This is a question atheists are often asked by others, though sometimes theists throw it at us in the form of an unalloyed statement of fact. My first inclination when I hear this is to reply that I have no faith and therefore no dogma and that's true enough for me. When speaking of all atheists however, it can be a little more complicated than that. There are the so-called "hard" or "strong" atheists who state, as an article of faith, that God(s) does not exist. That is a dogmatic belief but it's very much a minority viewpoint among atheists. Most these days are "soft" atheists. We state that we do not believe in God(s) and there's a world of difference between that and categorically stating "there ain't no sech animul." The "soft" atheists acknowledge that the universe is too large a place for absolute proof of god(s)' nonexistance to be obtained (depending, of course, on how you define "god." Some definitions can be shown to be logically impossible). "Soft" atheists therefore generally say something to the effect that the available evidence offers no compelling reason to believe in supernatural overlords. That's what most modern atheists believe.














Comments