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[[File:Charles Bradlaugh.jpg|thumb|right|195px|[[Charles Bradlaugh]] ]]

[[File:Charles Bradlaugh.jpg|thumb|right|195px|[[Charles Bradlaugh]] ]]

Atheism, as defined by the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', and other [[philosophy]] reference works, is the denial of the existence of [[God]].<ref name="SEP">http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/</ref><ref name="cw">[http://creation.com/atheism-is-more-rational Is Atheism More Rational] by [[Creation Ministries International]]</ref><ref>http://www.thedivineconspiracy.org/athart3.htm</ref> [[Charles Bradlaugh]], in 1876, proposed that [[atheism]] does not assert "there is no God," and by doing so he diluted the traditional definition of atheism.<ref name="SEP">http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/</ref><ref name="cw">[http://creation.com/atheism-is-more-rational Is Atheism More Rational] by [[Creation Ministries International]]</ref><ref>http://www.thedivineconspiracy.org/athart3.htm</ref> Since 1979, many atheists have followed Bradlaugh's thinking further and stated that atheism is merely a lack of belief in any god.<ref name="DivCon">http://www.thedivineconspiracy.org/athart3.htm</ref><ref>[http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/bradlaugh.htm Positive Atheism's Big List of Charles Bradlaugh Quotations]</ref> The motive for such a shift in meaning appears to be to an attempt to shift the burden of proof regarding the existence of God to the [[theism]] side.<ref name="DivCon" />

[[Atheism]], as defined by the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', and other [[philosophy]] reference works, is the denial of the existence of [[God]].<ref name="SEP">http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/</ref><ref name="cw">[http://creation.com/atheism-is-more-rational Is Atheism More Rational] by [[Creation Ministries International]]</ref><ref>http://www.thedivineconspiracy.org/athart3.htm</ref> [[Charles Bradlaugh]], in 1876, proposed that [[atheism]] does not assert "there is no God," and by doing so he diluted the traditional definition of atheism.<ref name="SEP">http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/</ref><ref name="cw">[http://creation.com/atheism-is-more-rational Is Atheism More Rational] by [[Creation Ministries International]]</ref><ref>http://www.thedivineconspiracy.org/athart3.htm</ref> Since 1979, many atheists have followed Bradlaugh's thinking further and stated that atheism is merely a lack of belief in any god.<ref name="DivCon">http://www.thedivineconspiracy.org/athart3.htm</ref><ref>[http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/bradlaugh.htm Positive Atheism's Big List of Charles Bradlaugh Quotations]</ref> The motive for such a shift in meaning appears to be to an attempt to shift the burden of proof regarding the existence of God to the [[theism]] side.<ref name="DivCon" />

In the article, ''Is Atheism Presumptuous''?, atheist [[Jeffery Jay Lowder]], a founder of [[Internet Infidels]] which owns and operates the Secular Web (the Secular Web is a website focused on promoting atheism, [[agnosticism|agnostics]] and [[Philosophical skepticism|skeptics]] on the internet), states that "I agree (with Copan) that anyone who claims, "God does not exist," must shoulder a burden of proof just as much as anyone who claims, "God exists."<ref name="DivCon">http://www.thedivineconspiracy.org/athart3.htm</ref>

In the article, ''Is Atheism Presumptuous''?, atheist [[Jeffery Jay Lowder]], a founder of [[Internet Infidels]] which owns and operates the Secular Web (the Secular Web is a website focused on promoting atheism, [[agnosticism|agnostics]] and [[Philosophical skepticism|skeptics]] on the internet), states that "I agree (with Copan) that anyone who claims, "God does not exist," must shoulder a burden of proof just as much as anyone who claims, "God exists."<ref name="DivCon">http://www.thedivineconspiracy.org/athart3.htm</ref>