Definition of Athiesm.

[Kablooie]

It seems to me that Athiesm is simply an unwillingness to believe in extraordinary and fantastic claims without scientific proof.

Quantum mechanics has extraordinary and fantastic claims but it also offers scientific proof for those claims so we are open to believing it.

No one has offered scientific proof of an old man with the white beard sitting on a cloud ruling the universe so atheists will not believe it. If,in some hypothetical world, this could be proven to be true scientifically, an atheist also would be open to believing it.

So atheistic belief is not simply a disbelief in God. It's a disbelief in extraordinary and fantastic claims that Have no scientific proof.

[demigoddess]

1. I have a hard time believing that even if there is a God like that

That he wants us to sit in a church and pray "give me this, give me that, do this, do that"
and then go out and do horrible deeds.

[LakeArenal]

2. It's not just scientific proof...

Any god that would allow child predation and human trafficking is out as a deity to me.

Any god who would punish a whole world because his “creation” ate a piece of fruit is no deity.

Any god that would give babies incurable diseases because of a grudge against said creation who ate a piece of fruit is no deity.

Any god that would require the workers to remain celibate and live a life of poverty and service while leaders live in palaces asking for more $ is no deity.

Any god that asked 12 apostles to leave their families and homes destitute to follow some dude around is no deity.

I guess you have the idea.

There is no such thing as divinity. It’s not just a lack of scientific proof.

[Voltaire2]

3. Rejection of gods is not the same as disbelief.

One could, for example, believe that a god exists and that this god is evil and should not be worshipped.

Also I personally don’t require strictly scientific proof of existence. I’d settle for just ordinary empirical evidence. Show me evidence of your gods. Nobody seems to be able to do that.

[LakeArenal]

4. There's no divinity. Therefore no evil or good.

[Farmer-Rick]

9. Actually we could define evils and good in a humanistic way that

would make most Atheist happy about the concepts.

[Lordquinton]

5. Well, first we have to define evidence

Then we have to define god, since you don't believe in it, why don't you supply both.

[Farmer-Rick]

10. You are the one claiming there are supernatural beings controlling our lives, you must prove it

You make a fantastical claim of mythical supernatural beings and then turn around and say Nananananana you can't prove I'm wrong.

Well I claim there are fairies controlling you, and since you don't believe in fairies, provide me the evidence and definition of fairies. Nananananana you can't prove I'm wrong.

[Lordquinton]

12. Not quite right there

Let's say I forgot to add

[Farmer-Rick]

13. oh sorry, but it came off so much like a true god believer.

Good imitation.

[Lordquinton]

14. I figured it was a misunderstanding

I paraphrased any number of theists here who say pretty much that on a regular basis whenever the topic comes up.

[LongtimeAZDem]

6. Atheism is simply a lack of an affirmative belief in a deity

Atonal - lack of tone
Asexual - lack of sex
Apolitical - lack of political position

Theism is the affirmative belief in a deity, so atheism is the lack of such belief. The term implies no reason for the position, unless used with qualifiers, such as agnostic atheism.

It is quite possible to lack a belief in a deity for purely emotional or other non-rational reasons, though I would hope that they are less common.

[Iggo]

8. It's the absence of belief.

I ain't lackin' shit.

[Farmer-Rick]

11. I really doubt most psychopaths believe in gods

They are so about themselves the mere thought of another judging them or their actions is beyond their understanding. So, they probobly pretend to believe to fit in, or to use it to manipulate others (it's a great way to make money, if you have no conscious, just ask Ken Ham). But the notion of gods, like the Christian god and devil, would be beyond their stunted emotional understanding.

They don't believe in gods because they can't, like they can't love. Unlike most Atheists, who can love, and who don't believe in gods because there is absolutely NO PROOF.

[defacto7]

7. I think it's much more simple and there's a lot of breathing room

when defining atheism. First of all atheism is a condition not a belief. You can't believe in not believing something. It's simply the condition of not believing in a deity, a-theism, no capitol "A" no article, I'm atheist not an Atheist.
As for me there's simply no data for the existance of a deity. No more, no less, like no santa and no unicorns. If evidence presents itself I'd be more than happy to be first in line to change my position. Same with scientific evidence or observation based theory.
As for quantum physics you may want to brush up a little on that subject. There's a lot of observational data and it has been increasing rapidly. Do I believe in quantum physics? No. It's not a being or a thing so there's nothing to believe in. It's a system based on physics and observation. Systems prove or disprove themselves and they evolve as we observe and verify.
But there's not one single blip on the god issue. So a god would take faith. Faith is believing something that has no evidence. If there was evidence there wouldn't be faith, it would disapear the moment there was evidence. I have no faith in quantum physics because there's plenty of good math and observational evidence. I trust the evidence and the observations for now. Trust can change, faith cannot.
So I guess it's a little less simple than I thought.