Atheism is based on "faith"

"If you can prove there is no God, then this argument will bear weight. There is not enough scientific evidence to prove or disprove the existence of a God, so it takes faith to believe either way." I have had this debate many times. The burden is not on atheists to offer proof that there is no such thing as God. Take this example: suppose I told you there was a 600-ton invisible elephant sitting behind you. It is not a question of "faith" when you (hopefully) choose not to believe me. You do not believe in the nonexistence of the elephant, you simply chose to await proof before believing that it DOES exist. This is the logic behind atheism. "You firmly believe there is no God, right? Well, that's faith right there. By definition, it takes faith to believe in something there is no scientific evidence for, and there is not enough scientific evidence to disprove God. So you firmly believe there is no God? Then you have faith. You don't firmly believe there is a God, but rather choose not to believe? Then your not an atheist, your an agnostic. Really, it's that simple. Atheism requires faith that there is no God, because you cannot scientifically disprove God. It's simple logic." This is in essence the same argument as the one stated above. Before something is assumed to exist, its existence must be proven. Until then, it is assumed to not exist. For example, most people believe that there are not gigantic turtles that live in space. Not because there is a scientific proof that there are no turtles in space, but because the claim of space turtles carries behind it no evidence whatsoever. This is not faith, it is simply saying "Prove it." "What Atheists fail to see is that their beliefs require more faith than any other religion. Christians need to have faith in a God they cannot see, but that's all! God covers the rest! If we simply have faith in God, He promises to cover the rest so we don't have to worry about anything. Atheists on the other hand have to have faith that there is no God, have to have faith that there is no afterlife in which they will be punished for denying the existence of God, and have to have faith that the universe and the earth came from nothing (something which is entirely impossible scientifically)." Again, no. The same arguments as I have posted above apply to the idea of an afterlife. Prove heaven exists, then we can talk. And a person who does not believe in God does not necessarily believe everything came from nothing, either. Such a person would simply be an atheist who thinks everything comes from something; they simply do not see evidence to suggest that "something" is a creator God. "It even takes an incredible amount of faith to believe the sun will rise every morning, given the fact that there is nobody keeping order in the universe." Not really. Unless you see some signs of Earth suddenly stopping dead in its orbit, you are perfectly justified in thinking the Sun will rise every morning. "Have you ever wanted something from the store, but not been sure if the hours the store was open, but you think the store is still open so you go making an educated guess that you will be able to get into the store one you get there?" Hope is different from faith. In your example, all that is happening is a person thinks a store MIGHT be open. "I don't know if the store is open, so I'll head over and see. Maybe I'll get lucky." This is not faith. If a person were making this decision based on faith, they would consider it a fact that the store WAS open. "I don't know the hours, but I know the store will be open." Faith is taking the unproven as certainty, which is not shown in your analogy. "Why is it so hard to admit that you have faith? What's wrong with having faith?" Nothing is "wrong" with faith, but atheism is not based on it.