In order to have meaningful dialogue between skeptics and believers, it is crucial to define terms properly. Theism is the belief that God exists. Atheism and agnosticism are basic terms, yet often misunderstood. Popular-level atheists commonly define atheism as the lack of belief in God. But this is not the proper definition of atheism. According to the Sanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the most preferred definition of atheism amongst philosophers is the belief that God does not exist. Notice the subtle difference between the two definitions. An atheist is not someone who simply withholds judgment on God’s existence, rather an atheist is someone who denies the existence of God. Atheism is itself a belief.
So why do many popular atheists still define atheism as the mere lack of belief in God? They do so as a twofold apologetic maneuver. First is the attempt to pawn off the burden of proof on the theist. They may say, “theists are making the claim, not atheists.” But according to the truest definition, atheists are also making a claim—namely, that God does not exist. Thereby, both theism and atheism are making claims to know something about reality. If a knowledge claim is to be rationally warranted one must provide reasons to support their claim. Just as theists must provide arguments and evidence for the belief that God exists, likewise atheists must provide arguments and evidence for the belief that God does not exist.
Does this mean millions of Christians who do not have arguments and evidence for their beliefs are irrational? Some philosophers think so. Others like Alvin Plantinga would say the belief in God is justified without rational evidence. Regardless, the point is that atheists must give some reason for their denial of God’s existence.
The second maneuver is to make theism appear as the more radical view and atheism to be the default view. Popular atheists will often say things like, “we were all atheists when we were babies,” or “we’re all atheists about other gods like Zeus and Thor.” However, in no sense are babies atheists, for to be an atheist one must deny that God exists. In fact, if atheism were the mere lack of belief in God, then all plants and animals, even the moon and the stars, would be atheists, which is absurd. Moreover, rejecting polytheism (the belief in many gods) is not the same as adopting atheism, for to be an atheist one must reject the existence of all deities. This attempt to downplay atheism therefore fails.
If there were such thing as a default view, it would likely be agnosticism. An agnostic is someone who stays neutral regarding belief in God. Unlike atheism, agnosticism does not make a knowledge claim. When a self-proclaimed atheist asserts that they simply lack the belief in God, what they are truly spelling is agnosticism.
To give a final summary of these three worldviews: theism is the belief that God exists; atheism is the belief that God does not exist; agnosticism does not believe or deny that God exists.
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