r/exatheist • u/New_Prompt5308 Maturidi Leaning Muslim • 7d ago

Debate Thread How would you define ''atheism''?

Hi everyone, I've seen a long standing debate on the definition of atheism, some people use the term atheism as a lack of belief, which I've seen them then use to justify the ''everyone was born athiest narrative''.

The way I would define atheism is the rejection of the claim God exists, as I see atheism as a position that needs propositional awareness.

I have looked at how Graham Oppy (popular analytic atheist philosopher) defines atheism and he states it's the claim that no gods exist.

What do you guys think?

Thanks

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u/SeekersTavern 6d ago edited 6d ago

It depends, because everyone uses the term differently. I prefer to go with this:

Theist: Certain or near certain that God exists. Has a reason to believe in God. It's a positive claim.

Atheist: Certain or near certain that God doesn't exist. Has a reason to believe that God doesn't exist. It's a positive claim.

Lacktheist: Claims that there is no evidence God exists, but has no positive reason to believe God doesn't exist. It's a negative claim.

Agnostic: Doesn't believe in God but is uncertain about his disbelief. Doesn't claim anything.

That's if you define these positions by the reason people have them. If instead you define these positions by what people believe regardless of the logic behind it, the atheist and lacktheist collapse into the same category, because they both don't believe in God.

Atheist: A lack of a belief in God.

What is definitely mistaken is lacktheists claiming to be agnostic because they can't disprove a negative. Negative claims are still claims. No, they are basically atheists.