Weak atheism

Weak atheism or negative atheism is the lack of belief in any gods without the conviction that no gods exist. It is equivalent to the term nontheism. This also describes some agnostics ("weak agnostics").

Weak atheism is in contrast to strong atheism, in which the atheist makes the positive assertion that there are no gods, and theism, in which the theist asserts that there is at least one god of some kind. The terms atheist and atheism are usually used to indicate strong atheism.

The difference between "strong" and "weak" atheism might be summed up as follows: strong atheism is the "belief" that there are no gods, while weak atheism is the "lack" of belief in god(s).

Some interpretations of the term "weak atheism" include all other meanings of atheism under its banner [1]. By this definition, all strong atheists are by definiton weak atheists, but weak atheists are not necessarily strong atheists. However, those who use this term often tend to confuse the issue by including agnostics under the "weak atheists" category; although the categories of "weak atheist" and "agnostic" often overlap, the overlap is not absolute.