Is Atheism a Belief?

   

    I recently created a Facebook post in a group designed for Christians and Atheists to debate one another.  I asked the question, 'Why are you an Atheist?'  The post got over 300 comments in only two days.  Many Atheists who answered said that they were Atheists because they could find little to no evidence for a god.  When I asked them if they had evidence for their beliefs, many of them answered that Atheism was not a belief.  One person commented that I did not have to prove that leprechauns were not real.  Since there is no evidence to suggest that they are real, it is commonly accepted that they exist only in stories.  This is a very interesting argument.  It's almost as if the person was saying that Atheism was not a belief, it is a reality.

    The Merriman-Webster Dictionary has three definitions of 'belief'.  The first is 'a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing'.  The second is 'something that is accepted, considered to be true, or held as an opinion: something believed'.  The third definition is 'conviction of the truth of some statement or the reality of some being or phenomenon especially when based on examination of evidence.'

     I think Atheism could fall into the second or third definition of belief.  The second definition of belief states that belief is an acceptance of something to be true, an opinion.  The third definition adds evidence to beliefs.  It defines belief as a statement of reality that is based off of evidence.  Using this definition everything we as humans view as 'reality' is a belief.  We believe we are on earth.  We believe 2+2=4.  We believe that water is wet.  All of these things can be observed and so we accept them as reality.  Reality is measured by evidence since we cannot prove anything.  We cannot prove that we are even awake right now.  This is why we collect evidence to determine the probability of reality.  

    Maybe this is what the commenter meant when he said that Atheism was not a belief.  Perhaps he meant Atheism wasn't an opinion, the second definition of belief.  Perhaps he meant that there was so much evidence for the belief that it should be considered truth, like 2+2.  I'd like to sift through some of this evidence in future blogs to test the validity of this claim.  Because every belief system in the world claims to be reality.  And many of them claim to have evidence supporting their beliefs.  What is the evidence supporting Atheism?  We'll talk about that next time.  But to answer today's question, is Atheism a belief, the answer is yes and perhaps no.  Yes, according to the Merriman-Webster definitions of belief, it is absolutely a belief.  The question now is which definition does it fall under, the first, second, or third?  We will return to this question in future blogs after our research is completed.  Thank you for reading! Be sure to leave a comment sharing your thoughts about this matter.  I would also appreciate any references containing evidence supporting Atheism as I will be going over many in my next blog.

Reference:

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Belief. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved December 10, 2025, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/belief 

Published: 12/10/2025