Would you call atheism a belief?

[disposablechild]

I guess this kind of ties with the thread asking theists to define an atheist..

Recently in a chat room on another website that i was... attending? in. i was in the chat room. There was a discussion about religion, someone mentioned atheism and a person said that atheism is a joke. I told the person that its not right to attack others beliefs because you disagree with them. They then quipped back "i'm not attacking your beliefs. if you're an atheist you have no beliefs, just disbeliefs". assuming they didn't mean every single belief i have does not exist, i'm sure they meant my atheism is a disbelief.

So, would you say atheism is a disbelief? Or a belief in disbelief? You could say you are choosing not to believe.  In an article by Sam Harris, he said

Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply a refusal to deny the obvious.

(further reading of that article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-harris/there-is-no-god-and-you-k_b_8459.html) Amazing author he is.. before i go off topic... what would you call... your atheism? your belief? your refusal, denial? disbelief?

[Whitney]

I think being an atheist is simply not having a belief...you can't really (sensibly) believe in disbelief; can you?

[Karras]

I do not accept the notion that atheism as a whole is a belief system. It is not.

What does appear to me to be the case is that there are many widely held beliefs amongst atheists though.

For example, the belief that the scientific method is the superior one for explaining our universe or the belief that no special treatment should be given to religions, when all they have on their side is unfounded speculation.

I would not put these beliefs in the same category as a theistic belief system at all, however.

[joeactor]

Well put, Karras...

I was just about to type something similar myself ;-)

It is definitely not a belief system, but beliefs are involved...

2 more cents,
JoeActor

[curiosityandthecat]

Hrm. Two things.

One, there's a difference between X and a/an X. Conflating the two just causes semantic issues which further confuses the theist. (If that's possible.) So that would've been the first thing I pointed out. "Yes, my atheism involves disbelief, or denial of a claim or, more specifically, denial of your claim to certainty, but it's not a disbelief in that it is a system. Atheism is a description of a collection of conclusions, not a dogmatic system in which there are rules by which to abide." Small point, but still.

Two, a lot of people have a hard time accepting a negative claim, especially theists (present company excepted, Joe   ). It's akin to digging a hole, and asking if, by filling that hole with dirt from another area you are in effect moving that hole. I have a feeling they'd say, "Well, yes, I'm moving the hole." Well, that's not really true.

Remember, one way to claim a viewpoint is wrong is to basically twist it to have the same characteristics as your own, and then remark on its inferiority to yours. That's basically what the chatter did.

[Will]

Atheism, at least the atheism where you disbelieve the existence of god, is having not been convinced of a belief. It's a neutral state. I wouldn't characterize it as a belief any more than it's a belief that Barack Obama was born in Hawaii instead of there being a massive conspiracy to get a Kenyan Muslim elected president. See what I mean?

[SSY]

I don't believe in god

I disbelieve god

I believe god( your god or any other I have heard of) does not exist.

I suppose the third statement is a stronger ( more encompassing ) statement, and the one that describes me. Very tricky to ascertain the differences between them without getting semantically tangled, as curio said.

I suppose the first could be seen as never been convinced in a god, the third as coming to a more definate conclusion based on a judgement of evidence presented, the second one seems different to me, almost like one is making an effort not to believe in god, maybe grammar is just playing tricks on me. This would be so much easier if I spoke loglan.

[Kylyssa]

Is thinking fairies are not real a belief?  Do people have belief systems for everything they don't think is real?  I don't believe in UFOs, Bigfoot, leprechauns or Santa Claus.  Are each of those non-beliefs a belief system?

[joeactor]

Is thinking fairies are not real a belief?  Do people have belief systems for everything they don't think is real?  I don't believe in UFOs, Bigfoot, leprechauns or Santa Claus.  Are each of those non-beliefs a belief system?

No.  They're not belief systems - they are individual beliefs.
A "system" would imply some kind of structure, yes/no?

Wherever there is a lack of evidence, and a statement is made regarding existence or non-existence, there is a belief in play.

... and if you have evidence, no belief is needed.

2 more cents,
JoeActor

[Sophus]

I would say it's a belief, although not necessarily a conviction. I wouldn't say "I know there is no God" but since I don't believe in any, and I am 99.9999999% sure there isn't one, I'm still technically an atheist. But what about a person who has never heard of deities? There disbelief in a god would play a role in their thinking even though they've never been exposed to the idea. Just as I don't believe in invisible dancing fairies Every disbelief is pretty much a belief in something else. Even if it isn't a belief of absolute certainty.

[Dragon_Of_Heavon]

I would say that Atheism is not so much an belief as it is simply as the name of the subject implies. There is Theism the belief in a God or higher power, and then there is Atheism which is its opposite the disbelief in a deity or higher power. That is really all that the term implies each of us is different. An example of this would be that one atheist may believe in the philosophy of Taoism where as another may believe in something else. Atheism is not altogether a abandonment of believes but rather an abandonment of one. Another way of putting it is that theists have a disbelief of every other believe but their own. Atheism just takes it one step further and adds one more.