I’ve seen a plethora of anti-atheist diatribes today, each of them vacuous and militant and disconcertingly religious in nature despite their authors’ declarations to the contrary.  Each of them offered literary diarrhea in place of self-proclaimed analyses.  Ultimately, I found them lacking and unworthy of discussion—save this one point: All three that I read today made the claim that atheism is a belief; essentially, that lack of belief is a belief unto itself.  That’s what I want to talk about, and I’m going to use reductio ad absurdum to do it.

Let’s take this simple statement: lack of belief is a belief.  Now, let’s see how well that holds up to reason and logic—or, in better terms, what each of the writers failed to employ.

I do not believe in any god or gods.  Does that mean I believe in something (e.g., the lack of a deity or deities)?  Not!

I don’t believe the moon is made of cheese.  I’ve never been there, of course, and I’m taking at their word those who have been there and those who have studied the satellite ad infinitum since long before I was a twinkle in Daddy’s eyes and a tickle in Mommy’s belly.  Having never been there and not knowing firsthand, does my adamant denial of the moon being cheese translate into the base definition of a belief?  Absolutely not!  When evidence speaks for itself, and when the scientific method declares one truth above another, one need not “believe” the evidence.  Instead, one need only look at it, be reasonable, and accept truth for what it is.

I don’t believe Earth is the center of the universe.  I’ve never been in space.  Hell, I’ve never even been in high atmospheric orbit.  Transcontinental flights represent the height of my travel above the ground.  Lacking personal experience in this area, am I a “believer” to say Earth is not the center of the universe?  Absolutely not!  Again, ample evidence exists to show this little planet with its pathetic human race is nothing more than one of an infinite number of planets throughout the vast cosmos, any number of which likely held the same pompous position in the minds of its local inhabitants before they reached enlightenment.  Is someone out there who will claim the sun orbits our planet?  That the entire galaxy in which we find ourselves magically circles overhead by means of a metaphysical mechanism that makes one arbitrary planet among many the central focus of an entire existence?  Ha!  Not…

I don’t believe photographs capture souls.  I need not believe in souls to find this idea preposterous.  How far back in time and intelligence must we travel to feel the very idea laughable?  Not far, I think.  Need I explain precisely why lacking such a belief represents no belief at all?  Or is everyone who is likeminded also representative of a similar belief, one that cannot be proven and must be accepted as faith only?

I don’t believe eating shellfish and pork are sins.  I also don’t believe wearing clothes made from two different clothes is wrong, or that marriage is wrong, or that divorce is wrong.  Any deity concerned with such petty things needs to get a fucking life.  If such a being were capable of creating the universe, I doubt they’d concern themselves with whether the Sabbath starts on Saturday morning or Sunday morning, or whether a person is wearing silver or gold.  Of course, those who espouse biblical reasons for hating gays don’t have problems with these things either, yet they fail to appreciate the very commandments against these things that can be found in the same books they use to beat up homosexuals.  Yawn.  Is lacking such beliefs a belief itself?  Hardly.

I don’t believe cats steal the breath of people they find sleeping.  I sleep with four or five cats every night (depending on who decides to grace me with their presence), and I’ve yet to waken the next morning feeling as though something has been taken from me by felines intent on world domination.  That’s not to say they aren’t intent on world domination, but they don’t pilfer human lung capacity to do it.  Or do they…

I don’t believe in religion or gods.  They’re all full of whiney, bitchy, self-obsessed morons who enjoy bigotry, hate, intolerance, and hypocrisy far more than being gentle, loving, compassionate souls.  There’s never been a bit of proof to show a deity exists, but there’s plenty to disprove all the related stories.  We know prayer makes the sick worse because they rely too much on superstition and stop mentally and physically fighting their ailments.  We know histories told in religious texts fail to match reality.  We know faith has long been used to subjugate and abuse and kill, all contrary to what they claim to stand for and the examples to say they follow.  We know the oldest religions, now long dead, existed eons before extant religions, yet no one has a single reasonable explanation for what makes them wrong and others right.  In fact, the same is true of all religions.  What’s to be believed if no one can provide a single bit of evidence to show they’re right and everyone else is wrong?  Don’t use faith to answer the question.  That’s just silly.

The major point is that lacking something doesn’t mean you have that something.  Not believing in superstition doesn’t mean you’re superstitious.  If it does, I know a whole lot of people who will change their tunes about belief and disbelief.  Saying I don’t believe in a god because it’s a laughable concept, one without form or reason or proof, and one that relies on the creations and rule of humanity, does not make me a believer.  On the contrary, failing to uphold mysticism and mythology doesn’t make me a mystic and mythic.  Again, if it does, what does that say of everyone who professes faith in one religious creed or another?

If lack of faith is faith, then all Christians are Muslims and Jews and Buddhists, and all Hindus are Mayans and Incas, and on and on we go.  No, poppets, not believing is not a form of belief unto itself.  That’s far too easy and too simple-minded for reasoned skeptics who enjoy critical thinking and honest science above blind faith in nonsense.  Why do you think there are far more believers than non-believers?  It’s because not believing is more difficult.  It takes more common sense, more thought, more intelligence.  Falling in line behind some empty-headed preacher is much easier; being pushed and pulled through life by someone who claims to know more than you means less work, less reason, less consideration on your part.  That’s why believers outnumber non-believers by a vast majority.  The weak-minded always outnumber those who prefer to think for themselves.

In conclusion, let me reiterate what started this: lacking belief in nonsense is not a form of belief.  In fact, it’s a form of reason, of intelligence that often cannot be found in those who do believe.  When I say your god doesn’t exist, argue all you want about why that constitutes a belief, but only until you comprehend why you don’t believe in other gods will you understand why I don’t believe in yours.  And when you see the truth of why other gods don’t exist, you’ll see the truth of why your god doesn’t exist—and you’ll see why it’s not a belief to say so, but instead is a statement of fact, a statement of well-thought, reasoned analysis of the wonder inherent in our own universe.  I don’t need some feeble, lackey god to explain what is and why it is.  All I need are my own senses and my own brain.