Nevertheless, I find the argument that "athiesm is no different than religion" ior "athiesm is just another type of religion" to be
logically incorrect. The only overlap is that both athiests and the Fathful are taking a stand on a philosophical issue (the existence/non-existence
of a higher power), but this does not imply that athiests believe in a higher power.
It's a bit like saying "baldness is just another hair color."
Well, I advocate that atheism is a religious opinion. I see no logical flaw in that.
I do not use the formulation "atheism is just..." Like all religions, atheism will serve many social and psychological functions for its believers.
As is typical of religions, many of these functions will be peripheral to the dogma espoused. The believer himself or herself may "feel" some
unifying connection. For example, many atheists see a peculiar consonance between science and atheism. Value integration is a
bona fide
psychological benefit of religious profession.
I also avoid "atheism is no different from religion." Every credal faith differs from all other credal faiths - in creed.
The analogy "baldness is not a haircolor" is, like all analogies, of limited validity. There may be more merit to the alternative analogy, that
recognizing atheism for what it facially is, a religion, is like calling black a color. In some contexts, black is. In other contexts, black is
not.
Any attempt to separate atheism from
all other religions will falter on the diversity of religious devotional practice. For example, atheists
who are determined to deny that they hold religious beliefs must also deny that Buddhism is a religion.
This will be news to the Dalai Lama, among millions of other people, but no matter. Magical thinking is to be expected from those who claim to have
metaphysical knowledge of the sort which can only be acquired by extralogical and extrarational means.
That said, not all atheists claim any more for their opinions than that it is their opinion, and acknowledge that their opinion concerns religious
subject matter. Such people seem to be underrepresented on web debate boards.
[edit on 31-10-2009 by eight bits]