Is Atheism A Religion?

[byronarnold 0]

I'm just curious as to what everyone's opinion on this is. I know this is a very controversial topic, so everyone please be nice!My opinion is that it is not. You know what they say, "Atheism is a religion like bald is a hair color."

[t3jem 0]

I think atheism is a religion, because instead of serving God, you are serving the world. In Christianity you try to become more Christ like; whereas, in atheism you become more like the world. It's not a defined religion with rules and guidlines to identify atheists, but I think it is a religion, but it isn't viewed as one since it doesn't honor a god per se, but rather worldly things.

[mikeyboy63 0]

I'm an atheist. I know many atheists. It's definitely not a religion. Atheists simply put the human species first. We realize that human beings are the greatest thing known to us. Worshiping some imaginary powerful alien from outer space and looking forward to being its slave for all eternity is bizarre. Love your family and friends, be productive, and die with a clear conscience.

[byronarnold 0]

I think atheism is a religion, because instead of serving God, you are serving the world. In Christianity you try to become more Christ like; whereas, in atheism you become more like the world. It's not a defined religion with rules and guidlines to identify atheists, but I think it is a religion, but it isn't viewed as one since it doesn't honor a god per se, but rather worldly things.

WOW... If that's your strongest argument for atheism being a religion...
First of all, what does it mean to serve the world? To better the environment? Or the world's people? these are known as environmentalism and humanism, respectively. And atheists are represented in both camps, but there are also atheists in neither camp. And if we wanted to "be like the world", we'd accept belief in god since that is what the majority of the world believes. While there are conformist atheists, there are also a lot of non- conformist atheists out there too.
So, in my opinion, none of your arguments hold water.
peace to all! have a good day!

[osknockout 0]

I break it down simply. Worshippers of Athe are obviously Atheists.Those who don't worship Athe but still don't worship anyone else are also called Atheists.So Atheism is sometimes a religion.

[rayzoredge 2]

Er, if you look at the definition of what a religion is, you'll see that a religion is not always related to a deity or spiritual concept.

 

A religion is a set of beliefs, simply put.

 

With that said, atheism and even science are religions. Heck, all of your superstitions, traditions, and whatnot are included into the definition of what a religion is.

 

As far as that argument for atheism... that was kind of out there, no offense. I think that I'm more atheist and less agnostic; however, I don't see how it works moreso for serving the world. It's simply having no belief in a higher deity. Of course, I know a lot of Christians aren't exactly out to serve God either... it's just the level of dedication to your faith. Some people are hardcore Bible-thumpers and others just are religious just to fulfill any spiritual needs and/or need an "answer" to the unexplained. Whatever floats your boat, really... as long as there are no conflicts that have to deal with making others believe what you believe. Everyone has a right to believe what they want to believe and not have anything forced on them... which is why I hate those door-to-door people that want to "save" you.

[kobra500 1]

Well yes and no... it has enough followers to be a religion but lacks certain quality of things which it needs, i.e. a set of guidelines and many other quality's

[chappill 0]

If you were falling 4 miles through the air with no parachute would you say oh god help?If you were climbing and you slipped and you were attached to a rope 30000 feet up a mountain with no-one else with you would you say oh god help?If you answered any of those 2 questions with a yes you're not atheist...No matter how much you think you are.I myself am about 95% atheist only calling on god for help in the most urgent of matters I.E getting hit by a car whilst remaining conscious.

[rayzoredge 2]

If you were falling 4 miles through the air with no parachute would you say oh god help?If you were climbing and you slipped and you were attached to a rope 30000 feet up a mountain with no-one else with you would you say oh god help?

If you answered any of those 2 questions with a yes you're not atheist...No matter how much you think you are.

I myself am about 95% atheist only calling on god for help in the most urgent of matters I.E getting hit by a car whilst remaining conscious.

Uh... no. I'm in a matter of disagreement.

You can't judge how much you believe in something by percentage... it doesn't make sense. You either believe in a deity or don't. God's not going to save your falling butt from dropping out of a plane with no parachute whether you you believe him 95% or 25%. You either have faith in the fact that God is there for you or not.

Atheism is a set of beliefs, primarily that of the non-existence of a God. In a way, science and atheism tie together because science provides the answers to the unexplainable, much as God's miracles explain how and why things are the way they are.

Also, there is the existence of mannerisms. I say "godd*mnit" a lot... but that doesn't mean that I believe in God. People say "Oh Lord," but that doesn't mean that they believe in the Lord Almighty. We pick up these mannerisms (in this case, cussing and exclamation) from various sources, whether it be reading it from a book, hearing it said on the tele or radio, from our friends and family, and whatnot. It doesn't necessarily proclaim a belief in something.

It's kind of hard to keep yourself away from the idea of God since it's so present almost everywhere with different religions and their impacts on society. The U.S. announces freedom of religion (to include atheism), yet we print "In God We Trust" on our currency and integrate bouts of Christianity in our culture, so it wouldn't be a surprise that God plays some sort of cultural existence in just about everyone's lives (in the U.S., anyway).

[Carson 0]

Atheism is a word made to describe those without a religion. So no I do not think atheism is a religion. It can be confusing because both religion and atheism describe the same thing, a persons beliefs. But with atheism, it describes someones lack of beliefs, and not what they actually believe because they could believe in anything. Someone could also be confused by this because someones religion is their way of life, and the same would apply for someone who is an atheist.

[byronarnold 0]

Er, if you look at the definition of what a religion is, you'll see that a religion is not always related to a deity or spiritual concept.

 

A religion is a set of beliefs, simply put.

 

With that said, atheism and even science are religions. Heck, all of your superstitions, traditions, and whatnot are included into the definition of what a religion is.

