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The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines atheism as "a disbelief in the existence of deity"[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atheism]
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines atheism as "a disbelief in the existence of deity"[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atheism]
== Attempts to Dilute the Definition of Atheism ==
[[File:Charles Bradlaugh.jpg|thumb|right|195px|[[Charles Bradlaugh]] ]]
''See also:'' [[Attempts to dilute the definition of atheism]]
[[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]]. 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" />
In short, the attempt to redefine atheism is merely an attempt to make no assertions so no facts need be offered.<ref name="DivCon" /> The attempt to redefine atheism, however, is not in accordance with the standard definitions of atheism that encyclopedias of philosophy employ which is that atheism is a denial of the existence of God or gods.<ref name="SEP" /><ref name="cw"/><ref name="DivCon" />
== See also ==
== See also ==