Editing Negative and positive atheism (section)

{{Short description|Types of atheism}}
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'''Negative atheism''', also called '''weak atheism''' and '''soft atheism''', is any type of [[atheism]] where a person does not believe in the existence of any [[deities]] but does not necessarily explicitly assert that there are none. '''Positive atheism''', also called '''strong atheism''' and '''hard atheism''', is the form of atheism that additionally asserts that no deities exist.<!--
 --><ref name="Flew1976">{{cite book |url=http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/flew01.htm |last=Flew |first=Antony |author-link=Antony Flew |title=The Presumption of Atheism, and other Philosophical Essays on God, Freedom, and Immortality |chapter=The Presumption of Atheism |location=New York |publisher=Barnes and Noble |year=1976 |pages=14ff |access-date=2011-12-10 |quote=In this interpretation an atheist becomes: not someone who positively asserts the non-existence of God; but someone who is simply not a theist. Let us, for future ready reference, introduce the labels 'positive atheist' for the former and 'negative atheist' for the latter. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051012172554/http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/flew01.htm |archive-date=2005-10-12}}</ref><!--
 --><ref name="mmartin">{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ISBN0521842700 |title=The Cambridge Companion to Atheism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=0-521-84270-0}}</ref><ref name="synonyms">{{cite web |url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/atheist4.htm |title=Definitions of the term "Atheism" |publisher=Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance |year=2007 |access-date=2010-06-01}}</ref> 

The terms "negative atheism" and "positive atheism" were used by [[Antony Flew]] in 1976<ref name="Flew1976"/> and have appeared in [[George H. Smith]]'s<ref name="Smith1">[https://web.archive.org/web/20080713012926/http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/smithdef.htm Atheism, Ayn Rand, and Other Heresies - an excerpt]; George H. Smith; 1990</ref> and [[Michael Martin (philosopher)|Michael Martin]]'s writings since 1990.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MNZqCoor4eoC&pg=PA26 |title=Atheism: A Philosophical Justification |year=1990|last=Martin |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Martin (philosopher) |publisher=Temple University Press |page=26 |isbn=0-87722-943-0}}
"negative atheism, the position of not believing a theistic God exists" / "positive atheism: the position of disbelieving a theistic God exists"; p.&nbsp;464: "Clearly, positive atheism is a special case of negative atheism: Someone who is a positive atheist is by necessity a negative atheist, but not conversely".</ref>