@ towerpiller

However, there are atheists who while they lack a faith in a god, also believe that there is no god. Some even claim to know that there is no god. But that is just as hard to defend as defending the belief that there is a god.

But to even begin discussing if one believes or does not believe in a god, we must first define this god. I leave that task to the believer.

Atheism is not a belief, as a belief is something one posses, like a ball, if you are holding a ball, and I am not holding a ball, you cannot say that, in a way, NOT holding a ball is the same as holding a ball. You either have it or you don't.

@ towerpillar - calling atheists a believer in the non existent god is the same as calling the theist a believer in the non existent unicorn (oh wait you do believe in unicorns, and fairys and other such nonsense.)

You have an unsubstantiated claim and we don't believe you. THATS ALL. Prove your claim and we will bite but until then it would be more prudent for you to analyse the workings of your claim rather than waste time defining us.

Like I said. If you could prove your theory to be true we will all gladly jump ship and follow you or your god or whatever. But until then we don't believe you.

So defining us as believers in disbelief or disbelievers in belief is just engaging in useless wordplay. All you need to end our ungodly ways is to prove the existence of your god and we will follow.

Yes. I believe god was created by man and I believe that religions are cons. I base this belief on my own understanding of logic and reasoning and my own experiences, not on a book that tells me what I should believe.

The word "atheist" has several meanings depending on whom you are talking to. For me, an atheist is someone who consciously rejects the notion of God (in its many supernatural varieties). That rejection might be due to a lack of evidence (as in no good reasons to take it seriously) or due to various arguments that purport to undermine the credibility of the idea or even disprove it. I reject the notion of God on both counts.

With respect to the first reason, saying that the atheist "believes in the nonexistence of god" is like saying that John "believes in the nonexistence of the Easter Bunny". It's as though John is denying the existence of the Easter Bunny when, in fact, he never viewed the Easter Bunny as a serious idea. Such an atheist rejects the claim as nonsensical, either because it is absurd or lacks any evidence whatsoever, not as something meriting an overt denial. Moreover, "belief in" is the wrong phrase. Rational minds might reject the god hypothesis. "Belief" does not adequately capture the idea that a conclusion has been reached based on evidence.