In a recent message Jim Choate wrote:
However, yourself, pjm, & Mr. Smith are claiming that a belief that something doesn't exist isn't a belief is simply a tricky play on semantics. A belief in a negative is still a belief irrespective of how many people believe it. Might doesn't make right (or logical).
Mr. Choate please spend as much time working on reading comprehension as you do on logic. If you read my message you will see that I have not stated my view on the proper definition of atheism, I have not aligned myself with pjm or George Smith nor have I aligned myself against them. I did provide two quotations from scholarly sources that used definitions similar to that provided by pjm. I also provided a quotation that there several definitions of the term in usage and the various definitions each have their supporters and their opponents. My point was the definition I quoted are well established in the scholarly literature and demonstrate that pjm was not trying to introduce some new and unusual definition into the discussion. Also based on the portion of your message I quote above, it appears that you might have misunderstood the quotation I included from Mr. Smith's book. I am sorry that both space and copyright issues do not allow the entire book to be sent to you, but I do suggest that you read the entire discussion in the book if you are having difficulty with the short passage quoted previously. Regards Fred