Exactly what some of us have been pointing out throughout this thread.Yes, it all comes down to the definition...
The problem here seems to be that people don't agree on the definition of atheism
There are two types of definitions being thown around
1) Atheism is the absence of belief in god(s)
2) Atheism is the rejection of belief in god(s)
If you use definition 1) you can argue that anyone or anything which does not believe in at least one deity is an atheist. That includes babies, dogs and rocks.
If you use definition 2) you can argue that you must first know what belief is in order to reject it. So using this definition babies, dogs and rocks are not atheists.
And we all agree with you -- babies are not strong atheists (definition #2) They are weak atheists (#1). It's been pointed out a hundred times that this was the definition being used when we were talking about default positions and atheist babies and rocks.IMO, what Willamena is saying is: atheism is a rejection of the belief in God.
That is how I understand atheism, and is one that makes most sense, except when considering implicit atheism. As I've stated now about 7 times on this thread, none of you are implicit atheists. You may think you are, I (and apparently Willamena) am all too glad to debate you on this.
The definition problem has been pointed out -- and clarified repeatedly -- since the beginning of the thread. I brought it up way back in #38 and 58, and was being redundant even then.In fact, I'm going backwards right now in this thread to do just that. For the fun of it.
And, again, we're in complete agreement. Babies are not strong atheists and strong atheism cannot, logically, be man's religious default position.Someone who rejects, denies or disclaims the existence of God.
In other words, someone who takes a firm stand and says, "I believe God does not exist."
This whole long thread seems to have resulted from people's insistence on substituting their personal understanding of a technical term, or the colloquial (dictionary) definition, despite its inappropriateness being pointed out numerous times.