a higher power in the same reason a christian doesn't believe in vishnu or hindu or vishnu or a law we don't believe in any of those in any of those other other. deities but if you actually build a building beyond that dedicated belief in a higher power you know in a higher human flourishing and you bill build out from that a system of ethics and an approach to the world then i think that you know that equally to religion even though it's fundamentally different in several ways ok lawrence i notice you already want to jump in go ahead yeah atheism means it's latin for without god or you're refusing the possibility of a theistic approach. there's some logical problems with just addressing that it's not just a denial or saying we do we don't it it's saying there isn't a theistic back. backbone to creation or to whatever surrounds us in nature and so it's more of a position and the problem with atheism i see is that it requires someone to know