A - without
Theos - God
Therefore, Atheos - Without God.
The Stanford University Encylopedia - a respected, peer-reviewed philosophical encylopedia defines atheism as:
‘Atheism’ means the negation of theism, the denial of the existence of God.
H
The current trend of contemporary atheism is to present itself as a ''non-asserting'' viewpoint that lacks any sort of burden of proof. Atheism is merely the absence of belief due to lacking evidence, theists have to prove the existence of God as they are the ones making the claim.
This representation of the atheistic position has been met with fierce opposition from various philosophers who call the current atheistic position evasive and trivial as it's completely compatible with agnosticism. Some have even accused contemporary atheists of intellectual cowardice and of intellectual gymnastics with the purpose of circumventing their burden of proof.
If merely the absence of belief is what defines atheism, then my cat is an atheist, but surely this is absurd as my cat is not even capable of understanding such terms and views. For there to be an atheist, there must, as a necessity, be a theist.
Do New-Atheists not believe in the existence of god or they withhold assertions regarding god like the agnostics do? The contemporary trend is the latter.
Bill Valicella of the webzone Maverick Philosopher says, and I quote:
Atheism is something people discuss, debate, argue for, argue against, draw conclusions from, believe, disbelieve, entertain, and so on. Atheism, in other words, is a PROPOSITION: it is something that can be either true or false, that can be the object of such propositional attitudes as belief and disbelief, and can stand in such logical relations to other propositions as entailment, consistency, and inconsistency. But one cannot discuss, debate, argue for, . . . believe, etc. a lack of something. Atheism redefined as the lack of theistic belief is a PROPERTY of certain persons. Now a proposition is not a property. Atheism is a proposition and for this reason cannot be redefined as a property.
So, I would like to see what people think. Have atheists redefined ''atheism'' or is this just theist propaganda to put atheists on a more shakier foundation?