Thoughts on Atheism and "Lack of Belief"

     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.