How Nontheism Is Not Implicit Atheism And Why They Are Different.

According to George H. Smith (1979), "implicit atheism" is defined as "the absence of theistic belief without a conscious rejection of it". "Absence of theistic belief" encompasses all forms of non-belief in deities. This would categorize as implicit atheists those adults who have never heard of the concept of deities, and those adults who have not given the idea any real consideration" (Smith, 1979).

This form of thought is in error in that it generalizes and attempts to encompass all individuals who do not subscribe to a theistic traditions as being an atheist. Smith is uncomprehending in that "non-religious" does not equal atheism. The open rejection or disassociation with organized religion or theism in the conventional sense, does not equate to atheism. Smith's approach is completely dishonest in that he even attempts to label newborns and infants as atheists. Hmm, since newborns have no concept of gravity, are they also agravitists?

According to Wikipedia (2017), "Atheism is, in the broadest sense, the absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is the rejection of belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities" (Wikipedia, 2017).

In contrast, "nontheism is a range of both religious and non-religious attitudes characterized by the absence of espoused belief in a God or gods. Nontheism has generally been used to describe apathy or silence towards the subject of God and differs from an antithetical, explicit (implicit) atheism. Nontheism does not necessarily describe atheism or disbelief in God; it has been misused as an umbrella term for summarizing various distinct and even mutually exclusive positions, such as agnosticism, ignosticism, ietsism, skepticism, pantheism, atheism, strong or positive atheism, implicit atheism, and apatheism. It is in use in the fields of Christian apologetics and general liberal theology.

Within the scope of non-theistic agnosticism, Philosopher Anthony Kenny distinguishes between agnostics who find the claim "God exists" uncertain and theological noncognitivists who consider all discussion of God to be meaningless. (since definitions and descriptions of the unknowable are in error)Some agnostics, however, are not nontheists but rather agnostic theists" (Wikipedia, 2017).

Present ideas below and give evidence for why you agree or disagree on the subject of non-theism vs. Implicit atheism.