'Atheism' says nothing about cosmology.
A big part of the problem here is that while atheism doesn't say anything about cosmology, atheists often do. They don't always qualify their assertions with "It seems to me..." or anything like that.
"There is not and cannot be a God" is a big, unsupported, assertion. Most non-theists don't say that, but some do. I find many hard atheists quite as irrational and limited as hard theists. There aren't many, but enough to be aggravating.
Tom
Yes, as I often say craziness is not limited to theists. I also say the word atheist really has bno meaning.
When I go to bed I sometimes listen to Coast To Coast AM with George Nory on the radio. Did yiu knw if you put mushrooms in sunlight they will absorb vitamin D from sunlight?
One can be atheist and believe in magic crystals and casting spells.
Used by theist media and preachers atheist is a convenient bogey man. Dew is isllustring this.
Some Christians are rational on science. I worked with hard core creationists who were very good engineers.
A survey in England asked about beliefs. One conclusion was that asking self defined atheists about beifs was pointless, the term is ill fefined as used by people. I reject gods but I believe in something greater than humans, a higher power.
For myself I draw on naturalism and freethought which is more definitive than just atheist. Science is the best tool to underhand reality, theists call that scientism as being opposed to theism.
My response is always philosophically, scientifically, and philosophically creation can not be proven. The pop science shows like NOVA portray the BB as fact, which I reject. I callit a good theory based on the avilbale evidence, but not fact.
I go with Popper, fr someting to be objective scince it must be testable. He used the word experimentalist, which means all that we really know objectvely is an experiment. As denate and thought sreads from experiment it becomes progesively subjective. Interpretaion. Philosohy.
The BB is mathematical philosophical speculation, not objective science.