Beginning in the latter portion of the 20th century and continuing beyond, many [[agnosticism|agnostics]]/atheists have argued that the '''definition of atheism''' should be defined as a mere lack of belief in God or gods.<ref name="Divine"/><ref name="Definition of atheism">[http://www.reasonablefaith.org/definition-of-atheism Definition of atheism] by William Lane Craig</ref><ref name="CRI"/><ref>Britain is a less religious country than the United States and the online Oxford Dictionaries offers both the narrow/broad definitions of atheism (As noted in a previous footnote the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which is a traditional American dictionary, offers a more narrow definition of atheism similar to the definition that major encyclopedias of philosophy use). Oxford Dictionaries: Disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods.[http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/atheism]</ref>
[[William Lane Craig]] writes:
{{Cquote| If atheism is taken to be [[Atheist worldview|a view]], namely the view that there is no God, then atheists must shoulder their share of the burden of proof to support this view. But many atheists admit freely that they cannot sustain such a burden of proof. So they try to shirk their epistemic responsibility by re-defining atheism so that it is no longer a view but just a psychological condition which as such makes no assertions. They are really closet agnostics who want to claim the mantle of atheism without shouldering its responsibilities.<ref>[http://www.reasonablefaith.org/definition-of-atheism Definition of atheism] by William Lane Craig</ref>}}
See also: [[Atheism and evidence]]
== Historic roots of the word atheism ==