Often times I am accused of believing in something. Belief is not necessarily contrary to atheism, as my accusers may say, nor is it a requirement. Perhaps some clarification is needed.
Phrases that begin with "I believe" or "I think" are tossed around quite liberally, and this writing will be no different. However, I will attempt to substitute the concept of faith for these things whenever I can.
Atheism is the lack of belief, or faith, in any gods or goddesses. It is not, by definition, belief or faith that no gods exist at all. Similarly, being apolitical does not indicate hostility towards the political system, just a lack of interest. One could, in fact, be apolitical and hostile to the political system. The two terms are not mutually exclusive.
I have heard the claim made that everyone has faith in something. The example is made of a chair: "When you sit on a chair, you don't know if it will break or not, but you have FAITH that it will hold you." Garbage. I wish I knew who comes up with these arguments that all Christians copy. I also wish I knew who taught Christians online to use such questionable capitalization. Sorry, but bold-faced type and Caps Lock don't give your words more weight.
I sit in a chair without fear because of years of experience and literally tens of thousands of sits in which the chair has held. If I were to sit in a rickety old wooden chair or a bizarrely designed chair, or if I were morbidly obese, I might be a bit tentative. The truth is, most chairs have held many people before me and will hold many people after me. Using such a low standard as the definition of faith is preposterous.
Before Newton, people didn't understand the concept of gravity but they didn't need "faith" to know that things fall down. The mere fact that the person was being pulled down was reason enough to think that most other things would too. "Faith" in gravity or the chair is based on evidence, history, experience, and probability. As an engineer I could probably make a structural assessment and some calculations before I sit down, but that seems like an incredible waste of time to avoid something that has no chance of happening (Like avoiding hell).
Getting back on topic, people do not necessarily have faith in anything at all, especially not the mundane. In fact, the only assertion made by the title "atheist" is that I happen to have no faith (or belief) in gods. I am perfectly able to believe in (or have faith in) other things. I simply tend to reserve my faith for corporeal beings in my everyday life.
Personally, I believe, or have faith, that no gods or goddesses exist. I believe it is impossible for a metaphysical being with supernatural powers to exist in the universe. This is faith, my belief, and is in addition to my atheism. Just as theists base their belief on real, physical things ("holy" texts), I base mine on the physical as well. I have never seen any credible evidence whatsoever that gods exist, including the Torah, Bible, and Qur'an. I do not think gods are necessary for the creation of this or any other universe. I think life establishes and guides itself.
I don't see how physical life forms could evolve into metaphysical ones or develop supernatural powers. Such a thing is by definition a contradiction, and even if such a thing were possible in evolution it would certainly take much longer to develop than the universe has allowed so far.
So that is my belief, or faith. Based on the evidence, I don't think any gods exist, but I have no proof, only educated assertions. The same could be said for other beliefs, although I might question the basis of their "educated" assertions.
It is also said that the Theory of Evolution is a faith system, and that it hasn't been proven. Again, garbage. The Theory of Evolution is the hypothesis asserted to explain the observed fact of evolution. Let me say that again. This theory explains the observed facts. You can take away the Darwinian theory, but the fact of evolution still exists. There is no belief structure involved. The only way the theory of evolution will be scrapped is if it fails in some way, at which point a new theory will be proposed to fit the observed facts and make verifiable predictions. The fact is that life mutates, the strong survive, and this produces change. The fossils found fit this exactly. Using the popular definition of evolution, it can be said without pause that evolution is observed fact. The theories as to the mechanisms may change, but evolution is fact, not faith.
I have beliefs; I admit to as much. I do so grudgingly because such an admission (called positive or strong atheism) can be used to discredit. There is no contradiction, but I hate to be the one who happens to fit into the theists' stereotype. Will it make much difference? I BELIEVE it will NOT.