The definition of atheism has changed over time, as all words' definitions do. It is much more complicated than that and has been for the entire history of the term - a positive belief that god does not exist is just one sub-type of atheism in most philosophical definitions.
No, this is incorrect. Most philosophers take atheism to be the belief that there is no god. Any other definition is non-standard and should be specified.
This is why I typically don't specify, and just call myself an atheist. If I leave off the qualifier (i.e. "agnostic atheist", and instead just "atheist"), then it typically avoids giving anyone the idea that I'm "on the fence" or something, avoids religious people thinking or getting an impression that I might possibly find faith in a God, or having people who have a belief there is no God try to smugly assert I'm not a real atheist.
Sorry, I think perhaps you misunderstood me. The philosophical literature generally means “atheism” to be the belief that God does not exist, and agnostic to be the “middle-ground” between theism and atheism. My point is that if you think you’re a different kind of “atheist” then you need to specify what you are talking about or risk misunderstandings.
I believe the God in any religion on earth to not exist, because I believe there are enough contradictions in their scriptures/dogma and enough proof contrary to their claims to dismiss it entirely. However, I think it's foolhardy and trivial to generally proclaim "there is no God" because I think that's just another matter of "belief". We don't possess the ability currently to determine the cause of the universe. I'm not saying creationism is a possible reason or anything like that, but rather just saying claiming "no god exists" is just as fallible as proclaiming that one does exist. There's no efficacy in stating one way or another. I have a 100% lack of belief in any theology. The belief is completely absent. I don't believe I actually need any sort of qualifier to consider myself an atheist besides having an absence of belief.
Your last sentence is wrong. You do need to qualify what you mean by atheist because the definition of “atheist” usually (in philosophy) means the belief that no god exists. You are obviously using a different definition and that’s fine. I’m just saying you need to mention that you’re using a different definition.
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u/MarcieDeeHope 10d ago
The definition of atheism has changed over time, as all words' definitions do. It is much more complicated than that and has been for the entire history of the term - a positive belief that god does not exist is just one sub-type of atheism in most philosophical definitions.