Could Atheism be technically considered a religion?

reply to post by BrokenAngelWings33


Let me know when atheism is recognized as a religion then I will become a priest and never pay taxes again.


FYI

Gnostic/Agnostic - Refers to knowledge, not belief.
Theist/Atheist - Refers to belief or lack of belief.

For any given incarnation of a god there are a number of positions:
Gnostic theist - Knows there is and believes in this god.
Agnostic theist - Doesn't know for sure that this god exists but believes in it anyway.
Agnostic atheist - Doesn't know for sure that this god is fiction but sees no reason to believe in it.
Gnostic atheist - Knows that this god is fiction and therefore doesn't believe.

My question to Atheist would be, where did we come from?

Your question is a good one here is a better one.

reply to post by DrGod


Oh please, so fairy tales can't be proven either, correct? Neither can science fiction or fantasy, right? If I believe in Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker, or the Wizard of Oz, they exist, and you can't disprove it! Doesn't irrationality make for a great defense mechanism!?

See how foolish it is to play the "can't be disproved" card? Imagination is great, but there is a fine line between mental masturbation and self deception.

Atheism is more of a movement than a religion because there is no idol worship or doctrine; there are no "atheist churches" or atheist holy days. I'm more anti-imbecility, which translates into anti-religiousity by default, than I am an atheist. I believe in the soul, but I don't believe in some holy creator, nor do I believe in heaven or hell. Believing in the soul, however, is likely just my subconscious way of coping with the idea of death.

I leave you with the following song:

The type of atheist I consider the religious type should have a proper term that fit their nature, that term should be anti-theist. An atheist doesn't care that others are religious or that others are atheists (atleast I do not) though the ones that do care are against religion which should be recognized as anti-theists rather than atheist alone. Every atheist has their own individual disbeliefs, since we have our own brands I feel its unnecessary to deem atheism a religion.

now those chemtrailers, im starting to wonder about them. Joking


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Originally posted by strafgod
now those chemtrailers, im starting to wonder about them. Joking

Got a chuckle and star out of me for that one. lol.

Reply to post by ProfessorChaos

Had to try taking the pressure off us atheists for a bit thanks for the star.


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Of course athesism is a religion. When young people learn in high school that modern evolutionary theory advocates their creation by way of an unintentional, undirected, mindless, unplanned and purely mechanical-physical process; this is to advance a religious perspective. The Judeo-Christian-Islamic perpective is being negated. You can't have both.

Reply to post by thaddeusbushkeee

Evolution has nothing to do with creation and little to do with atheism, but I can live with atheism being a religion


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The only time I care what others believe is when it affects civilization. Consider when you have congressmen that deny science because the bible says something to the contrary or take it a step further and then have a congressman siting on the science board and states global warming is false with the only rational being that the bible says otherwise. Whether or not you believe in global warming or not is not the issue in that case but to have an issue that is so important being decided because of a thousand year old story is of great concern. Other than the implications of when someone’s faith dictates on such things I really do not care what a person believes. It is when that person’s belief translates into actions that bothers me.

As far as whether or not theists think atheism is a religion or not does not concern me. I am just curious why so many theists are so desperate to categorize atheism as a religion. I do not see why they need it to be called a religion. What possible reason would they have or what would they get out of it?

Like I said before if it ever did become categorized as a religion I would take advantage of the tax laws that religions enjoy however I can’t see a court or anyone using logic or a dictionary ever ruling in favor of atheism becoming a religion.

reply to post by strafgod

The type of atheist I consider the religious type should have a proper term that fit their nature, that term should be anti-theist.

I consider myself (and call myself) an anti-theist, and not an atheist. I am actively against organized religions.

Calling anti-theists religious meets the same pitfalls as attempting to call atheism religion. There is no set doctrine you have to adhere to, which is one of the defining qualities of religion.

I am an anti-theist but I draw from many sources...any sources I choose. Religions don't exactly support that

reply to post by thaddeusbushkeee


Because of your post I think I know understand why theists are trying to categorize atheism as a religion. If theists can categorize atheism as a religion they can then claim evolution and other science is religious doctrine they then can make a case that it should not be taught in school as per separation of church and state. It makes perfect sense now why they want atheism categorized as a religion so bad. They could effectively dumb down the population over night and boost church attendance in a relatively short time.

Pretty sly.

Yes! Atheism to me is a religion that is a true pain in the arse! To me they are the worst liberal MF'rs out there!
I haven't been to church or any sort of religious thing in nearly 32yrs but when someone wants me to take down a Christmas tree, or stop a baby Jesus statue at christmas time, or a Islamic statue then they are just as nuts as the rest of them.

by the way I got christmas lights up! I got a Christmas tree going on! I like see the holiday spirit light up the night and if any of you american liberal atheist don't like it then stay in your closet!!

Originally posted by windword
reply to post by charlyv

 

So, if one does not believe in a Creator, then I would consider them a true Atheist, and not have any religion at all.

I believe in "GOD." But I don't believe in a creator. I believe GOD is the creation. The body of all that exists is what I believe GOD is. Not something outside of the universe that holds a magic wand and says "Let it be" to nothing, that suddenly becomes something.

I believe the fabric of the universe is the "Word of God" and we are GOD in the flesh. Everything in total is what GOD is.

