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I understood atheism as those who do not ski, and insist that there is no such thing as skiing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism#Definitions_and_distinctio

• rue 16y ago
  Sort of, yes. I dunno how many "strong atheists" there really are. The distinction itself seems borne out of a misconception. I think the "not skiing"-style example is very illustrative of the actual mental model atheists have, and importantly works relatively well in most languages to explain the concept of lack of belief which the "opponent" — someone espousing a belief — has a hard time understanding. So most atheists don't really insist that a god cannot possibly exist, merely that one doesn't according to available evidence, and as such can and should be ignored. Exactly in the same way I do not take into account leprechauns when making decisions, they are a non-factor. Edit: mind, I do agree there are some quite argumentative and belligerent atheists.