 

As far as that argument for atheism... that was kind of out there, no offense. I think that I'm more atheist and less agnostic; however, I don't see how it works moreso for serving the world. It's simply having no belief in a higher deity. Of course, I know a lot of Christians aren't exactly out to serve God either... it's just the level of dedication to your faith. Some people are hardcore Bible-thumpers and others just are religious just to fulfill any spiritual needs and/or need an "answer" to the unexplained. Whatever floats your boat, really... as long as there are no conflicts that have to deal with making others believe what you believe. Everyone has a right to believe what they want to believe and not have anything forced on them... which is why I hate those door-to-door people that want to "save" you.

Hmmm... Atheism is not a set of beliefs. It is simply the lack of a single belief, namely that of the existence of a divine, supernatural being. If atheism is a religion, then a-unicornism (Unicorns don't exist) is a religion...

 

Just my two cents! Peace!!!

[t3jem 0]

WOW... If that's your strongest argument for atheism being a religion...
First of all, what does it mean to serve the world? To better the environment? Or the world's people? these are known as environmentalism and humanism, respectively. And atheists are represented in both camps, but there are also atheists in neither camp. And if we wanted to "be like the world", we'd accept belief in god since that is what the majority of the world believes. While there are conformist atheists, there are also a lot of non- conformist atheists out there too.
So, in my opinion, none of your arguments hold water.
peace to all! have a good day!

Whe I say "to serve the world" I mean serving money and/or yourself before anything else. I mean it in the sense that jesus put it in that you put worldly possesions before Godly possesions. When one becomes of the world everything they have can be taken away in an instant, but an individual who is of God has their life stored in heaven, it is a little difficult to understand without studying it though. As for environmentalism and humanism, yes, some of them are atheists too, they may not put themselves first, but they do put worldly belongings before God, to make them of the world. Anyways, I hope I explained it enough.

[byronarnold 0]

Whe I say "to serve the world" I mean serving money and/or yourself before anything else. I mean it in the sense that jesus put it in that you put worldly possesions before Godly possesions. When one becomes of the world everything they have can be taken away in an instant, but an individual who is of God has their life stored in heaven, it is a little difficult to understand without studying it though. As for environmentalism and humanism, yes, some of them are atheists too, they may not put themselves first, but they do put worldly belongings before God, to make them of the world. Anyways, I hope I explained it enough.

First of all, to serve something doesn't make it a religion. Are the men and women in the armed services part of a distinct religion? (militarism?) Are butlers and maids part of a distinct religion? obviously not!And what's wrong with "serving the world" (sic) when we (mostly) believe that "the world" (that is, they physical universe) is all that there is. It would make no sense for us to serve something we don't believe exists!

peace to all!

[Tag 0]

ok. Atheism is not a religion. My personal view of a religion is something where you go someplace to worship a being greater than you. you essentially say "you are so much more awesome than me, and I trust you will make everything right." Atheism on the other hand is simply "there may or may not be something greater than me, but if there isn't, i am not going to have wasted my time." besides. depending on how you want to look at it, atheism is the best bet. if your an atheist and you are right, then you didn't kill time your whole life going to a building to talk to yourself (not a slam, just the reality if this case were true). If you are an atheist and are wrong, then this all merciful being will forgive you for not worshiping it, knowing that your mind was unable to comprehend the full awesomeness of this beings power, in which case you are still going to be "saved"

 

but back to the origional question. No, i do not think atheism is a religion.

[heavensounds 0]

I think it is most correct to define "religious statements" and then to observe that such statements are a form of "religious behavior", suggesting some form of "religion". In my opinion, a "religious statement" has the following characteristics. It purports to be a statement of fact and it is not a logical statement, that is, it is not presented as a theorem in a clearly defined logical system which can be derived from that system's axioms.I don't think that this is necessarily true. I think that the big dispute between various religions and atheism isn't so much logic vs. faith, but rather all make logical inferences from different axioms that are taken on faith. For example, take Christianity. One of their axioms is: God punishes evil doers. Other axioms define evil (in various degrees of ambiguity). A logical statement in the Christianity mindset, then, is that if I have acted in ways that are (by the axioms' definition) evil, I will be punished. The distinguishing thing about atheism is that its axioms are all empirical or are consistent with observations. Atheists generally trust their senses, or trust people that trust their senses, or trust people that trust people...etc. Yes, but then, are their senses trustworthy? If their basis for avoiding solipsism is to assume the world exists and that their senses actually report information from it, how does this differ from any other religious belief which asserts the same thing? I can see that, by simply assuming the existence of the world and the trustworthiness of the senses, instead of, for example, asserting the existence of God and deriving these beliefs from that assertion, they may claim to be applying Occam's razor; but how are they any better off in actuality? Is not their entire existence based on assumptions which cannot be proven (or disproven)? Also, how does this relate to *atheism*, that is, to the denial of the existence of God? Are we to understand that they start from the axiom "God does not exist" and conclude that the world does exist and that their senses are trustworthy? Somehow, that appears unlikely. I don't think you people are describing atheists, I think you are describing agnostics who, not being able to decide, have put the question of God's existence to one side and decided to get on with their lives. So the question becomes a purely semantic one. The beliefs of the various systems that are generally agreed to be religions are isomorphic to those of atheists, agnostics, etc. Of course, so is any belief system. When "religion" is generalized enough to be equivalent to "philosophy" or "belief system" then it is no longer a useful term. Let's not do that. When it is specified a little more, it could either mean a belief system that includes axioms that are not based on any observable phenomena. This sounds good to atheists, I think.But many Christians/Jews/Muslims etc. claim to be able to observe evidence of their religions, and there's no way to dispute those claims, even if one is skeptical. When specified further, it can be defined as a system that includes a certain view (either axiomatic or inferred) about sentient beings that are superior to humans. This brings its own problems. Atheists would then be considered religious