The phrase “lack of belief” is commonly used by atheists to
describe their stance concerning the Christian god known as “God” and other
gods, though they almost exclusively focus on “God” and ignore the myriad
others. Atheists therefore make the same critical error that theists make.
Atheism, along with theism and pantheism, are words we
don’t really need. If we were a consistent species, we would have a set of
three belief-related words for each set of fictional characters. As an example,
the DC and Marvel Universes would have their own set of words used to describe
belief. A marvelist would accept one or more, but not all, of the Marvel
characters. An amarvelist would reject the Marvel characters or have the
so-called “lack of belief” (both are identical).
Let’s stop here for a moment. Why are “reject” and “lack
of belief” identical?
They are identical due to what they are being used to
describe – the intangible. Marvel characters, along with God and the other
gods, are intangible. One can choose to reject things that are intangible, as
well as choose to have a “lack of belief” in them. The end result is the same,
however you choose to define how you reached your conclusion. “Reject” is
simply more efficient to use than the clumsy sounding “lack of belief”. Even
the word “disbelief” sounds better and gets the job done with less keystrokes. Furthermore,
it makes no sense to say you have a “lack of belief” in something that is
intangible. It also makes no sense to say you reject something intangible. It
makes no sense to say you disbelieve in something intangible.
So the real issue here is that a
lot of people don’t understand the difference between tangible and intangible. Tangible
things are objectively real. Intangible things are subjectively real. How God
and the other gods made their way into the tangible realm, unquestioningly, by
the vast majority of humans, is proof enough that our education system,
worldwide, is a failure.
Let’s continue. A panmarvelist would unconditionally
accept all of the Marvel characters. A deeceist would accept one or more, but
not all, of the DC characters. An adeeceist would reject the DC characters or
have the so-called “lack of belief”. A pandeeceist would unconditionally accept
all of the DC characters.
And we could go on and on, inventing words for each
intangible set of characters, such as Dune, Super Mario Bros., The Man in the
High Castle, Star Trek, Bayonetta, Star Wars, etc.
If we really did have a set of three belief-related words
for each set of intangible characters, things would be ridiculous, but we would
be consistent. The words atheist, theist and pantheist are just as ridiculous
as amarvelist, marvelist and panmarvelist.
The bottom line is that the difference between tangible
and intangible is understood by few, and terminology used to describe the forms
of belief (lack of belief is a form of belief just as the empty set is still a
set) is not necessary.
