Quote:That's irrelevant to my question. I simply asked what your basis is for thinking "I don't believe you." is a belief. Justification doesn't matter.
"I don't believe you." is not the same as "I believe you are wrong.
EDIT: It does require justification, yes; because there is evidence to suggest otherwise.
"I don't believe you" is a belief. To deny a belief is no different neurologically or epistemologically than to affirm a belief. To deny a belief is also to believe whatever the denial says.
For instance, look at this conversation:
"God is exists."
"No, I don't believe you" - When you say, no, I don't believe you, you are also saying at the same time "God probably does not exist". The statement "I don't believe you" depends on the statement "God probably does not exist", otherwise it is a lie, the person is saying "I don't believe you" but the words don't refer to anything. I suppose they could be saying "I don't know if God exists or not but I don't believe you" but at the same time they are saying "I don't believe you because God probably does not exist ".
"God probably does not exist" is a belief which requires justification, just as "the earth is probably not round" requires justification.
What is the difference between rejecting religious claims and rejecting scientific claims? Are atheists so cowardly that they believe rejecting religious claims requires no justification?
