> Again, the "absence of belief" is identical to "not believing:" "the evidence has not convinced you, so you do not believe it,"

I really don’t think so.

Today you probably have an absence of belief in rainbow colored lions.

That’s different from trying to figure out if rainbow colored lions exist, evaluating claims and deciding to believe that they don’t exist.

Absence of belief = passive default

Belief = active decision making

When someone mentions the words “rainbow colored lions” or even makes a claim “I saw a rainbow colored lion”, I don’t feel a burden to evaluate their claim. I’m more evaluating the structure of their claim: they’ve provided no evidence.

So, I am choosing to believe that they’ve made an unfounded argument. I don’t suddenly feel the need to actively not believe in rainbow colored lions.