My understanding is that aithiesm, as a tenet, is the belief that God does not exist.  It is one thing to say that you have not heard convincing arguments that God does exist.  But I am curious to know how one proves that there is no God, to the point of basing one's life on it.
133714
Can you prove that Santa doesn't exist? If you went to the North Pole to look for him, searched everywhere, yet couldn't find him,  couldn't it just be said that you weren't looking in the right place? Or that you weren't looking hard enough? Or that you didn't have an open mind about things? Or that you clearly don't have faith in Santa, and so therefore, he hasn't revealed himself to you? Or that he doesn't want you to see him right now because it's not his will? Can you really prove that Santa doesn't exist if someone really really insist on believing in Santa in the face of logic and knowledge? Nope. They will just make up a million excuses as to why you can't see or find Santa coming down to the fact that you, "Don't believe". Silly I think.
76165
As I have heard others say, "I would rather live my life as if there is a God, and die to find out there wasn't a God, than to live my life as if there is no God, and find out there was a God."  Proof is all around you--if you look for it, and if you believe, you will see.  God does exist.
416806
Personally I don't have any sort of spirituality.  There is such a thing as nontheistic religious humanism (see first source link), but if anything, I'd wager that atheists are normally Secular Humanists (see second source link).\n\nBasically to be an atheist, one must be without belief in deities.  There are different kinds of atheism, though: strong atheism, weak atheism, implicit atheism, explicit atheism, ignosticism and apatheism.\n\nStrong atheism: the belief that no deity exists. It is a form of explicit atheism, meaning that it consciously rejects theism.\n\nWeak atheism: the absence of belief in the existence of deities, without the belief in the non-existence of deities.\n\nExplicit atheism: refection of a belief in a god. This deliberate rejection of theism presupposes familiarity with theistic belief.\n\nImplicit atheism: absence of a belief in god without explicitly rejecting or denying theism. This form does not require familiarity with the idea of a god.\n\nIgnosticism: the view that the question of the existence of God is meaningless because it has no verifiable (or testable) consequences and should therefore be ignored. It is often considered synonymous with theological noncognitivism (the argument that religious language, and specifically words like "god", are not cognitively meaningful).\n\nAn apatheist is someone who has little or no interest in deities to point that he or she does not care whether deities exist and, typically, is not interested in deciding whether he or she believes in deities. In other words, an apatheist is someone who lacks belief in gods and lacks interest in gods to the point that he or she doesn't bother to determine whether he or she actually disbelieves in gods.
301070
If there is a god, he is an atheist. He doesn't believe in a higher power.\n\nIf there is a god, he also loves atheists, since we use our brains (given by Him) to analyze His creation, use His rules of logic to test our ideas. We demand evidence for outlandish claims, and reject faith & dogma. \n\nI agree. If a god exists, it would have to favor atheists & humanists.
340171
You cant prove there is not God no matter how many excuses people make. All you have to do is look around you and the beauty in this world and in the world it's self. No rediculuous big bang created life. Only God did this. Praise the Lord!
544686
Whether there is or isn't a god, the fact is you ARE allowed to search for the truth, and so those who object on religious grounds would not be speaking for whatever god may actually exist.\n\nWhich is precisely why some people prefer to be called agnostics, because their objections are to the religious depictions of a god, and the rules that supposedly come from that source, rather than to the existence of some supreme force or being per se.\n\nMost important, in my view, is to object to depictions of a creator god, as again this implies rules exist in nature that are inconsistent with science as we know it.  Mythology is one thing, but a belief that regards that mythology as true because one wants it to be true is not consistent with the type of search for the truth that you are advocating by this question.
373819
You are right, you are confused about atheists, you also have a very funny idea about what belief entails... \n\nAtheists have belief in evidenced things with proof, however blind faith of the religious kind requires no proof or evidence that is why it is called faith, if there was evidence for God it wouldn't require faith to believe in God. \n\nOne of the problems with blind faith is that you can believe almost anything through it, God, The Celestial Teapot, The Flying Spaghetti Monster, Vanilla Flavoured Fairies or anything that cannot be proved or disproved, this invalidates blind faith as a tool of knowledge.\n\nThe onus is always on the person or organisation making a claim to provide proof or evidence for it. When there is no way to test the truth of the claim because of a lack of proof or evidence it is called unfalsifiable.\n\nI have no beliefs about God I simply do not share the theists belief in the existence of God/Gods, I have no reason to think that a God exists and it is not hypocritical for me as an atheist to say so. Hope this explains it a bit better for you.
582094
Theism is defined as "a belief in a god or gods". There is nothing there about knowledge. Similarly Atheism is simply a "lack of belief in gods".  In neither case is any knowledge required.  Now I often ask myself why would someone hold a belief without credible evidence or reason to support it, but beliefs do not need to be rational, and often they are the result of heavy indoctrination at a very young age. \n\nI think most people misunderstand the original meaning of agnosticism.  Agnosticism has nothing at all to do with belief. And an agnostic is not a fence sitter. Rather an agnostic is a person who claims that fundamental knowledge about reality is impossible or unobtainable. An agnostic can be, an indeed must be either a theist or an atheist. Everyone must be either a theist or an atheist. Either you have a belief in gods or you do not.\n\nPersonally I am an atheist as I lack a god belief. I do not call myself an agnostic, because I have no idea if fundamental knowledge is impossible or not, so I make no such claims.
