Whether or not it is a religion, atheism, certainly
is a belief, a positive claim, just as much as the claim
"Sweden doesn't exist" and positive claims need to be argued for. That can take time and effort but if the claim is true, the hard work will presumably pay off. Sometimes, however, I'm afraid I encounter atheists who seem to prefer to simply deconstruct the worldview of others without bothering to put in the effort to defend their own.
Deconstruction is easy but it is also lazy. It would take the work of a few minutes to round up a dozen physically fit young people, equip them with sledgehammers, pickaxes and a backhoe or two, and ask them to demolish my home. They could probably do it in a few days. But if I then asked them to build me a new home, I suspect I'd have baffled looks. Any fool can tear something down—but it takes wisdom, effort and hard work to build something up.
Yet build and construct we must if we wish our beliefs to be taken seriously, whether those beliefs are religious or irreligious. Christians should not mock or belittle atheists, but we must certainly press them and insist they provide evidence, reasons and arguments. Otherwise they will fall foul of the aphorism coined by one of their own, Christopher Hitchens, who quipped:
"That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence".
I agree entirely and his advice applies not just to Christians but also to atheists—I would advise them to take it seriously.
