Originally posted by TheSkipper
Yes, but the theist is making extraordinary claims and the atheist is not.
EDIT: I'm still having trouble with the lack of belief in somethings existence being characterized as a "claim".
It is a matter of state, you and I believe in two different things.
God and no God when it comes to what fills and directs the universe.
The state of things is either one with God, or one without, you are
very specific when you say Jesus' Father isn't real, or that Jesus isn't
the Son of God, that claim about something by saying this isn't
true or real means you are taking a position on the matter. To hide
behind the verbiage 'lack of belief' as being some how different than
saying that is true and that is not is cowardly in my opinion, a matter
of playing with words to hide behind a position you claim is true.
You can say you reject the notion, that is at least honest, you can say
you reject the teachings that would be at least honest, you can say you
don’t believe, and when you renounced your previous claims about
knowing God you can say you were mistaken, and what you thought
you had wasn’t real, you did not ever really knew God at all, and all
that was in your life at that time you gave God credit for was really
luck, or herd mentality, so you cannot say you left God, because you
never really had a relationship with Him at any point in your life to
leave.
Kelly