Strong Atheism starts from faith

[Edwardo Piet]

Proper atheism is about not believing in "God".

Yes and theVOID doesn't believe in God, so how is he not a 'proper atheist'?

If you're hooked up on subjective interpretive you might as well abandon the term atheism and adopt skepticism.

Hooked up on subjective interpretation? I thought it was you doing that. Either someone is an atheist or they aren't... I don't see what a 'proper' or 'improper' atheist is. Either someone is an atheist or they are not - either they believe in God or they don't. Is it not as simple as that?

Also, I don't see a point in dubbing yourself an atheist only to turn around and say "There is an equal chance that there is a "God";

Well I don't believe I know anyone here who does that. But if it was exactly 50/50 then I don't quite see whether that's belief or disbeleif.

or, "God may very well exist".

Eh? God indeed may exist (however improbable he is) - how can I know he doesn't? If he is completely undetectable and indistinguisble in experience from his non-existence?

Do I believe in God? No. So even if he may exist I don't believe... so long as I think he is more improbable than probable to exist than I'm an atheist. There almost certainly is no God I say.

It completely defies the supposed position of non-belief.

Please substantiate that. Are you saying that no atheist is a 'true atheist' (or, 'proper atheist' as you put it) if he is not a gnostic atheist? Atheism is only really atheism if it's absolute denial of any possibility of God's existence? Well I'm actually more against gnostic atheism than I am agnostic theism. I think that it's insane to think you can absolutely know God doesn't exist - because to know that... you'd have to have the mind of God yourself!! We humans don't have access to absolute knowledge, God or no God.

Either don't believe, or assume realistic possibility for "God's" existence, fence sitter's are basically skeptics, and there's nothing "wrong" with being a skeptic as long as it doesn't try to incorporate the side of disbelief and neutrality simultaneously.
That's all I'm trying to say.

So now you are speaking of a realistic possibility. Well sure, that's better. But any possibility left open is more intellectually honest than none of course. I am sure TheVOID didn't mean that he is a 'fence sitter' in the sense of it's '50/50' that God doesn't exist or not. I'm sure he's a much stronger atheist than that.

EvF