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| - Weak atheism or Negative Atheism refers to the belief that because there is no evidence that god exists, we may assume that he does not exist. Weak atheists hold that there is also no evidence for existence of the god Thor, the Incredible Hulk Santa Claus or the Flying Spaghetti Monster and that as a consequence most of the earth's population do not believe in their existence.
- Weak atheism (sometimes referred to as "negative atheism") describes all belief systems which lack a belief in God, without claiming to meet the burden of proof that God does not exist. It differs from strong atheism, which claims to have positive reason or evidence proving that God does not exist. It also differs from agnosticism, in that a weak atheist says there is no God, while an agnostic only says he doesn't know whether there is a God or not. As George Smith wrote:
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| abstract
| - Weak atheism (sometimes referred to as "negative atheism") describes all belief systems which lack a belief in God, without claiming to meet the burden of proof that God does not exist. It differs from strong atheism, which claims to have positive reason or evidence proving that God does not exist. It also differs from agnosticism, in that a weak atheist says there is no God, while an agnostic only says he doesn't know whether there is a God or not. Most commonly, weak atheism is premised on the belief that the theist, not the atheist, bears the burden of proof to show that God does not exist, because it is the theist who is asserting the existence of an entity. They typically compare belief in God with belief in absurd beings like "flying spaghetti monsters," or "invisible pink unicorns," and argue, "The person attempting to convince me that the Flying Spaghetti Monster exists has the burden of proof. In the absence of sufficient proof to warrant belief, I am justified in disbelieving in all these beings." As George Smith wrote: "If one presents a positive belief (i.e. an assertion which one claims to be true), one has the obligation to present evidence in its favor. The burden of proof lies with the person who asserts the truth of a proposition. If the evidence is not forthcoming, if there are not sufficient grounds for accepting the proposition, it should not be believed.", This principle on which the philosophy is founded comes from the Latin phrases like necessitas probandi incumbit ei qui agit meaning "the necessity of proof lies with he who complains" and ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non que negat, meaning "the burden of proof rests on who asserts, not on who denies."
- Weak atheism or Negative Atheism refers to the belief that because there is no evidence that god exists, we may assume that he does not exist. Weak atheists hold that there is also no evidence for existence of the god Thor, the Incredible Hulk Santa Claus or the Flying Spaghetti Monster and that as a consequence most of the earth's population do not believe in their existence. They maintain that there is a logical difficulty in absolutely proving a negative such as "God does not exist". This is especially the case when presented with ideas such as the deist god. This supposed god does not interact with the world or humanity at all which makes his positive disproof difficult. Typically, weak atheists would simply point out that such a being is extremely improbable but accept a very small possibility that it exists. This tiny possibility would have about the same level of probability as that of faeries existing at the bottom of ones garden - not entirely impossible, but so wildly, insanely improbable that it can be safely dismissed. Some weak atheists are not happy with the term "weak atheism" and prefer the older, synonymous, and more established term, negative atheism. This is different from Agnosticism. Agnostics also tend to say that the possible existence of God cannot be disproved, but they are less likely to say that this is a good and sufficient reason to deny his existence.
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