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Is atheism a religion?

2

22jesus22

Member
Hello,

I'm new to these forums so I'm unsure whether or not this is the appropriate place to post this new thread. If it's not I'm hoping one of the moderators can move it to it's right place.

I'm here to ask if atheism should be considered a religion. I'm curious to hear all responses and am most interested in those that are thought out and intelligent.

Thanks for anytime you guys give me!
 
religion




noun 1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.

3. the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices: a world council of religions.

4. the life or state of a monk, nun, etc.: to enter religion.

5. the practice of religious beliefs; ritual observance of faith

A religion according to what standard? According to the dictionary quote above i would say no. According to my personal understanding yes. How about defining your request a bit more. :yes

Welcome to the forums! :waving
 
I wouldn't characterize atheism as a religion either.

I do believe that it is a faith, there being a difference between faith and religion.

Religion seems to be centered around a specific "entity" or "entities" that one would serve in some way.

Atheists have no "entity" that they serve, their morals are based upon the idea of human rights and responsibilities and holding true to oneself. But, as for the belief that almost all atheists have, that evolution is correct and the universe came about mainly by chance and purely natural means, that is a statement of faith. Anything believed that cannot be proven through observation and replication must, of necessity, be believed through faith.

And, contrary what some might think, there have been no scientific observations and replications of the creation of the universe, or of anything except micro-evolution.
 
reba said:
religion




noun 1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.

3. the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices: a world council of religions.

4. the life or state of a monk, nun, etc.: to enter religion.

5. the practice of religious beliefs; ritual observance of faith

A religion according to what standard? According to the dictionary quote above i would say no. According to my personal understanding yes. How about defining your request a bit more. :yes

Welcome to the forums! :waving
Click to expand...


I would be interested to hear what your personal understanding is and how atheism fits within that.

Thanks by the way!
 
A religion according to what standard? According to the dictionary quote above i would say no.

I dont understand your question 22
 
reba said:
A religion according to what standard? According to the dictionary quote above i would say no.

I dont understand your question 22
Click to expand...


I'm asking you personally if you think atheism is a religion. So it would be according to your standard. I'm just looking for responses that give reasons. Not simply stating that atheism is or isn't a religion.
 
For some folks yes and others no.

When atheist folks show up here for instance, waving their banner and challenging Christians i believe to them it is religion. I also believe mankind/earth is their god.
Some folks just dont care they just dont believe there is a God.
 
There exists an absolute above all reason, a Truth that defines the direction of terms such as ignorance and knowledge, success and failure, good and evil, hope and despair, belief and unbelief. The term for that absolute is God.

Religions are the agreements by many as to a certain image or images of god. Atheism is one of those religions therefore qualified by the fact it is an image that there is no god. A religion that hates religion serving the god of no gods. A face first nosedive into hypocrisy.
 
reba said:
For some folks yes and others no.

When atheist folks show up here for instance, waving their banner and challenging Christians i believe to them it is religion. I also believe mankind/earth is their god.
Some folks just dont care they just dont believe there is a God.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't even say it's a religion to them, though. That is an issue of social justice, not of total worldview. Just as a Christian can have the religion of Christianity but also picket against Verizon, the protest is not a religious act that supercedes their Christian religion. So I would not call a protest a "religion". (Personally)


I would say that atheism is not a religion because it lacks a doctrine, it lacks any goal (heaven, nirvana, etc), it lacks any unifying body. It is simply a label to express that this person does not believe in gods or goddesses.

Your lack of belief in Vishnu is not a religion.
Your lack of belief in Global warming is not a religion.

The lack of something cannot be a religion - can it?
Atheism is the lack of belief in gods or goddesses. And that is really all "atheism" is.

Anything beyond that is a belief *IN* something, and is unrelated to atheism. A belief that Christianity is harmful, for example, and should be protested. Not all atheists would believe that (only a minority do), so that is not what atheism *is*, that is what anti-religion is.
 
"An atheist has to know a lot more than I know. An atheist is someone who knows there is no god. By some definitions atheism is very stupid." - Carl Sagan

I do agree.:clap
 
EricTheBaptist said:
"An atheist has to know a lot more than I know. An atheist is someone who knows there is no god. By some definitions atheism is very stupid." - Carl Sagan

I do agree.:clap
Click to expand...

While I adore Carl Sagan, I don't agree that this quote accurately reflects the meaning of atheism as you have used it. Note the bold that Sagan included. Just as "Christian" can mean anything from UCC to LDS to Baptist, the two most common "poles" of atheism are:

I know there are no gods
and
I am unable to summon up a belief in gods due to lack of evidence.

It is difficult to make a firm line between "agnostic" and "atheist" because it is perfectly accurate to call the second group above "atheist"

These people, of course, do not claim to know any more than Sagan does, but they are definitely atheists.

So the quote makes a good statement, but it isn't accurate because it paints all atheists with one brush - the "strong" or "positive" atheism brush. And it ignores the existence of the "weak" or "negative" atheist.
==> note: "positive" atheist means they make a positive or certain claim about the non-existence of gods. "Negative" means they claim there is no evidence and the default results in no belief. The difference is I claim there are no gods (positive claim) versus I do not claim there are gods (negative claim).

Sagan understood this difference which is why he wrote, "By some definitions".

If you read his book "A Demon Haunted World" (a FABULOUS book!) you will see that he lacks belief in god, which makes him an atheist (that is godless) agnostic.
 
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I would say that an atheist is someone who doesn't believe in god(s) or goddesses. However, how this expresses itself depends on the atheist. Some atheists see this as a non-issue, don't care to get involved in discussions and don't even think about it on a normal day. On the other end there are militant atheists who treat it like a faith and act like crusaders to strike down every sign of faith in god(s) or goddesses they can find.
 
