Is atheism just a lack of belief?
1:saying ''i just lack a belief in God'' seems to mean that you are not really making any claim about God,you just don't have a belief in God and you are unconvinced
ok,to make my point i am going to make more levels of beliefs/non-beliefs and explain why the claim ''i just lack a belief in God'' doesn't work on atheism
Atheism-------------Atheism 2------------Agnosticism-Theism-----------Theism 2
---------------------------_-------------------------_--------------------_----------------------_---------------
there is no God it's unlikely i don't know God probably God
that God exists exists Exists
now,saying ''i just lack a belief in God'' seems to make sense on agnosticism
that is to say:i don't have a belief in God,i am unconvinced
this definition seems good for agnosticism but not for atheism.
as an atheist if you don't make the claims ''God is unlikely" or "God doesn't exist" it doesn't seem to me like you are an atheist,it seems to me like you are an agnostic,why not just say ''i am an agnostic"?
there is already a word for someone who lacks a belief in God and just isn't convinced and doesn't make any claims about the truth...it's called agnosticism,that's not atheism,that's agnosticism.
since there is already a word for that,why not use that word?
2:That doesn't seem to define atheism,that seems to be ''an autobiographical comment on one's personal psychology" as William Lane Craig would say.
from what i've noticed most atheists who use this definition are just trying to hide from the burden of proof,while later on,after defining atheism,they make claims like:''God is unlikely''
or "God doesn't exist''
if an atheist is not someone who claims there is no God,then what is?
what is the word for a person with such a claim if not ''atheist"?
Also:
There are professional atheist philosophers who tell us that atheism is the belief that there is no God
And we also have sources like the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy which tell us that atheism is the belief that there is no God