Atheism is a religion

[helmespc]

Hockey is my religion, though. I have plenty of proof of the existence of the Stanley Cup.

Don't go saying that to Perhaps and amkerman on the philosophy forum.

Damn Leaf fans.

[Voltair]

Yeah it does irritate me. In fact one of the Christian apolgetic books is called "I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist". I have even heard a professor of mine say that line verbatim and it just makes me want to face-palm.

I think Christian's have different reasons for saying this including perhaps as others have mentioned the comfort of feeling like they aren't being irrational by holding onto their beliefs. I think the best thing you can do is to simply explain to them that atheism simply means lack of belief and it isn't faith in something you can't see.

Ultimately I think most people know that they can't 100% disprove the idea of a being that is supposedly undetectable and outside of our universe. Although to be cute neither can anyone disprove the existence of the invisible fire breathing dragon in Sagan's garage :p.

If people back into that corner and use that as their argument you can safely assume they have surrendered the discussion. Honestly the argument of "I just have faith" should be countered with "faith based on what?". I think forcing people to admit that it lies in fear, tradition, and in some cases blind faith is a great step to helping people understand you and themselves better.

But hey, there are a fair bit of people who will probably bury their head in the sand instead. People often resist change especially change on that level. Unfortunately Christianity does a pretty good job of keeping the "sheep" in through scare tactics.

[theotherone]

A religion has to have a set of specific practices that shape and define it and which its followers adhere too in order to be recognized as being part of that particular religion. For instance the clothing they wear, or the foods they eat. It might not always be readily apparent to an outside observer, but these differences and definitions are there among religions and the religious. As an atheist I don't have to follow any specific set of rules to define my atheism. I do not have to shave my head or let my beard grow to mark myself out as an atheist. I do not have to follow any doctrine, or read any book.

My point is that religion is a system of practices as much as it is a system of belief. But atheism isn't anything as complex as a religion. So comparing atheism to religion is missing the point on what religion actually is. Of course that is just my personal take on the matter, But I am not planning on building a temple to atheism any time soon.

[houseofcantor]

Atheism is a shared identity, like religion; and my experience is that the only overlap is the Left-Hand Path. Religion to some, but I'm hardcore atheist and Left-Hand. I see it as philosophy and "read-around" the witchcraft, just like I do with all religions I encounter.

My fellow atheist Rhythm speaks from simulation in mind - hogwash. They're all fairy tales. If atheism were a religion, this kinda division would cause sect, no? But it doesn't; I take Rhythm's criticism as a warning not to bring my naive philosophy to the greater identity of atheism without empirical evidence. So I'm an atheist and a naive philosopher with a positive faith in the non-existence of god.

In terms of the group identity, I am Setian-atheist rather than agnostic atheist; gives us something to argue about. In terms of causality, I consider atheism anti-religion; that if religion gets back in its cage, atheism won't be an issue.

[passionatefool]

Does it irritates you when religious people say Atheism is a religion? I mean does that statement even make sense? Is this some sort of mental defense thing to make them feel more comfortable? Like "Ha! You are no different. ATHEISM IS A RELIGION!". I don't see how lacking a fundamental belief system in some higher being or faith, which is what religion is, make it a religion? I don't know, I get this A LOT! I'm just about tired of it, in fact I was just in a debate about it, it makes no sense and it irritates me beyond imagination. Some Atheists I know even think science is BS! so No Science isn't a holy scripture or religious scripture either! It isn't based on blind faith.

Okay sorry for the rant.

What one believes can be considered religion. Most folks are a victim of their own imagination. Be careful with how you handle yourself, you could be wrong.

My lack of belief in a higher being does not qualified as a religion infact it should be the opposite of religion...non religion. If my belief or what I believe become a religion, then democracy is a religion, human rights is a religion, my underwear is a religion!

---

Yeah it does irritate me. In fact one of the Christian apolgetic books is called "I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist". I have even heard a professor of mine say that line verbatim and it just makes me want to face-palm.

I think Christian's have different reasons for saying this including perhaps as others have mentioned the comfort of feeling like they aren't being irrational by holding onto their beliefs. I think the best thing you can do is to simply explain to them that atheism simply means lack of belief and it isn't faith in something you can't see.

Ultimately I think most people know that they can't 100% disprove the idea of a being that is supposedly undetectable and outside of our universe. Although to be cute neither can anyone disprove the existence of the invisible fire breathing dragon in Sagan's garage :p.

If people back into that corner and use that as their argument you can safely assume they have surrendered the discussion. Honestly the argument of "I just have faith" should be countered with "faith based on what?". I think forcing people to admit that it lies in fear, tradition, and in some cases blind faith is a great step to helping people understand you and themselves better.

But hey, there are a fair bit of people who will probably bury their head in the sand instead. People often resist change especially change on that level. Unfortunately Christianity does a pretty good job of keeping the "sheep" in through scare tactics.

It's not the arguement that atheism being a kind of faith that irritates me. It's the reasons behind it.

Theists want atheism to be a religion because they want them and us to be on equal terms by way of saying that "well your beliefs are just as ridiculous".

Their reasonings for this is rooted in a lovely combination of the usual bias and ignorance but they need to bring us to that level because they have no arguements to justify their own faith over the evidence that atheists typically use to coutner their claims and they need to invalidate our claims.