Now, am I an atheist? Do all atheists disagree with me? No, and No.

If you want to quote me, quote everything I said. If you did, and read it, we are in agreement.

Reply to post by Lucid Lunacy

I couldn't consider any individual belief or disbelief a religion, where would it end if we did that?

My definition of an anti-theist is more organized towards a purpose rather than simply lacking a belief, even then I couldn't consider it a religion. Religion requires worship in my opinion




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To answer this is to get into a semantics argument almost every single time,
but the short answer is NO it is not, atheism is not the claim that god does
not exists it is the rejection of claims that are made without enough evidence
to support them, there is no faith in atheism as most of us find that insulting,
i find it funny as heck that theists try so very very hard to redefine us so we are
on the same ground they are on......

We do not make a claim, we simply ask that they prove their claim of a god or
gods as true before we believe it, and EVOLUTION IS BASED ON SCIENCE
NOT FAITH, that mistake is often made and it makes me sick, science CHANGES
constantly, we learn new things which effect the things we knew and we
take those into account and have better knowledge over all, oh and by the way
as much as religion hates it science is constantly fixing their mistaken
beliefs, do we think the world is flat? no, because science forced religion
to admit the truth, again and again science has to bring religion into line
with the real world. if evolution were based on faith there wouldn't be
ongoing and productive experiments which directly use evolutionary biology
as their basis and time and again prove that evolution is indeed correct. we
would simply take it on this useless faith and assume it was all correct then
move on... we don't want the same thing religion does, we want you to
know the truth, we want you to understand the mystery, we want you to question
and help solve the world problems, or you could just have faith some god
or the other will do it.

Faith is used to believe something when you lack the evidence to prove its true,
hence faith is useless period. it is not a way to truth. religion can lie all it likes
about atheism having faith as well but it matters not, we will get the truth
to people no matter how long it takes. don't buy into religions lies people
ask questions and honestly seek the answers, look for yourselves, find the
things which are backed up by REAL evidence and not faith, faith gets you
nowhere, truth gets you to the moon and back alive, to mars, medical science,
genetics, etc. etc. etc.

my attempt to unite

Scientists have come to the conclusion that there are 2 possible reasons for our existence

1. We live in a finely tuned universe that was created specific to our needs or
2. We live in a infinite muliverse and we just happen to live in a universe that allows us to exist.

This says a few things but mostly it says science considers that a "creator" is a 50/50 proposition.

That being said whatever side you fall on is a "belief". Whether for or against.

And any belief takes a little faith to be personally accepted.

Therefore, yes . Atheism is a religion.

I tried

Reply to post by mysteryskeptic

I like christmas as well, its more of a culture thing these days. My favorite pagan holiday by far


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Originally posted by charlyv

Originally posted by windword
reply to post by charlyv

 

So, if one does not believe in a Creator, then I would consider them a true Atheist, and not have any religion at all.

I believe in "GOD." But I don't believe in a creator. I believe GOD is the creation. The body of all that exists is what I believe GOD is. Not something outside of the universe that holds a magic wand and says "Let it be" to nothing, that suddenly becomes something.

I believe the fabric of the universe is the "Word of God" and we are GOD in the flesh. Everything in total is what GOD is.

Now, am I an atheist? Do all atheists disagree with me? No, and No.

If you want to quote me, quote everything I said. If you did, and read it, we are in agreement.

Originally posted by charlyv
Atheism, by definition means one does not believe in God. But God, in itself is really a metaphor for the Creator.
Some professed Atheists do not believe in God, per-se , but they do believe there is a Creator. They shun the subjective version of God as someone to worship, so technically, they do subscribe to a religion of sorts, that is they believe in the immortal spirit within, the God within, which could be considered a personal religion. They are really not Atheists at all.

So, if one does not believe in a Creator, then I would consider them a true Atheist, and not have any religion at all. A very unfortunate predicament to be in, IMHO.

So, what are in agreement about? Am I an atheist? I don't believe in a creator but I believe in "GOD."

Not sure if someone posted this answer yet, but Atheism IS a religion. According to the Laws of the USA and the Constitution.

Court rules atheism a religion

Decides 1st Amendment protects prison inmate's right to start study group
Published: 08/20/2005 at 1:00 AM world net daily link

Atheism is [the inmate's] religion, and the group that he wanted to start was religious in nature even though it expressly rejects a belief in a supreme being,” the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals said.

Additionally,

The Supreme Court has said a religion need not be based on a belief in the existence of a supreme being. In the 1961 case of Torcaso v. Watkins, the court described “secular humanism” as a religion.

In Torcaso v. Watkins (1961), Justice Black of the US Supreme Court wrote the following footnote...

"...Among the religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God are Buddhism, Taoism, Ethical Culture, Secular Humanism, and others..."

I think that should answer it from a legal perspective. However, I don't expect everyone to agree with these rulings.

reply to post by AutomaticSlim


star for you. I can't wait to hear the atheists in the crowd go nuts. They hate it when they are set side by side with all those other "crazies" .

And they are all nutz.

reply to post by AutomaticSlim


Well that's good news for Grimpache! Now he can form his church and get his tax exempt status!

Where can we get ordained!?