Disbelief in the existence of deity. Pretty plain that it is NOT a belief, wouldn’t you say?
“Disbelief in the existence of deity. Pretty plain that it is NOT a belief, wouldn’t you say?”
No. “Disbelief” is only one way to put it. An active belief that God doesn’t exist is another. Some people put it as an absence of theistic beliefs. But that never satisfied me. It could as easily describe agnosticism. The absensce of belief implies a passivity which I assume most atheists lack. If they were that passive, they’d call themselves agnostics.
Belief that there is no God is the best way to put it. it’s a narrower definition than an absense of belief, but a much more accurate description of what people currently have in mind when we speak of an atheist.
Also, I should add, a “disbelief” is not the absence of belief so much as it is the opposite of belief. That is, it is an anti-belief; a belief of not believing.