Letter: I don't believe it

From Roy Sablosky

The first four letters you printed on the “Beyond belief” conference (9 December 2006, p 24) invoke the “brilliant insight” that atheism is itself a belief. This is rubbish, and New Scientist should not be promulgating it.

An atheist simply does not believe in any gods. By definition, this is not a belief. Just as nakedness is not a way of getting dressed; sleep is not a technique for paying attention; sunlight is not a kind of shade (nor even its opposite): atheism simply means that one has no religious beliefs.

Even to call it “non-belief” is perhaps misleading. After all, when you’re feeling comfortable you don’t call it “non-pain”.

Many believers literally cannot imagine that atheism is possible. But millions of us enjoy it – all day, every day.

Takoma Park, Maryland, US