I really get bugged when people start talking about atheism as a belief system or faith. It’s like people don’t want to think deeply about a concept at all. Not all concepts… just this one.
They are talking like a Derrida Deconstructionist. If I look at the moon, or my keyboard in front of me, or my wife next to me…. is *that* what you are calling having faith? Are you suggesting that I have faith that these things exist or are real? I think you are forgetting about the fact that certain things are measurable, and quantifiable.
One does not need faith for evidence; that is precisely what evidence is… it leads to proof of a hypothesis right? If I quantify and measure something, I can make a series of logical assumptions. I am relying on proof, not faith, for belief.
Faith is the absence of proof. Proof negates faith. They are in a semantical vortex of sorts and making this too complex.
Think of it Lisa Simpson’s way:
Did you know there is an invisible floating tiger next to you? You had never entertained to believe in that thought until JUST THIS MOMENT. That is our atheism….. I just don’t entertain the thought. There is no reason to believe in something that there is zero proof, or evidence, to believe in.
It’s a void, or negative. An absence of faith.
A belief system is humanism. even skepticism is a process more than a belief system.