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reintroducing cited, sourced material describing widely accepted distinctions between strong, weak, practical, and theoretical atheism, in response to Conservative's concerns about citing.
'''Atheism''', as defined by the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' and the ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', is the denial of the existence of any [[God]].<ref>http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/</ref><ref>http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1998</ref>
'''Atheism''', as defined by the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' and the ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', is the denial of the existence of any [[God]].<ref>http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/</ref><ref>http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1998</ref>
== Types of atheism ==
Encyclopedias of philosophy define atheism as a denial of the existence of God or gods.<ref>http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/</ref><ref>http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1998</ref>
Others divide atheism into two distinct types or degrees: [[strong atheism]] and weak atheism.<ref>http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/atheism.htm</ref><ref>http://atheism.about.com/od/atheismquestions/a/strong_weak.htm</ref>
The principle difference between the two types of atheism is that strong atheism retains the burden of proof, asserting that there is affirmative evidence or reason to deny the existence of God, while weak atheism includes all belief systems that lack a belief in God, without making explicit truth claims that God does not exist..<ref>http://atheism.about.com/od/atheismquestions/a/strong_weak.htm</ref> In other words, strong atheists claim they can affirmatively show that God does ''not'' exist, while weak atheists only lack an affirmative belief that God ''does'' exist. <ref>http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/mathew/intro.html</ref>
Atheism is also sometimes divided into "practical atheism" and "theoretical atheism." <ref>www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum=991 </ref> The key difference between the two is that while theoretical atheism bases its belief on theoretical and philosophical argument, practical atheism bases its belief on the allegation that God or the gods have no meaningful impact on the life of the atheist (cannot be seen or heard, do not answer prayers, etc.), and that therefore, whether or not any God or gods exist, they are non-existent ''for all practical purposes''.<ref>www.ewtn.com/library/THEOLOGY/GODTRANS.htm</ref>
== Biblical Statements Regarding Atheism ==
== Biblical Statements Regarding Atheism ==