Does forming an atheist community pose a risk to becoming a religion?

[Succubus]

Would holding formal gatherings to discuss atheist ideas create something "religious" in character...

No.

[Silver]

Religions have to meet a list of criteria before being considered religions. Atheism cannot meet all those criteria, for obvious reasons.

[zebo-the-fat]

I think I might start a religion of not playing golf

[Brian37]

I am an atheist, however, I have not attended formal meetings with other atheists / non-theists to have a discussion about atheism. Would holding formal gatherings to discuss atheist ideas create something "religious" in character (such as weekly church attendance) if these meetings were focused around discussing the disbelief in god(s)? 

I personally have been a little reluctant towards formalized meetings to discuss "atheism", however I would be interested to hear what other peoples thoughts are.

Anything can be treated like a religion. But the word "atheist" itself merely means "off". 

There are groups of atheists that have formed clubs they like to call "atheist churches" in an attempt to compete with religion, I do not see that as a good idea. You do not need to call yourself a religion, or church. And if your club/church sets up moral lists and leadership rolls, that can long term, create ridged interpretations and or splits within that same group of people. 

Our species behaviors are not magically dictated by belonging to a club or claiming a label. Cruelty and compassion are observable behaviors worldwide. If all 7 billion humans were atheists, there would still be different groups, still conflicts and crime. The only thing atheists have in common is "off". Outside that we also vary in our politics, classes, nationalities and can be good or bad as individuals.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I think I might start a religion of not playing golf

Sign me up.

Boru

[arewethereyet]

I am an atheist, however, I have not attended formal meetings with other atheists / non-theists to have a discussion about atheism. Would holding formal gatherings to discuss atheist ideas create something "religious" in character (such as weekly church attendance) if these meetings were focused around discussing the disbelief in god(s)? 

I personally have been a little reluctant towards formalized meetings to discuss "atheism", however I would be interested to hear what other peoples thoughts are.

Anything can be treated like a religion. But the word "atheist" itself merely means "off". 

There are groups of atheists that have formed clubs they like to call "atheist churches" in an attempt to compete with religion, I do not see that as a good idea. You do not need to call yourself a religion, or church. And if your club/church sets up moral lists and leadership rolls, that can long term, create ridged interpretations and or splits within that same group of people. 

Our species behaviors are not magically dictated by belonging to a club or claiming a label. Cruelty and compassion are observable behaviors worldwide. If all 7 billion humans were atheists, there would still be different groups, still conflicts and crime. The only thing atheists have in common is "off". Outside that we also vary in our politics, classes, nationalities and can be good or bad as individuals.

Atheist means off.  

What the hell are you babbling about now?

Language lessons again?

[Rahn127]

I belong to a monthly meetup group of people who don't read books.

We have zero chance of ever being a book club.

[robvalue]

It’s pretty hard to discuss "atheism" for more than a couple of minutes, in my experience. After debating what definition you’re going to use, there’s not much else to say. You can share stories about what brought you to the position, I suppose.

There’s certainly the danger of any particular group of people succumbing to "group think", but that’s not specific to atheism.

[Losty]

I am an atheist, however, I have not attended formal meetings with other atheists / non-theists to have a discussion about atheism. Would holding formal gatherings to discuss atheist ideas create something "religious" in character (such as weekly church attendance) if these meetings were focused around discussing the disbelief in god(s)? 

I personally have been a little reluctant towards formalized meetings to discuss "atheism", however I would be interested to hear what other peoples thoughts are.

What exactly are atheist ideas? I know of meetings where atheists gather to meet like minded people, but I don’t think they sit around discussing atheism. I would even guess they’d be more likely to discuss theism, as there’s at least something there to discuss. I don’t think atheism can become a religion because there’s no one cause or idea or set of beliefs among atheists. We don’t believe in any gods but we also don’t hold anything that we do believe in common with all other atheists.

[Athene]

I'm quite active in a few black atheist communities which are pretty sizable and remarkably fast-growing. We spend the vast majority of our time together coordinating our efforts in unrelated matters of political and social activism though. 

No one's got time to sit around discussing atheism all day when there's actual work to be done.