264678
I don't have a religion...I see no proof that a god does exist so until I see proof I choose to not believe...There are way too many bad things happening in the world to think that somewhere there is a god/higher being that could make it be better and just chooses to do nothing.
611614
"Post-Modernism" says that nobody can know everything; therefore, nobody can be absolutely sure about anything; therefore, nobody can be called 'wrong.'\n\nReality says that some things are, and somethings are not, no matter how much you wish they were otherwise.\n\nTake the often-tossed-about question "Does God exist?"  It is ridiculous to say that God may exist for you if you think so, and He doesn't exist for me because I do not think so, but I have heard people make essentially that claim.  I had somebody e-mail me, stating that she didn't believe in God because she didn't like the thought of somebody looking over her; just because she didn't like it doesn't influence reality.\n\nIt was said long ago, "Most people would rather die than think, and in fact they usually do so."
35150
dear ash,\n\nIf you say that you believe in a supreme being then technically you are not an atheist.\n\nTo be an Atheist means that one do not believe in the idea of a supreme being (God); hence, the word A-theist (A="without" theist="Theos" = "God")\n\nIf you say that you are not sure of God's existence, but still open with the idea of the supreme being then you are an Agnostic.\n\nIf you believe in God, then you are a "Theist"
263375
Aha, So you have discovered one of the roots of existential angst! Existentialists believe that a perfect form for every idea exists in the universe, whether it has been put into words or not. This is a difficult argument to make because its basis is that if the idea exists, then the thing the idea represents exists, a huge leap.\n  Simply stating a disbelief in a philosophical construct does not validate the existence of the construct. One may argue for the validity or invalidity of the construct based on empirical evidence in support of one's position, however the conceptualiziton of an idea does not thereby bring it into reality. In order for your hypothesis to be valid we would have to accept that something exists because we had the idea for it to exist. To show that this is false one need only point to the Empire state building which, as an idea, did not exist in reality until bricks and mortar were set. If the idea were the reality, then every criminal act ever concieved in ones mind and not acted upon would make one guilty of the concieved act.\n   Comitting oneself to an Atheistic viewpoint is a comittment to a belief which is not possible to prove or disprove beyond redoubt, it is therefore an act of Faith in ones position. Atheists DENY the existence of a  supreme being. If on the other hand, one chooses to neither accept or reject the existence of a supreme being, one is considered an Agnostic. An Agnostic is one who neither believes nor disbelieves, they simply do not make a choice. Belief in God is a choice just as disbelief is a choice, that is the basis for free will.
564406
D and E. A bit of a contradiction, true. Cognito ergo sum. I think therefore I exist. Man thinks of God, therefore he exists. Which points to the fact that if the God is a product of man, then the supposed God of (A) does not exist. Therefore I motion that a god, or gods, do not exist at all. How can a god exist and de-exist, through the thought of man? Logic101. My weak point in college, but a great tool in regards to faith, religion, and gods.
303978
I pretty much agree with you. An atheist is sure that God does not exist, and an agnostic isn't willing to commit either way. (Sort of like the dyslexic agnostic who developed insomnia. He kept lying awake at night wondering if there really is a Dog...).
519457
It's interesting...you say you have come to the conclusion that there is no God... but it seems you are still searching.  Maybe you want to believe in something bigger than yourself, but with all of life's tragedy it seems that the world is empty and devoid of a higher power.\n\nOrganized religion often paints God as an all-powerful male ruler.  But maybe God is something different.  The universe and all its beings are made up of energy, particles vibrating at different speeds.  Maybe God is really a culmination of all this energy-- both positive and negative.  Many people believe that the universe is like a boomerang... you get back what you put in.  This means if you project fear or anger out to the universe, the universe will return the same negative energy to you.  On the contrary, if you truly feel love and security, you will transmit that energy outwardly and will receive the same energy in return, which will eventually manifest itself in real life events.\n\nIf you think of God as collective energy that includes all things, that would mean we're all little parts of God; more powerful as a whole than as individuals.  This would also mean that to hear God, we need only to listen to our own inner voices, however they may sound.  You might try focusing on changing your own energy, then joining with others to make small positive impacts on the world.  Maybe then you will make peace with your own version of God.
425585
Well if you want to follow that logic, than why is there Buddhism?  Why are atheists not destroyed or better yet, why doesn't God appear before us all and prove that He exists?\n\nI admit when I saw this question, my first thought was. What an idiot.  LOL
631755
False.  It is not a reasonable argument.  Proof by contradiction.\n\nAssume that the universe is so complicated that it could only exist if God exists.\n\nThe universe exists.  Therefore, God exists.\nSo we would have proof that God exists.  \n\nReligion is founded on faith.  Without faith, there would be no Religion.\n\nProof that God exists, negates faith in God.  People wouldn't worship a God that is proved to exist.  People wouldn't found various religions.  People wouldn't go forth and spread the word of God.  All these things would be unnecessary, since God's existence would be a fact of life, like Gravity, Death, and Taxes.\n\nReligion would not exist.\nBut Religion does exist.  \n\nThis contradiction proves that our original assumption is false.\n\nTherefore, the universe is NOT so complicated that it could only exist if God exists.  Q.E.D.