say that atheism is simply the lack of belief in God. To them, atheists are people who say "I don't believe in God."

For most of history, Christians wrote English dictionaries and defined atheism. Your mileage may vary from mine on what 'recent' means.

The Atheist does not say “There is no God,” but he says, “I know not what you mean by God; I am without idea of God; the word ‘God’ is to me a sound conveying no clear or distinct affirmation. I do not deny God, because I cannot deny that of which I have no conception, and the conception of which, by its affirmer, is so imperfect that he is unable to define it to me.”

-Charles Bradlaugh, a well-known British atheist in the nineteenth century. In his pamphlet, A Plea for Atheism (1864)