Yes, Atheism is a Religion

[vorlon13]

Sigh....apart from the ritualistic baby-devouring in the the unholy name of the Dark Prince, no, atheism is not a religion.

/thread

and all the casual, anonymous, tawdry, and deviant homo sex

[Brian37]

I think this can be true for some atheists, but not all.

The word "atheist" is a position, the "off position" but yes, atheists can form groups and become political yes. I don't like the terms "humanist" and I also don't like attempts of atheists buying property and calling it "atheist churches". 

Even atheists can be guilty of getting stuck in the well intended empathy of the moment being a minority. They can also falsely attempt to try to replace the old ways with their own set of lists of morals. I don't recommend that. It may seem harmless now, but in the future way after the current crop of atheists dies, as to all groups of humans, not even atheists can insure a future where a group wont become abusive.

Point being a label does not automatically make a human good or bad. I don't like some atheists attempting to replace old dogma with what amounts to mimicking to compete.

Our species ability to be cruel or compassionate, to be violent or to cooperate in non violence is not label based. It is not a patent invented by any label. Our behavior is in our species evolution.

[Crossless2.0]

Poor theists. They know deep down they don't have the goods to demonstrate that any of their horseshit is true, so they resort to painting atheists with the same brush as themselves to suggest a false equivalency. It must suck to have a faith system that practically requires dishonesty.

"I know you are, but what am I?" didn't cut it on the playground. It doesn't work any better here.

[Catholic_Lady]

Poor theists. They know deep down they don't have the goods to demonstrate that any of their horseshit is true, so they resort to painting atheists with the same brush as themselves to suggest a false equivalency. It must suck to have a faith system that practically requires dishonesty.

Hm?

Why are you lumping the OP in with us? She is agnostic/open minded as far as I can tell. Not a theist.

[CapnAwesome]

I think your definition of religion has to be pretty thin to include Atheism. So thin that pretty much any belief becomes a religion.

[Kingpin]

Poor theists. They know deep down they don't have the goods to demonstrate that any of their horseshit is true, so they resort to painting atheists with the same brush as themselves to suggest a false equivalency. It must suck to have a faith system that practically requires dishonesty.

"I know you are, but what am I?" didn't cut it on the playground. It doesn't work any better here.

hey now, don't lump us all in one group.  I'm sure many will attest that this is one theist who on multiple occasions has stood up for the atheists on this topic.  Atheism by definition is not a religion.  At best it can be argued to be a belief but only in reference to Gnostic Atheism.  As it has no practices, tenets or structure it is not a religion but merely a proclamation on a single topic.  It can fall under the classification of a worldview, but that is not the same thing as a religion.

[Catholic_Lady]

Apart from your obviously ignorant, prejudiced, misunderstanding of atheism, let's get down to the basics of vocabulary, shall we? 

RELIGION: 
The belief in a god or in a group of gods.

RELIGION: 
The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.

RELIGION: 
The belief in and worship of a god or gods, or any such system of worship

RELIGION: 
The belief in the existence of a god or gods.

RELIGION:
A strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny.

ATHEISM (according to any dictionary): disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods.
To quote Penn Jillette: Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.

Look at the third definition here: https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=ch...definition

"A pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance."

It says pretty much exactly what the OP is describing.

Personally I don't think it matters what you call it. It just becomes a matter of semantics. But it is true that there are atheists out there who treat their atheism this way. Though most do not.

[Cato]

Hm?

Why are you lumping the OP in with us? She is agnostic/open minded as far as I can tell. Not a theist.

Psst, you dropped this...

[Crossless2.0]

Poor theists. They know deep down they don't have the goods to demonstrate that any of their horseshit is true, so they resort to painting atheists with the same brush as themselves to suggest a false equivalency. It must suck to have a faith system that practically requires dishonesty.

Hm?

Why are you lumping the OP in with us? She is agnostic/open minded as far as I can tell. Not a theist.

We've had a few members recently who have portrayed themselves as open-minded seekers, whose every post reeks of a Christian stalking horse.  Delicate struck me as one of these almost from the start.

[Crossless2.0]

Poor theists. They know deep down they don't have the goods to demonstrate that any of their horseshit is true, so they resort to painting atheists with the same brush as themselves to suggest a false equivalency. It must suck to have a faith system that practically requires dishonesty.

"I know you are, but what am I?" didn't cut it on the playground. It doesn't work any better here.

hey now, don't lump us all in one group.  I'm sure many will attest that this is one theist who on multiple occasions has stood up for the atheists on this topic.  Atheism by definition is not a religion.  At best it can be argued to be a belief but only in reference to Gnostic Atheism.  As it has no practices, tenets or structure it is not a religion but merely a proclamation on a single topic.  It can fall under the classification of a worldview, but that is not the same thing as a religion.

You're right.  But you can't deny that the "atheism is a religion" canard isn't a ploy often used by some theists.

For what it's worth, you and CL are among the more reasonable theists we have here, and your lack of pretense is refreshing.