What Do Atheists Want?

That question may not be as straightforward as it seems. I could rephrase it like this: do atheists seek a world without God-believers full stop or a world of rationalists? (I don't mean rationalists as opposed to empiricists, but those who govern themselves by reason, which includes sensory evidence). Alas, mere nonbelief and rationalism don't necessarily go hand in hand. Irrational atheists are not impossible. 

Online celebrity atheists, who fancy themselves skeptics, claim the title negative atheists, by which they mean that with regard to God (as supernatural creator of the universe), they merely lack belief for want of convincing evidence. Their aim is to distinguish themselves from positive atheists, who are convinced that no God exists. 

Negative atheists insist that their form of atheism need entail no other beliefs about anything. It's a mere lack of a particular belief. But that can't be true because they also believe that one ought to have evidence for all of one's beliefs. Nothing wrong with that at all, but it is a belief entailed by their position. Someone could certainly lack a belief in God without also believing that one ought to have evidence for one's beliefs (evidentialism), but that would make for a rather flimsy atheism indeed. We might call it whimsical atheism.

As a positive atheist, I'd like to see people not only abandon belief in God and embrace evidentialism, but also embrace all that is implied by evidentialism: reason, the logical axioms, the primacy of existence over consciousness, and more. I don't want a world merely of God-nonbelievers but a world of rationalists and naturalists. Much of what I have tried to do on this blog is to spin out the implications of rationalism and naturalism. Not only do I think those values draw people to authentic knowledge about the world; I also believe those values would make for a more peaceful, humane world. People who understand the role reason plays in personal flourishing will also understand that they ought to deal with others on the basis of reason, that is, through persuasion and consent and without coercion, bullying, manipulation, and exploitation. (I'm not suggesting that theists cannot understand these things.)

Atheists who lack the rationalist commitment are capable of committing atrocities against other people. Lacking a belief in God is not enough to ensure peace, cooperation, free exchange, progress, and prosperity. But a commitment to reason can accomplish those things.