Why are atheists so obsessed with religion?

[archangle]

"the atheist" is obsessed with religion...

Not all atheists are obsessed with religion.

...because many people think their "religions" should be everybody's religion.

Atheism is not a religion. Google 'the non-stamp-collector fallacy'

The "there is no god types" are just trying to force their beliefs onto others. They are "fundamentalist".

Not all antitheists try to force their beliefs on to others. Also, it's wrong to conflate atheists with antitheists; antitheism is a subset of atheism not a descriptor.

I think the average believer and non-believer should ignore these types. Forcing "this only god" or "this no-god-only" on others is lame.

I disagree. Ignoring them means that their positions are not taken into consideration in debates & discussions; people who can impact real-world events can be marginalised consequently having a greater negative impact than if they're accepted into social processes.

Yes, of course not all. I thought we were talking about the obsessed ones.

yes, fundamental atheist is a subset of atheism. I totally agree. I thought that was a given.

yes, to your last part too. The last time I said ignore them, it won't matter, the flower child took over and screwed us all.

I get over zealous sometimes. You are correct.

[Ryantology]

Without religions, there would be no need for an Atheist community.

The reason religion is more-discussed here is because atheism is simple and internally-consistent. There is no doctrine to discuss. There are no rules to argue over. There are no competing 'denominations' of atheism in conflict with each other.

I think that this thread is useful in a sense, it helps to demonstrate the falsehood of theist claims about atheism being a religion just like any other. If that was the case, there'd be a lot more to say about it. It reflects the truth of atheism in a sense: it really is nothing more than 'not believing in gods'.

If I was an atheist, religion would be the last thing I would talk about.

You are a theist, and you went out of your way to join an atheist forum.

[archangle]

Without religions, there would be no need for an Atheist community.

The reason religion is more-discussed here is because atheism is simple and internally-consistent. There is no doctrine to discuss. There are no rules to argue over. There are no competing 'denominations' of atheism in conflict with each other.

I think that this thread is useful in a sense, it helps to demonstrate the falsehood of theist claims about atheism being a religion just like any other. If that was the case, there'd be a lot more to say about it. It reflects the truth of atheism in a sense: it really is nothing more than 'not believing in gods'.

If I was an atheist, religion would be the last thing I would talk about.

You are a theist, and you went out of your way to join an atheist forum.

from the outside looking in ... atheist's act like it's a religion.

I googled religion. You guys seem to fit.

[Ryantology]

Can you tell me what the atheist's infallible scripture is? The rituals we must undergo? What are the rules and regulations one must follow at risk of not being a true atheist?

[Simon Moon]

from the outside looking in ... atheist's act like it's a religion.

I googled religion. You guys seem to fit.

There is no definition of 'religion' that applies to atheism.

The only single thing that all atheists can be said to specifically have in common with each other is our disbelief in the existence of gods.

[Gilgamesh]

from the outside looking in ... atheist's act like it's a religion.

I googled religion. You guys seem to fit.

I identify as atheist and I can't stand most atheists (at least the users on this board.) -Or does that just reflect the religious denominations? Like all these atheists are catholics and I'm angelican? Only thing I can agree on with other atheists is that all of the god claims have zero supporting evidence and so I don't believe them.

[My imaginary friend is GOD]

from the outside looking in ... atheist's act like it's a religion.

I googled religion. You guys seem to fit.

There is no definition of 'religion' that applies to atheism.

Wrong. The anthropological definition of religion applies to atheism. In anthropology, your system of organizing the universe is your religion, and it is viewed that atheism is one such system. I'm not saying I agree with that, though. I think materialism/physicalism/naturalism would more be systems which people organize the world with, and atheism does not entail those philosophies.

[Ben Davis]

Wrong. The anthropological definition of religion applies to atheism. In anthropology, your system of organizing the universe is your religion, and it is viewed that atheism is one such system.

Then the anthropological definition doesn't apply to atheism as atheism is not a system of organising one's uinderstanding of the universe, it's a way of saying that you don't use theism as your system. It doesn't tell you what system is being used instead.

I'm not saying I agree with that, though. I think materialism/physicalism/naturalism would more be systems which people organize the world with, and atheism does not entail those philosophies.

Indeed. Atheism entails no philosophy whatsoever; only the absence of one particular philosophy from one's value-systems.

[TaraJo]

As per title, why are atheists so utterly consumed / obsessed by religion?

At the time of writing, the number of posts on this site are:

atheism: 1559
religiion: 3186
philosophy: 403

Religion is the clear winner, beating even the other two combined. Seems quite odd to me.

If I was an atheist, religion would be the last thing I would talk about.

So why is religion so popular here? Is it because Atheism is fundamentally empty, and correspondingly has no topics to discuss within itself?

(I suppose I could understand it better, if the discussion about religion was at least accurate and informed, but in my experience thus far it is anything but accurate and informed)

Dont say - "oh its because religion has such power over my life", because unless you like in Saudi Arabia or Iran, thats an absurd thing to say.

Look forward to hearing your point of view.

Figure out why Fred Phelps and Rick Santorum talk about gay sex so much.

Figure out why Sarah Palin and her people on Faux News talk about liberals so much.

Figure out why the psychos over at Atheism+ talk about MRA's so much.

Figure out why my dad talks about the Dallas Cowboys so much.

Figure out why militant vegans talk about eating meat so much.

Figure out why health nuts talk about fat so much.

Simply put, people talk about things they don't like, especially when those things influence their lives. Maybe not direct influence since I'm not religion (although, if you wanted to go into a cultural/psychological/subconscious way of looking at things, you might find ways religion has influenced my thinking by influencing the culture I live in). But as it is, my boyfriend, who also doesn't seem to be especially religious, is terrified of his religious family. We also already know we're going to have some serious complications when/if we try to get married simply because people projecting their religious beliefs into law and using them to decide who can marry who. We also have to deal with other haters out there.

At school, we put up fliers for our school GLBT group. We had the school's permission and everything, but a few days later, most of the fliers were either taken down entirely or covered by a Jesus flier. One of us put the fliers back up and found somewhere inconspicious to sit while he kept an eye on the bulletin board and, sure enough, someone from the church across the street was taking the fliers down because his religion said homosexuality is a sin. Fortunately, his supervisor was more understanding and we haven't had an issue since we brought this to their attention.

But, hey, religion doesn't influence us, does it?

[Foxaèr]

I googled religion. You guys seem to fit.

"Atheism is not a religion. It is a personal relationship with reality."