So, it's not really the arguement itself that bugs me, but dispelling the stubborn and ignorant reasoning they use to justify their claims is more annoying.

What's more annoying is arguing points that can be dispelled by a simple google search - like all those points I was making on another thread about relativity. The idiot in question doesn't know a lick about physics and was just repeating what he read about anisotropic synchrony convention (the idea that light travels at half C away from the earth but infinately fast toward the earth - it's an AIG paper that attempts to justify genesis) and all he had to do to learn how we measure the speed of light is through a simple google search to learn that we really don't time light through clock synchronization.
This is, of course, in addition to the fact that he didn't listen to any of my points regarding just how impossible a variable speed of light is given our reliance on C being precisely equal to C at all times from all perspectives.

The most annoying thing though - they don't FUCKING LISTEN. They edit out my main points and respond in such a way that they just repeat what they told me and simply ignore all of my counterpoints.

I mean I have to agree, there is no better explanation for why they make this complicated other than the fact that they want to think atheist is just like them and by convincing them that Atheism is a religion, they will feel like logical and rational criticism from atheists would lose its credibility...which is bizarre.

I hate it when they said "it is not as simple as you put it, it is much more complex" and I just want to smash my head against the wall....it isnt that complex, and all the argument I have heard so far on why it is a religion is ridiculous. One was that it is a religion because it has something to do with religion....yes but it is a lack of belief or religion...People say under the law Atheist are allowed the protection of freedom of religion or how the government identified the rights that atheist has to be religious right but that hardly explain why it is a religion. Freedom of religion is the right to practice or belong to a religion or not belonging to any....it is just ridiculous.

[Norfolk And Chance]

Does anybody keep noticing the amount of intelligent famous atheists out there? America is a very christian country yet a lot of famous Americans with braincells are atheist.

Penn and Teller?
Woody Allen?
Bill Gates?
Lance Armstrong?
James Randi?
Bill Maher?
John Malkovich?
Keanu Reeves?
Barry Manilow?
Billy Joel?
Jack Nicholson?
Aleialoura?

All you god bothering sheeple, do you not stop and question what all these famous and intelligent people are on to?

[Blam!]

---

Does anybody keep noticing the amount of intelligent famous atheists out there? America is a very christian country yet a lot of famous Americans with braincells are atheist.

Penn and Teller?
Woody Allen?
Bill Gates?
Lance Armstrong?
James Randi?
Bill Maher?
John Malkovich?
Keanu Reeves?
Barry Manilow?
Billy Joel?
Jack Nicholson?
Aleialoura?

All you god bothering sheeple, do you not stop and question what all these famous and intelligent people are on to?

---

You'll love this video.

[TheDarkestOfAngels]

Does anybody keep noticing the amount of intelligent famous atheists out there? America is a very christian country yet a lot of famous Americans with braincells are atheist.

That's not a coincidence.
It's not a coincidence for the exact same reason that the VAST majority of scientists are atheists.

All you god bothering sheeple, do you not stop and question what all these famous and intelligent people are on to?

There are plenty of famous theists.
Most of them are just famous for saying retarded things and not for matters of intellect or science.
Looking at you, Pat Robinson.

Then there are people like Stephan Hawking or Roger Penrose. Both theoretical physicists. Incredibly intelligent people.
Both atheists.

[Modular Moog V]

Atheism is a shared identity, like religion; and my experience is that the only overlap is the Left-Hand Path. Religion to some, but I'm hardcore atheist and Left-Hand. I see it as philosophy and "read-around" the witchcraft, just like I do with all religions I encounter.

My fellow atheist Rhythm speaks from simulation in mind - hogwash. They're all fairy tales. If atheism were a religion, this kinda division would cause sect, no? But it doesn't; I take Rhythm's criticism as a warning not to bring my naive philosophy to the greater identity of atheism without empirical evidence. So I'm an atheist and a naive philosopher with a positive faith in the non-existence of god.

In terms of the group identity, I am Setian-atheist rather than agnostic atheist; gives us something to argue about. In terms of causality, I consider atheism anti-religion; that if religion gets back in its cage, atheism won't be an issue.

House, you have to admit that the Temple of Set, is Anton Levy's Church of Satan in Egyptian drag. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Set

Set is the first born of Nuit/Nut, or night, the stars of space. Osiris, A-set/Isis etc were born on the extra 5 days won by
Thoth ( a God pre-existing Set, and obviously more powerful)
in a gamble with forces who resisted their birth.

But Set IS a God in the Egyptian pantheon!

How can you be a God believing atheist? If you wish to use the term "atheist", clearly a non belief in gods of any kind, aside from comedy, why use a term that is essentially saying "Egyptian God believing' atheist?

Just asking for clarity

[Freedom]

I used to believe that atheism was a religion because I saw what seemed to be parallels between the two.

Religion has holy books, evangelists, and gatherings.
Atheism has highly esteemed literature (Origin of Species, The God Delusion, etc.), representative spokespersons (Richard Dawkins, the late Christopher Hitchens, etc.) and meetups.

But ultimately, atheism is not a religion because atheists are freethinkers; they don't subscribe to a particular set of doctrines, and the burden of proof is on the theist.