Weak atheism

Weak atheism or negative atheism is the lack of belief in any god or gods without the conviction that no gods exist. This also describes some agnostics ("weak agnostics").

Weak atheism differs from strong atheism, in which the atheist makes the positive assertion that there are no gods (or that specific gods do not exist), and theism, in which the theist asserts that there is at least one god of some kind. The terms atheist and atheism are usually and erroneously used to indicate strong atheism.

The difference between "strong" and "weak" atheism might be summed up as follows: strong atheism is the "assertion" that there are no gods, while weak atheism is the "lack" of belief in gods. Many 'Strong' Atheists would claim that they are 'strongly' atheistic towards gods with self-contradictory properties, or gods for which the evidence against is too strong, and 'weakly' atheistic towards all other gods - those they do not know about, for example.

The main interpretation of the term "weak atheism" include all other meanings of atheism under its banner [1] (http://www.positiveatheism.org/faq/faq1111.htm#STRONGORWEAK). By this definition, all strong atheists are by definiton weak atheists, but weak atheists are not necessarily strong atheists. Those who use this term often tend to include agnostics under the "weak atheists" category; although the categories of "weak atheist" and "agnostic" often overlap, the overlap is not absolute, and some agnostics disagree.

Most atheists would claim that everone is atheistic towards those gods, goddesses or supernatural entities that they don't believe in; they are simply atheistic about one more (or some more, to a polytheist).

See also: nontheism, irreligious

pt:Ateísmo Fraco