Anyway, it's really silly. You're saying that atheism is a religion because people formed an organization called a church of atheism, or that evolution is related to atheism.

Atheism is more diverse than that, probably moreso than Christianity is. There's the dogmatic atheists, who really do believe in no god, and then you have those who simply don't believe in gods. And you have to remember that atheism is distinct from nihilism. You can't generalize or assume that the vast majority are connected in an organized way.

The only reason evolution seems tied to atheism is that evolution sort of goes against the grain of many religions.

It's just that evolution is the best scientific theory we have of why life is what it is. You're right, macroevolution is very speculative, but it makes scientific sense. Whether or not it happened is another story, but it's certainly better than throwing our hands in the air and screaming, "It was God!" Could it have been a divine power? Sure! Could a divine power have guided evolution, for all we know! Sure! Don't let your mind get clouded by dogma. Intelligent design is not science. It's simply a hypothesis with no basis, save for some arguments (which are really invalid) of such things as irreducible complexity. At least evolution has a premise and some supporting evidence, not that you should believe it.

You shouldn't get caught up in the "believe in this or that" nonsense. You can accept a possibility as likely or unlikely, while not deciding to "believe" in something, for that becomes faith, rather than logic. And this faith is the foundation of religion.

[edit on 23-7-2008 by Johnmike]