belief, faith, epistemologyI’m excited to see the answers to this one. I am not asking for distinctions between individual beliefs like, “Duh! The theist believes in God and an atheist does not.”
Rather, I’m looking for distinctions in criteria determine how an atheist divides the world into things believed and things not believed…by which an atheist would be willing to say “I believe X”. What allows the atheist to say those types of “belief” statements but not make belief statements about the “G” concept. :-)
Evidence proportional to the claim
That is, claims that are relatively in line with observed phenomena require relatively little evidence. For example, if my roommate says there’s a chair in the living room, I would believe him. This is because there’s a little bit of evidence (the word of a person in a position to know the claim) supporting the idea, and the claim is relatively in line with generally observed phenomenon (chairs are often found in living rooms).
On the other hand, claims that are outside commonly observed phenomena require more stringent evidence. For example, if my roommate claims there’s a horse in the living room, I might not believe him off the bat. I’d need to go in and see it myself, since a horse being in the living room is a phenomenon outside the usual understanding of how horses and living rooms usually are.
With regards to God, I’d require a fair deal of evidence to believe it, since the existence of God is like no other phenomenon out there. There are, as far as I know, no demi-gods kicking around- no near-god beings acting similarly. It’s a unique concept, and a somewhat extraordinary claim. As such, it requires extraordinary proof.
“Atheist” is a label that describes people with a single, very specific belief. It doesn’t describe how they came to that belief. They could be very rational, or they could be insane. They could have good reasons, or they could have bad reasons.
That being the case, how can you make further assumptions about their decision making abilities?
Bad question. An Atheist is not defined by what he believes, but rather by what he does not believe. It’s really that simple.
There is no one thing that Atheists, as a group and in unison, believe.
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