Is atheism a religion?

To answer that question accurately, you need to DEFINE the word "religion".

But here are my thoughts about it....According to many Atheists, a "Singularity", millions of times smaller than an atom, appeared out of "nowhere" and exploded. And all the matter and energy in the universe was contained in that "Singularity".. so my question is... where did the Singularity come from? And what existed before it appeared? And where did it come from? And what caused it to appear? And what caused it to explode?

I would need more faith in believing the "singularity" created the universe than I do believing a Creator God created the universe.

Atheists have faith in the "singularity" being the creator, and Christians as myself have faith in God being the Creator.

Both camps have faith.

It just comes down to where to have faith.. in the "Singularity" or in God.

I choose God.

And interestingly, most Atheists will admit they believe there is "life out there" somewhere in the universe besides Earth. But they are 100% certain, without proof, no God is "out there". Interesting!:screwloose
 
Gnostic= knowlege

Agnostic = lack of knowlege

Theist= belief in God

Athiest = lack of belief

So a Christian would be a Gnostic Theist

Someone who doesn't know but thinks there is a God but has no knowlege is a agnostic theist or more commonly known as Deist.

someone who doesn't belief but doesn't know is an agnostic athiest

someone who is certain there is no got is a gnostic athiest.

Just clarifying some terms.

I would say that those who claim certain knowlege that there is no God rely of faith. Faith is the fundamental bulding block of Religion, and so gnostic athieism is thus a religion.
 
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TruthSeeker2012 said:
Is atheism a religion?

To answer that question accurately, you need to DEFINE the word "religion".

But here are my thoughts about it....According to many Atheists, a "Singularity", millions of times smaller than an atom, appeared out of "nowhere" and exploded. And all the matter and energy in the universe was contained in that "Singularity".. so my question is... where did the Singularity come from? And what existed before it appeared? And where did it come from? And what caused it to appear? And what caused it to explode?

I would need more faith in believing the "singularity" created the universe than I do believing a Creator God created the universe.

Atheists have faith in the "singularity" being the creator, and Christians as myself have faith in God being the Creator.

Both camps have faith.

It just comes down to where to have faith.. in the "Singularity" or in God.

I choose God.

And interestingly, most Atheists will admit they believe there is "life out there" somewhere in the universe besides Earth. But they are 100% certain, without proof, no God is "out there". Interesting!:screwloose
Click to expand...

This is one of the silliest arguments I have ever come across. A thousand years ago people didn't know how thunder and lightning came about so they thought that Thor created thunder and lightning. If people had chosen your approach and stuck with "Thor did it" we wouldn't even have meteorology. Says something about the human race that our reasoning hasn't improved in a thousand years.
 
It's kinda hard to tell sometimes. It seems as if some atheist like to call it a religen, but others are rather offiended to. Now I've seen some phrases in scientific and historic documentories that make it seem more like a religen, but at other times it seems like they don't want much, if anything to to with religen.

How ever, it is important to realise that there are several reasron why people are athiest. Some people truely do not beliave God exsist, while others think he might exsist, but either unsure of the concept, haven't found enough evedence, or haven't found a religen they are comfortabke with.
 
It's no more a religion than Theism is a religion. It's a supercatagory under whitch many moral codes can be distinguished.

For exsample Theists are, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu And a massive assortment of other religions.

Atheists are: Utlitarians, Humanitarians, Buddists, Nihlists, Soloploists and a massive assortment of other religions and
 
artie he has a point. has man ever been in the past and knows the entire galaxy past and present. enough to actually make any star. no presumptions are started with.

when you can explain logically as ivdavid argues how a nonmoral self made galaxy by natural means gave you intellgence and that allows you alone as bag of chemicals that can act against its nature to change its course or not then you have a point.
 
I wouldn't say all who profess atheism are of the religious variety. That being said to some people atheism is most definitely a religion. It's funny how people often are asked "Are you religious?" and in response they reply "Well yeah but I don't like 'organized' religion." This response is funny because by its very definition religion is an organized affair.

I bring this up to simply say that religion is organized. And it is because of this fact that some atheists belong to a religious order while others do not. I'd say the vast majority of atheists are not part of a religion as they either claim atheism strictly to be rid of the burden of religion or because they just don't care to join an atheist group as they see no point to it. But there are atheist organizations in the world and these are indeed religious groups.

Now I think the more interesting question isn't about whether or not atheism is a religion but whether or not atheism takes faith. And I'd have to say that indeed atheism does take faith.

With few exceptions most world beliefs profess some means of an after-life. Atheism is the belief in nothing (roughly. I mean there are more complicated beliefs but in essence it is the belief in nothing GREATER). And surely it takes faith to put your entire life/spirit/soul/what-have-you into the concept that once you die you are gone and done with. It takes faith to believe this BECAUSE there are so many other belief systems in the world that not only profess an after-life but also demand strict adherence to it's tenets in order to be enveloped into the after-life.

So it truly has to take a measured amount of faith to say "Jeez I could go with any of these belief systems out there that say 'Do as we say and live on' and if they are wrong then I die and that's that. But you know what instead I am just going to say screw all that stuff I'm going to have a belief in my certain death of mind body and spirit."

On a side note I'd like to point out a bit of humor...

Many atheists say "NO! We are not a religion and NO! we are not of faith." And they say this because it is for these two reasons that they claim atheism. However truly this is a fallacy. It is like the stereotypical "non-conformist" high schoolers who all dress the exact same and listen tot he exact same music and profess the exact same life. Their sole logic behind not being a religion and not being of faith is because it was their intentions to be rid of these two things.
 
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