Editing Negative and positive 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>

==Scope of application==
Because of flexibility in the term [[god (word)|''god'']], it is possible that a person could be a positive/strong atheist in terms of certain [[conceptions of God]], while remaining a negative/weak atheist in terms of others. For example, the God of [[classical theism]] is often considered to be a personal supreme being who is [[omnipotent]], [[omniscient]], [[omnipresent]], and [[omnibenevolent]], caring about humans and human affairs. One might be a positive atheist for such a deity, while being a negative atheist with respect to a [[deism|deistic]] conception of God by rejecting belief in such a deity but not explicitly asserting it to be false.

Positive and negative atheism are frequently used by the philosopher [[George H. Smith]] as synonyms of the less-well-known categories of [[implicit and explicit atheism]], also relating to whether an individual holds a specific view that gods do not exist.<ref name="Smith1"/>  "''Positive''" atheists explicitly assert that it is false that any deities exist. "''Negative''" atheists assert they do not believe any deities exist, but do not necessarily explicitly assert it is ''true'' that no deity exists. Those who do not believe any deities exist, but do not assert such non-belief, are included among ''implicit atheists''. Among "implicit" atheists are thus included the following: children and adults who have never heard of deities; people who have heard of deities but have never given the idea any considerable thought; and those agnostics who suspend belief about deities, but do not reject such belief. All ''implicit'' atheists are included in the ''negative/weak'' categorization.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20000831235652/http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/smith.htm The Case Against God - en excerpt]; George H. Smith; 2003</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-negative-atheism-247866|title=Are You a Negative Atheist?}}</ref>

Under the negative atheism classification, agnostics are atheists. The validity of this categorization is disputed, however, and a few prominent atheists such as [[Richard Dawkins]] avoid it. In ''[[The God Delusion]]'', Dawkins describes people for whom the [[Spectrum of theistic probability|probability of the existence of God]] is between "very high" and "very low" as "agnostic" and reserves the term "strong atheist" for those who claim to know there is no God. He categorizes himself as a "[[de facto]] atheist" but ''not'' a "strong atheist" on this scale.<ref>[[The God Delusion]], pp. 50–51</ref>  Within negative atheism, philosopher [[Anthony Kenny]] further distinguishes between [[Agnosticism|agnostics]], who find the claim "God exists" uncertain, and [[Theological noncognitivism|theological noncognitivists]], who consider all talk of gods to be meaningless.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Anthony |last=Kenny |author-link=Anthony Kenny |year=2006 |title=Worshipping an Unknown God |journal=Ratio |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=442 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9329.2006.00339.x }}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Antitheism]]
*[[Ignosticism]]
*[[Nontheism]]

== References ==
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