What does Atheism mean in practice?

A. Without a god or gods, people and the Universe must have come from somewhere/something else

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Why do we have to believe in anything?

A. We don't, we can believe what we choose, but if we don't believe that something created the Universe/ultimately everything we are believing that nothing created the Universe.

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Do Atheists need more faith than Believers?

A. To believe that all matter and everything we see came from nothing requires faith, some would say more faith than believing that it started with God.

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faith

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Definition of faith

1a: allegiance to duty or a person : LOYALTY, e.g. lost faith in the company's president

  b(1): fidelity to one's promises

    (2): sincerity of intentions acted in good faith

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2a(1): belief and trust in and loyalty to God

    (2): belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion

  b(1): firm belief in something for which there is no proof clinging to the faith that her missing son would one day return

    (2): complete trust

 

3: something that is believed especially with strong conviction 

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So faith is akin to trust.

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What do Atheists have faith in?

A1. Many believe in the inexorable pursuit of science and mankind's gradual ability to pin-down the currently unknown 

A2. Others believe in total randomness and time, the old hypothesis of enough monkeys, typewriters and time = the works of Shakespeare, or that an innate object such as a chair will, given enough time spontaneously become alive.

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There are many varieties of these but most include large elements of randomness and a hope in future generations proving them correct. 

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It's important that we do our own research, remain open-minded (i.e. following the evidence wherever that may lie, even if it requires one to go back against one's original position) and judge these things properly from an informed position. 

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Is Atheism the easy way out?

A. A belief in nothing is very convenient from a human perspective because it means we have to do absolutely nothing. Yes, we have to adhere to the rules and laws of our societies but beyond that we do what we like. The pursuit of happiness and the 'self' becomes the purpose. In essence, we become our own gods. Yet we admit that humans clearly have not all the answers, far from it, over the last 2,000 years we have not got any closer to understanding our purpose in life and position in the Universe than the Greek philosophers, at least worshipped "The Unknown God". 

It is also interesting to note that it probably takes a great deal more faith to believe that all we know has come from nothing and randomness than if there is a Creator with a plan.