Atheism is a negation. It shouldn't be necessary to define one's position as an atheist. As many new atheist writers have written we do not need a special name for those of us who do not believe in fairies. However frequently when I tell an atheist that atheism is a void, that it is negative space, they take it as an insult. I believe that it is because many atheists have fought hard for their non-belief.
I shouldn't be surprised when an atheist bristles at the idea above. They may have lost friends during their deconversion. They may have lost family. They may even still be mourning the faith they left behind. Many of the most energetic atheists were in fact rabid believers. They were people who suffered and struggled to face the 'cold austere beauty of the universe.' They were naked and screaming and defiant after leaving the womb of the church. Naked and frequently alone they look for fellowship in this country so hostile to their kind. In this state if they hear me seem to mock their pain they get angry, and they should.
Atheism is an absence, but it is a useful and a productive one. And this is what my statement above fails to encompass and explain.
Picture yourself as a hypothetical believer in a metaphorical cathedral. The cathedral represents your worldview up until this moment. All around you are soaring walls decorated with intricate works of stained glass. Because one can always take refuge in God's grace it is hushed in the house of God. The silence itself magnifies the words, phrases and whole anecdotes that leap into your mind as your eyes run across symbols of the faith; the cross, the alter and myriad statues. Your eyes begin to interpret the brightly painted glass of a window. It shows a story from your bible classes. But as you lean forward to examine the swirls of color in one large plate you see things moving behind the glass. At first you ignore the phantom movement of objects obscured by the glass but eventually it can not be ignored. For a moment shock holds you in place. A horrible sinking feeling fills you. There are thing outside the Church. There is a world outside that is neither encompassed nor explained by the Church walls. But to explore that world you will have to leave the house of God.
The angry atheists are the ones who had to kick out a beautiful, beloved and meaningful stained glass window in order to see reality. They are angry that they were fooled for so long, and they feel betrayed by those they admired and trusted. In a sense they were forced to exchange a something for a nothing. They lost a cosmology and gained an empty space that was useful for looking out at the world as it is. A sublime and comforting crystal tapestry had blocked their view of the universe and they tore it down. The beautiful cathedral window was a work of comforting fiction. The newly free are proud and defiant and they love their useful emptiness.
As an agnostic I feel there is one more comforting fiction to relinquish and that is the illusion of certainty. The believer opens his mind and becomes an atheist who then loosens his fist and becomes an agnostic. I don't mean to be insulting. I don't think agnosticism is the more 'reasonable' point of view if by reasonable you mean a compromise between faith and science. When I say more reasonable that is exactly what I mean; more in line with reason. Agnosticism is a state of doubt about all truth claims. I believe that its usefulness lies in its admonishment to keep ones mind always open to better explanations. It is the doorstop that keeps ones mind from slamming shut as it is wont to do.
However in the end even agnosticism’s gifts are paltry when compared to the imaginary splendor of a belief system. While the stories of a religion may be false, the comfort of community is very real. In the end we must look beyond negation and even an open mind if we want to be happy social animals. What we need is community. We need free thinking companions or at least believers who cherrish and respect us, doubt and all.