Your definition of atheism?

You are right.

Atheism is the belief that there is no god, which takes some faith considering the universe is so grand one cannot know there is no god.

I don't actually disrespect atheists, but I have more respect for the honest approach of the agnostics who DOUBT the existence of God.

[quote] . . . since when does lack of belief in something warrant its own "ism"?

Good point. But the first step in fighting or destroying an enemy is sometimes putting a label on the enemy, to classify him as the Other. And "atheist" and "atheism" were orginally used to label non-believers and unbelief or heresy, respectively, as the enemies of the dominant religious orthodoxy.

Sam Harris generated some controversy at a convention in 2007 when he suggested that the term "atheism" shouldn't be necessary. We don't have or regulary use special-purpose words to describe or classify people who don't accept astrology or who don't believe in leprechauns. Harris essentially said that the people who are usually labeled "atheists" are really just people who have come to their senses and have decided not to believe in fantastic propositions that are unsupported by evidence.

Yes, dictionaries are often used to document how "the majority of people" define and use a word. But sometimes the majority of people are wrong. For example, a majority of people may use "monkey" to refer not only to Old World Monkeys and New World Monkeys that usually have tails, but also to apes, which are a separate group within the order "Primates."

So, when we look at modern dictionaries such as the American Heritage Dictionary, the #1 definition is usually something like "the doctrine or belief that there is no God [capitalized]," or occasionally "the doctrine or belief that there is no God or gods." Rarely, this is the #2 definition, but "God" is usually capitalized and stated in the singular, as if there is at most one "God." This type of definition reflects the majority outlook of religious folks who are monotheists or monists and who have been largely in control of editing dictionaries. It can be traced back to the Webster's Dictionaries of the 19th and 20th centuries, and I suppose to the Oxford English Dictionary and others before that, all of which probably emphasized disbelief in A "God' or THE "God" as the essence of atheism.

The definition of atheism that I prefer is consistent with what is usually listed in modern dictionaries as the secondary definition, something like "a lack of belief in the existence of God or gods" [Princeton WordNet 3.0] or "disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings" [Random House Unabridged].

The defintion that I prefer and use myself is:

Atheism [noun]: The conviction that supernatural beings do not exist, or the mental stance of lacking a belief in the existence of supernatural beings.

Operationally and neurologically, there is no signficiant difference between (1) being convinced that supernatural beings don't exist and (2) lacking a belief in the existence of supernatural beings. In the average atheist, and perhaps in every atheist, either mental state results from a naturalistic, skeptical world view and from the lack of credible evidence of the existence of supernatural beings.

I think that the only difference between "being convinced that there are no gods" and "lacking a belief in gods" are that the former may leave the atheist exposed to criticism on the grounds that he or she "has a belief, too" or "also has faith."

This is why I, taking a tip from Douglas Adams, use the phrase "convinced that no supernatural beings exist" instead of "believing that no supernatural beings exist." The latter phrase inappropriately conjures up the idea that the atheist has arbitrarily decided to "believe" that no gods exist without thinking about the issue or considering the evidence for or against.

lack of belief in gods.....

Your toothbrush doesn't have a conscious mind.

If people claimed that Santa Claus really did exist then I'm sure there'd be asantaclausists

Besides which the word is the opposite of the word theist which means someone who has a belief in a god/gods. Your problem should be with that word not atheist

Atheist comes from the Greek word atheos, which literally means "godless".

The result is exactly the same for both views. If you don't believe in God, then for you he doesn't exist, it's exactly the same as believing that God doesn't exist.

So a lack of belief in God (passive) is every bit as valid as a belief that gods don't exist (active).

An Atheist would say this about your post:

"A toothbrush can't think therefore it is not Atheist"

My point is, they are logical, they always see how things are wanting and providing proof, they believe what they see.

I hope that doesn't sound like I'm putting them down (everyone on here is so sensitive) cause I'm not putting them down at all. There is nothing wrong with any of those things.

Atheism is a conscious lack of belief in God. Your toothbrush isn't an Atheist because it's not a sentient being. Sentience is implied in the definition.

I am an atheist, and I generally follow atheism, because that is simply the belief that no god(s) exist, nothing more nothing less.

your toothbrush cant think and therefore cant deny god....

atheist/athe·ist -one who believes that there is no deity

Madeline Murray O'hare, an atheist, was responsible for getting bibles removed from our schools! they found her cut into pieces and buried by a fellow atheist who stole all her organization's money to the tune of $54,000. these two are the definition of atheist: ridiculous, dangerous and dead, doomed!

'be not deceived, GOD is not mocked'! i hope all atheist take a lesson from ms. O'hare's fate!

I suppose "bald" people don't exist in your existence since (as far as you can tell), everyone has hair. "Lack of hair" certainly doesn't require a "bald-ism", right?

I mean, lack of a quality is a lack of a quality, right? I guess you probably also need to avoid "isms" such as "transparent" (lack of opacity), "dark" (lack of light), "black" (lack of color), and "empty" (lack of volume).

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Oh, and in case you hadn't heard, http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Atheists seems to think both definitions are right. So maybe, just maybe, the English language doesn't conform to the social rules you think it does.

The right to know there is no god. The knowledge to know there is no god. The realization there is no god. The freedom to know there is no god. Normal, regular, intelligent people who live out of the box and think for themselves. Not into veneration of myths.