The definition of a strong atheist is generally one that says that the atheist not only lacks belief in God, but believes that he doesn’t exist.
Since he believes in something without evidence, is it fair to say that it takes faith to be a strong atheist?
Most people these days do not believe that Osiris or Loki exist, would you say that is because of faith?
I suspect an atheist will be along pretty soon to ask what kind of evidence there could be for something not existing, and to ask you if it requires faith for all the things you believe don’t exist.
::: sigh :::
As a general proposition, No.
There are, indeed, a few people in the Strong Atheist camp who are so convinced of the rightness of their position that they are evangelical in their need to proclaim the news.
However, such persons (even if overrepresented on the SDMB) are a tiny fraction of the people who could be described as Strong Atheists.
It is more accurate to say that a Strong Atheist holds a position based on a need for evidence that has never been supplied to his or her satisfaction. This is not an affirmative belief for most, (although we have wrangled over that position at great length through the years). To paraphrase (or possibly quote–I’m not going to look it up) Bertrand Russell when asked what he would say to God if he died and found himself in God’s presence, “Why did you not give me more evidence?”
(By the way, Cegstar, are you going to stick around and participate in this discussion? Or, having thrown out the bait, are you going to wander off and ignore this thread as other people try to persuade you of their opinions in your absence?)
No, that’s absurd. He doesn’t “believe in something without evidence,” rather, he doesn’t believe in something for which there is no evidence, and for which there is no reason to assume a priori that it does exist.
Does it take faith not to believe in Santa Claus?
Whoops, I guess I was just a few seconds too late.
Really, at least if you make your definition of “faith” broad enough, it takes faith to be and do and believe all sorts of things, many of which we do every day. And so?
My faith in the non-existence of Sauron and Morgoth is strong enough to move mountains.
I’m not talking about lack of belief.
See above.
Isn’t that the definition of a weak atheist?
Again, isn’t that the definition of a weak atheist?
That’s a bit different. We have evidence that he doesn’t give out toys on Christmas.
No. See here for basic definitions.
How do you know that? What if I told you I believed he brought me presents? Wouldn’t it then take an act of faith on your part to deny my belief?
It would seem to me that a “strong atheist” is one who is not even interested in the subject of personal religious beliefs unless rights are being violated in some way.
Maybe I was incorrect with Thudlow Boink’s example, but not with tomndebb’s:
“It is more accurate to say that a Strong Atheist holds a position based on a need for evidence that has never been supplied to his or her satisfaction.”
That sounds like the definition of a weak atheist to me. From your link:
No, because there is plenty of evidence of where the story of Santa came from, that more people don’t report seeing him deliver presents, that the toys are manufatured by toy companies, etc. There is no evidence that the type of god thata deist believes in doesn’t exist.
Faith isn’t required to not believe in something, nor is faith necessary to believe something doesn’t exist if there’s no evidence for it and it contradicts things that provably do exist.
So… no.
This question sounds like something posed by a preacher to foment the idea that faith is a intelligent idea. “Even those smarty hellbound Atheists have faith, they just apply it to evil when it should be given to GAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWDDD!”
Cegstar you are trying way too hard. I can not speak for other atheists ,we dont have meetings or go to atheist churches. We play golf on Sunday though. It is a personal position that one arrives at through logic and reasoning. Thats all . We do not really want to fight with the religious, they dont defend on logic and reason. It boils down to faith and acceptance of training. We were raised much like you . Our conclusions are just different. We do believe your position is not defendable. You believe because you want to. Enjoy.
A related tool is the claim that an atheist is such because of an active rejection of faith, i.e. was raised in a religion that the atheist has since come to hate. Thus the atheist can be described as a lost sheep or having been seduced by Satan or something else that continues to assume that God is still real and rejecting Him is simple childish defiance.
Much like the way Christians have turned away from Zeus, and reject Him in simple childish defiance.
Cegstar, why do hate Zeus?
I acknowledged that.
Why not? If you have a belief without evidence, doesn’t that take faith?
The existence of a deity contradicts nothing.
That’s not what I’m trying to do. I simply asked a question in an attempt to see if someone will confirm my supposition or give me a logical reason to drop it.
Trust me, you know nothing about how I was raised.
How is my position not defendable? Cut out the talking down to me bullshit. This isn’t an religious/atheist fight I’m picking or a fight at all.
Shouldn’t you be moderating people to not post condescending bullshit like that to your members?
This is a question that could very well have been asked by an atheist. Knock the bullshit off.
I’ll start by asking which god are you talking about. Hairy thunderer or cosmic muffin? 
The God of the inerrant Bible, or cosmosdan’s spiritual god? Jefferson’s deity or Einstein’s metaphor?
There is reasonable evidence that some gods do not exist, and no evidence that other gods do not exist.
For myself, I tentatively believe that no gods exist, since we live in a universe that makes sense without one, and because all human interactions with god are either a bit iffy or downright wrong. But I could change my mind if some evidence shows up, so no faith is involved.
Another one. How lovely.
I’m not talking about some gods.
Exactly.
Do you tentatively believe that nothing undiscovered exists, since the universe seems to make sense without them?
It’s possible that a God exists that doesn’t interact with humans.