What Do Atheists Believe?

“To believe” means to commit yourself to a worldview, and it is an enormous question.

1. “Believe” is a Big Word

Words are the way we communicate from one mind to another. A word is external expression of an internal idea, but it is not a mechanical or quantifiable act in binary code with precise meaning. The same word can mean different things to different people. To “believe” is such a word.

Previously (What is Atheism?), I used Graham Oppy’s book, Atheism: The Basics, for the definition of atheism. “Atheists do not believe in God.” According to Oppy, this means an atheist fails to believe or disbelieves that gods exist because arguments for theism are unconvincing. Oppy distinguishes atheists from “innocents” who are incapable of considering the question and agnostics who have considered the question but not made a judgement. Atheists can and have concluded that they do not believe gods exist.

But this definition begs the next question: what do atheists believe? And how does this use of the word factor into the debate between atheism and theism? In this context, Oppy…