Atheism is a Belief
Lawrence Krauss, Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker, and many others hold that atheism is not a belief. Rather, they hold, it is the absense or lack of belief. But that’s simply not true, and that’s demonstrated by simple logic:
- Atheism is a conclusion that God does not exist.
- If you hold or assert a conclusion, then (by dint of association) you believe the conclusion.
From simple logic, this is irrefutable. An atheist who resists the notion they have a belief (even an entire belief system) will probably still try to wiggle out of that association, and the usual reason is that they like to hold up the idea of “belief” as irrational - a sort of straw man that they can pull out any time they want to dismiss any claims of evidence for the existence of a God (or “gods”).
In other words, their aversion to being told they have a belief system is that they don’t like the entailments that come with that assertion. One of the huge entailments is that beliefs are open to challenge and scrutiny, and that can be uncomfortable.
If we want to hold that atheism is truely the lack of belief in the existence of God, then that is only possible for one who has never asked, imagined, entertained, or heard of the idea or notion that there might be a God. But as soon as you raise the question, the absense of belief begins to disappear. They might think briefly about the question “Is there a God?” and conclude “No, I don’t think so.” Or they might spend their lives investigating and pursuing their conclusion that there is no God, coming up with several reasons that satisfy their assertion. But, by that point, they are undoubtably in the camp of having a belief system.
An alternative is to not conclude either for or against the existance of God. But that position is called agnosticism, and it’s a position of uncertainty or a resistence to making any conclusion.