Is atheism a religion?

[Nilloc James]

In many places I have seen theists claim atheism is just as much as a religion as any existing one.

Question for debate:
Is atheism a religion?


MY view is summarized by this quote:

Calling Atheism a religion is like calling bald a hair color. - Don Hirschberg

But I want to know other peoples opinions.

[theAtheistofnoIllusions]

I'd say religion is a melding of a philosophy, and attempts to explain the world around us.

I have posted the accepted definition of the word many times. If you refuse to accept that definition, than you must find another word to explain your position, as I can only go off the accepted definition. You might say differently, but then you'd be wrong.

There is only the knowledge that nothing exists until it is proven to exist.

Ridiculous. A thing cannot exist until it is proven to exist? Proven to whom? You or anyone? When Mankind thought the world was flat, were they correct until they were proven wrong? How then were they proven wrong?

You see, you (assuming you are an atheist) and I believe just like the Christians believe, or as much as they believe. We believe that God does not exist. They believe he does exist. They act according to their belief in God, we act according to our belief in no God(s).

Santa Claus and gremlins are not omnipotent Creators of the Universe and More. A lack of belief in them only means that Christmas is perhaps a bit more dull and bedtime a bit less scary. A lack of belief in an omnipotent Creator means so much more.

[Enemy Anemone]

Nope. Sorry. First of all, there are myriad definitions for "religion." The OED, which is the only dictionary you can cite in academic papers, offers this: Action or conduct indicating a belief in, reverence for, and desire to please, a divine ruling power; the exercise or practice of rites or observances implying this. Atheism certainly does not fit into this category. Your logic is simply not sound. It does not matter whether one belief "means so much more" than another. Both are subject to the same standards of judgment. I can't just claim that Santa Claus also created the universe, and suddenly give him more of a statistical chance of existing. There is no BELIEF that there are no gods, just as there is no BELIEF that I am not actually a hallucinating octopus. There is no evidence to support that claim, so it is untrue. Your example about the flat earth was round even though there was no evidence is easily answered like this:
Before we had the tools and methodology to figure out how evolution worked, people made claims about where animals came from without using evidence to support them. Since these were made without evidence, the chance that people would have simply guessed the actual way animals came to be the way they were then was 1 in infinity. Consequently, no one guessed the explanation that described reality. It is the same with the flat earth. No one "guessed" that it was spherical. Eventually they found some evidence that it was and changed their view. Until then, any claim made about the shape of the earth was fictitious. It is also the same with religion. It may "mean so much more" to believe in a Creator god, but since there is absolutely no evidence to support this belief, it is definitely untrue. The chance of guessing the truth without using evidence is one in infinity. Also, atheists do not propose another imaginary way the universe was created. All the word means is that you do not believe that gods exist. Scientists, who use evidence to support their theories, offer explanations, and it is up to the individual to accept or reject them.

[theAtheistofnoIllusions]

First of all, if you are going to source a definition, provide the source so I know you aren't cherry-picking the one definition that fits your argument. If religion is defined as it is in every dictionary I have looked through, and I have had this argument numerous times and looked through many dictionaries, than I am correct. One can make one's atheism a religion.

I am making no claim that any omnipotent being exists. I am making the claim that the Universe is either ruled by an omnipotent being or it is not. Many more people have told me that it is ruled by this Divine Force than have told me it is not. I, looking at what evidence I currently have, cannot say with any degree of certainty that there is a Creator, so I BELIEVE that it does not exist. Do you have any belief in the existence of a god(s)? The answer is: no. So you believe that there is no god. It is a belief, it is not knowledge, it is not even an educated guess, it is not a subject one can receive any true education in.

You say there is no evidence to support the existence of a god. But For every atheist who says the same, I will have ten or more Christians or Muslims telling me that there is evidence for its existence everywhere. The truth is that there is no objective evidence to look at it in an argument over the existence of a god or not. One cannot point to any rule or law or shred of matter that contradicts the idea of a Divine Creator, for the believer can simply announce that his god wrote that rule or law, made that shred of matter and therefore is not bound by it. You are correct in saying that there is no evidence to suggest a god, yet, but the lack of evidence is not evidence in of itself, for the very reason that we may just be looking for the wrong evidence in the wrong spot. Any logician will tell you the same.

You are saying that if a man, before he had any evidence on the subject, guesses the answer correctly, he is still wrong? How then does one win the Lottery?

A man, without evidence, cannot know anything. True. He must believe. You have absolutely no evidence to support the non-existence of god. You rely on your mind's power to believe that one exists, or you use it to believe that one does not.

A scientist can tell us how the universe was created, but he is powerless to tell us why. Some atheists reject a "why?". They say that the question is irrelevant and unanswerable anyway. I do not agree. I believe that the question can and will be answered, regardless of whether some omnipotent being exists or not. This is why I say my atheism is my religion. I use what atheism teaches me about the world and myself to explain the world and myself, and devote myself to acting accordingly.

All the word means is that you do not believe that gods exist.

And what does that tell us about our world? It tells us that we have no Ultimate Purpose and there is no Right or Wrong. It tells us that the most likely end for us is non-existence. And what do these facts now tell us about our society? There are many things a belief can tell you. You just have to open your ears and listen.

[Creed]

you can't ever do nothing
because when you're doing nothing, defining what you're doing as nothing says that that is what you are doing, therefore you are doing something.

Technically it applies to religion to, if you believe in no God, then you believe in nothing in regards to a divinity. Therefore you created a set of beliefs that it is your belief that there is no God, therefore the definition of a religion applies.

[Nilloc James]

Prehaps the more important question to be asked is:

For all pratical purposes is atheism a religion?

[Goat]

Prehaps the more important question to be asked is:

For all pratical purposes is atheism a religion?

The most important answer to that, for all practical purposes, no.

[Skyler]

Atheism is not a religion any more than theism is a religion.

[JoeyKnothead]

From Page 6 Post 51:

I'd say religion is a melding of a philosophy, and attempts to explain the world around us.

I have posted the accepted definition of the word many times. If you refuse to accept that definition, than you must find another word to explain your position, as I can only go off the accepted definition. You might say differently, but then you'd be wrong.

I glanced back through the thread, and I didn't find an "accepted definition", but your definition.

I stand by my statement as it reflects the common usage of the term religion.

I consider religion to be a philosophical understanding, along with worship, of a given god's wants or wishes. This is often tied into various claims about how the world around us works, or came to be.

[McCulloch]

Atheism is not a religion any more than theism is a religion.

Skyler, the Christian, and McCulloch, the atheist are in complete agreement on this point. Theism is a requirement of most religions, but that does not make theism or atheism, by themselves religions.

[Nilloc James]

So everyone agrees that atheism is not a religion?

WOW a thread where there was actually a resolvable issue.