(March 21, 2013 at 1:32 am)barbend Wrote: There are many different definitions of religion and many of these definitions can include things that are not stereotypically thought of as religions. William Cavanaugh a professor at DePaul university (I think) outlines this exact conundrum that many things can be considered religion. One of the best examples would be nationalism and nationalistic pride along with many political belief sets. Feel free to read up on these as many people define religion too strictly.
I refer to that as tribalism, where people create social bonds around a specific criteria. Atheists don't have to be religious, as they follow no particular deity or deities. But like any other person, we prefer to associate with people who have similar views and ideas.
I think that some theists will refer to atheism as a religion as a way to counter the criticisms against organized religion, or the criticism of those who follow a religion. If they can categorize atheism as a religion, then they can cry "glass houses" when religion is criticized. It's a substitute for any argument of actual substance, so I tend not to care whether people consider it to be a religion or not. Most of the time, they believe in far greater (and more harmful) myths, and I'd rather address those.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould
