Religious people on the reasonable faith forum are so fucking stupid...

[Fidel_Castronaut]

I actually think that defining atheism as a "lack of belief" is silly. In terms of content, "lacking belief" is really just disbelief. However, when atheists phrase it that way, it gives a clear impression that atheists are actively trying to avoid any possible burden of proof. After all, why go out of one's way to define a position such that one does not have supposedly have to defend holding it? Worse, "lack of belief" can only really reasonably apply to those who haven't heard of god concepts before, or have been newly introduced to them. However, once one has been introduced to said concepts one either has good reasons for their resulting position or they do not. At that point, claiming you don't have the burden of proof is a complete non sequitur.

Except I've always lacked a belief in any sort of deity since day 1.

Lack of belief and disbelief can go hand in hand. I don't disbelieve in all god claims because there's no way for me to make a value judgement on all god claims that I haven't heard. However, I can reject and soundly disbelieve a claim as it is presented to me.

And even then, the idea that when presented with a claim one must chose 'either, or' is a silly assumption that needs to be challenged.