Atheism does not require faith

Religious apologists will sometimes try to discredit atheists by saying that atheism requries faith. Ignoring the obvious irony, let's consider the false assumptions in that statement.  

First, it assumes that all propositions are of equal weight. It is true that some propositions cannot be disproven - for example, the claim that "a black swan exists" cannot be disproven unless we examine every square inch of the universe to make sure there is no such thing as a black swan and this is impossible.

Other propositions can be conclusivley disproven in two ways:

a) See if the proposition leads to a logical contradiction; if so, then the proposition must be false. Examples of this would be "a square circle exists."  So if someone argues for the existence of a god and the argument includes logical contradictions, then that god can be disproven.

b) Be given a clear definition which can be tested. For example, if the universe underwent rapid inflation, gravity waves with properties X and Y would exist. This is disprovable because we can test whether the gravity waves exist (once we have the appropriate technology) so the claim is testable. It is possible to disprove (or prove) whether such gravity waves exist. 

When a god is defined, it may be possible to construct tests to see if it exists. such as the effects such a god would have on nature or human beings. If we fail to find those effects, then a god with that set of characteristics does not exist. A different god with a diferent set of characteristics might exist, but this particular god has been disproven.

So without a clear and objective explanation of what a god is, there can be no substantive claim that this god exists. 

Claiming that atheists require faith is based on the assumption that atheists cannot prove that God does not exist or that atheists ignore evidence.  In reality, atheists simply don't accept a claim that "God exists" on face value - that would require faith. And if the so called evidence can be explained in ways which do not require god, so there's no reason to believe in god when there are alternatives.