In the recent past, I've found myself having the same discussion with multiple people, which is surprising, since I was not the one to initiate the conversation any of the times it's come up. The topic has been "strong atheism," meaning the form of atheism that actively denies the possibility of the existence of God. (And for the sake of conversation, we limited this to the God of the Judeo-Christian Bible.) This is opposed to "weak atheism," which basically states that there's no reason for believing in God, so it's silly to do so. But it does not actively deny the possibility.
The argument goes something like this: "Strong atheism is a religion, because it is demanding as fact something that has no proof or evidence. It is just as much a belief system as any mainstream religion."
On the face of it, this argument appears to have some merit. It's true that no atheist can prove the non-existence of God, any more than a theist can prove God is real. But that's not really the issue, here. The issue is "faith."
Those in the atheism-is-religion camp argue that faith is required for one to deny the existence of God. They argue that it is foolish to state absolutely that God cannot exist, because the lack of evidence in support of it is not evidence to the contrary.
And they're right.
But from my perspective, this still isn't the real issue. Because the fact of the matter is, there are very few things (relatively speaking) that we humans can state unequivocally.
For example, I don't believe in leprechauns. I know of no respectable authority who has ever claimed to have located one. Attributes of leprechaunism, such as the granting of a wish if caught, are beyond rational thought. So I have no problem whatsoever in saying, "Leprechauns, as we're familiar with the concept, do not exist, and in fact, can't exist."
I don't for a moment think I'm being arrogant in that judgement. Nor is my dismissal of leprechauns a form of faith. Yes, I could be wrong. There is a possibility, albeit exceedingly remote, that somewhere in a tiny portion of Ireland, leprechauns have a secret little society all their own.
Let's look at another one. I do not believe, and will go so far as to say it is "impossible," for human beings to all sprout wings tomorrow and be able to fly. Do I know for 100% certain that this won't happen? Of course not. Some weird cosmic radiation could come hurtling in, bathing the entire planet, causing such a wildly unlikely mutation. But I really don't think so.
So the real heart of this whole concept is this: How sure must you be before you can firmly say, "No way"?
I consider spontaneous human flight, leprechauns, and the Judeo-Christian God to be so astronomically unlikely that it just seems stupid to me to say, "Maybe."
If I were to adopt such an "anything's possible" attitude, I might just as well say, "Y'know, when I drop this bowling ball off my apartment balcony, it could float up in the air."
I just can't seem to bring myself to say that. Rather, I think it is much more intellectually honest to say:
Magical midgets called leprechauns can't grant you wishes.
Humans can't grow wings and fly.
And God, as commonly defined, cannot exist.
There. I said it. I'm glad I did. And not one iota of faith was expended in the process.
