Beginner's Guide to Atheism.

[KevinM1]

To be fair, a metabolism is a biological system.

That said, atheism isn't 'system (of belief) without a god', but rather 'without the system (of belief) pertaining to god'.  Which is why the definition of atheism is 'disbelief or lack of belief in god or gods'.

With disbelief being: 'inability or refusal to accept that something is true or real'.

We're unable to accept that god is real.  It's not a conscious choice, but one stemming from the (lack) of credible evidence regarding the claim being made.

Forget it Kevin.  There is no way you'll convince Huggy his circle doesn't represent at least half the data, rather than just being one amongst many circles.  We see a world full of people, some of whom are Christians, some of whom have other theist inclinations and others like ourselves who don't.  He just sees two circles: "us" and "them".  (We're them.)

I'm just tired of theists trying to tell us that atheism is somehow a religion in and of itself.

Then again, I make a distinction between theism and religion because religions aren't just a particular set of beliefs about god/gods, but also come with a bunch of rites, rituals, and other things that allow one to practice their faith through action.

For example, the Eucharist isn't just an idea, but an actual ritual. And it's the performance of the ritual that gives it its meaning and power. Atheism, and all other 'isms', for that manner, don't have codified behavior simply because they pertain to one's belief or lack thereof. There's no particular set of racist rituals, or sexist rites of passage.