Atheism a religion?

[Kyuuketsuki]

As far as I can tell you're effectively endorsing NOMA.

Yes.

Despite the fact that the "Science, Just Science" campaign (my campaign) endorses NOMA (Non-Overlapping Magisteria) which was done for purely strategic reasons (and I suspect Gould, who coined the term as far as I know, came up with it for much the same reason), I strongly dismiss the idea of NOMA for several reasons:

• First science has not been demonstrated to have any limits except technological and vacuous claims. Technology advances continuously and that is why, today, we are far more technologically sophisticated than any of our known ancestors (whether we are socially or not remains an open question ... I'm erring towards not, I've seen the way chavs behave) and something that is claimed but reveals no validatable phenomenon beyond the claim is impossible to distinguish from a lie or delusion.
  
• Second it is clear that is the divide were as fixed as some like to claim it is, science would not continually advance on matters previously held to be the domain of religion and religion would stay utterly clear of any area claimed by science and neither of these things are true.
  
• Third there are a number of claims that on first sight might appear to be spiritual but on closer inspection would actually be (quite clearly) physical such as the ascension of Mary to heaven, the claim that Jesus had no father, whether or not miracles have occurred (and continue to do so).

These kinds of issues represent problems for science but not for theists who relish in the idea that there is an area in which they can expand their fanciful nonsense without having resort to such tacky ideas as supporting evidence.

The presence of a deity in a universe is obviously a scientific hypothesis (Dawkins) since the action of such a being within it would be bound to leave trails of evidence and affect that universe in ways that would not accord with the usual explainable (potentially or otherwise) manner in which our universe is seen to operate. And even if a supposed god were to be able to act in such a fashion one is forced to ask the philosophical question why? Why hide? Why stay secret? Why deny us the evidence of his awesomeness and then punish us for being sceptical? Why not simply pop your awesome head over the virtual parapet and say, "Hi, I'm God and I'm here to rule over you and make sure you're all good little people"

If something is claimed and that something has measurable (or potentially measurable) parameters then science can assign a probability to it and, to quote Dawkins, "A universe with a God would look quite different from a universe without one. A physics; a biology where there is a God is bound to look different."

Kyu