Terrapin Station wrote:I'm an atheist who tells other atheists that atheism is a belief--at least if one has at all heard and thought about the idea of a god.
Fair enough.
(I also think it's a bit silly to say that people are atheists when they haven't even thought about this issue at all, but that's another topic.)
Yes, if they literally haven't thought about it at all. I think most people have thought about it a bit, but just aren't particularly interested in discussing it because it's not very interesting to them and because they don't want to cause offence or awkwardness. "Steer clear of politics and religion" is often a rule when trying to avoid tension in social situations.
There's a subset of atheists who are irrationally neurotic about the notion of having any beliefs. They respond like the board member who goes by "evolution" (formerly "creation") when you point out that they have a endless stream of beliefs.
The argument between theists who claim that atheism is a belief and atheists who claim that it is a lack of belief (and that there is a fundamental difference) has happened a lot on this board, and often gone on at great length. I think one of the motives stems from the way the argument often develops and the way that the word "belief" is used specifically to mean belief stemming from things other than just empirical evidence, such as cultural conditioning, upbringing, desire/wishful thinking, emotional need etc. That is, the kinds of beliefs that atheists often charge theists with holding and regard as flawed or inadequate. The theist then counters by saying that since atheism is a belief, like theism, the atheist suffers from these "flaws" for the same reasons. So they play the "If I'm going down I'm taking you with me" move. The atheist thinks the best counter-move is to deny that atheism is a belief. I suppose they'd be better advised instead to examine the different types of belief.
I think evolutions's motive is due to that usage of "belief" and due to the whole "I'm an open-minded inquisitive child, uncorrupted by the prejudices of the adult world, and I can therefore see simple truths that you others can't" schtick.