Atheism and Faith: Friends or Foes?

Can atheists, who believe that God does not exist, have faith? Of course, atheists have certain kinds of faith: faith in their friends, faith in certain ideals, and faith in themselves. However, the question we’ll examine is whether atheists can have theistic faith: faith that God exists. Philosophers tend to fall on one of two extremes on this question: some, like Dan Howard-Snyder (2019), say unequivocally no; others, like Sam Lebens (forthcoming), say unequivocally yes. Spoiler: I take a middle position: I argue that atheists can have action-focused faith (faith in how they act) but not attitude-focused faith (faith in what attitudes they have).

Link to handout: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JbjU...

Previous video on atheism and religious practice:    • Why A Religious Atheist Isn't As Sill...  

My IEP entry on faith: https://iep.utm.edu/faith-contemporar...

Joe Schmid on lack theism:    • LACK-THEISM: The BIGGEST Mistake that...  

My paper (about the "hopeful atheist"): https://philpapers.org/rec/JACBFA

My paper (about the "wagering atheist"): https://philpapers.org/rec/JACFTP-2

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