Is atheism the 'religion of the non-believer'?

Answer 1

For the trillionth time... NO. Atheism is NOT a religion. Atheism is a LACK of belief in gods. In addition to that, it bears absolutely no resemblance to religion in ANY way.

Presented here are the characteristics which best define religions, distinguishing them from other types of belief systems, and how atheism utterly fails to even remotely match any of them.

Belief in Supernatural Beings:
Few religions lack this characteristic and most religions are founded upon it. Atheism is the absence of belief in gods and thus excludes belief in gods. Atheism does not teach the existence of such beings

Sacred vs Profane Objects, Places, Times:
Atheism excludes believing in things that are “sacred” for the purpose of worshiping gods. Many atheists probably have things, places, or times which they consider personally “sacred” in that they are venerated or esteemed highly.

Ritual Acts Focused on Sacred Objects, Places, Times:
An atheist who holds something as personally “sacred” may engage in some sort of associated ritual or ceremony, but there is no such thing as an “atheist ritual.”

Moral Code With Supernatural Origins:
Atheists have moral codes, but they don’t believe that those codes are derived from any gods and it would be unusual for them to believe that their morals have a supernatural origin. More importantly, atheism doesn’t teach any particular moral code.

Characteristically Religious Feelings:
Perhaps the vaguest characteristic of religion is the experience of “religious feelings” like awe, a sense of mystery, adoration, and even guilt. Religions encourage these sorts of feelings, especially in the presence of sacred objects and places, and the feelings are typically connected to the presence of the supernatural. Atheists may experience some of these feelings, like awe at the universe itself, but they are neither promoted nor discouraged by atheism itself.

Prayer and Other Forms of Communication:
Atheists don’t believe in gods so obviously don’t try to communicate with any.

A Worldview & Organization of One’s Life Based on the Worldview:
Atheism is not a philosophy, ideology or worldview in and of itself, though it can be PART of a philosophy, ideology, or worldview.

A Social Group Bound Together by the Above:
A few religious people follow their religion in isolated ways, but usually religions involve complex social organizations of believers who join each other for worship, rituals, prayer, etc. Many atheists belong to a variety of groups, but relatively few atheists belong to specifically atheistic groups — atheists are notorious for not being joiners. When they do belong to atheist groups, though, those groups aren’t bound together by any of the above.

Comparing and Contrasting Atheism & Religion:
Some of these characteristics are more important than others, but none is so important that it alone can make a religion. If atheism lacked one or two of these characteristics, then it would be a religion. If it lacked five or six, then it might qualify as metaphorically religious, in the sense of how people follow baseball religiously, but not religion in the way we think of Christianity as a religion.

Answer 2

Yes, as I'd define "religion" as a system of beliefs concerning spiritual matters. Atheists are anything any other religious belief system is not. They adhere to their views usually with great conviction, so how is that any different than a believer believing in some deity and following the path delineated by whatever they believe in? Atheists surprise me, because although God's existence can't be proved conclusively, does not the beauty of the sun and stars and mountains and oceans arise from some power greater than ourselves? How can you take in a beautiful sunset and not feel some sense of awe of some higher cosmic force being the reason for the existence of all this? How do you explain a miracle of any sort? There has to be a source! It will probably be beyond our limited human understanding for eternity, but to completely say no, it's not possible, seems so uninspired and apathetic a response, I'd say I honestly feel sorry for people that think that way! If we possess any intelligence at all, how is it, that there also cannot exist beyond us, an intelligence light years beyond our own? We're it, and that's all there is?

Answer 3

Non-believer in what? I'm not a believer in xtianity, judaism or islam.....but I'm not an atheist either. There are many faiths that are non-believers in the xtian god....that doesn't make them atheists. There are some atheists that are very religious/spiritual such as the Buddhists and the Jains. You need to educate yourself on the many facets of religion so that you can properly word a question without sweeping and absurd generalizations.

Answer 4

Personally I do not believe in any religion but I do not consider myself atheist because I believe thier is something behind the whole picture just not the concept of GOD as we know it. I cant believe that an ever loving GOD could be someone who demands us to worship him, punishes people for not and uses fear as a means of control. Thier is no proof either way and until I get some I prefer to remain neutral.

Answer 5

They say they don't believe in any gods but from watching some of their banter here on yahoo a lot of them have made a religion out of their unbelief and or a god of themselves or hold up education or science as a god. I just don't get it. If they truly do not believe there is a God.then why do they act so threatened and angry over someone they say doesn't even exist? They say Christians are ignorant and uneducated to believe but as far as the science argument goes two of the greatest scientists of all time Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawkins both believers in God! Now atheists were they ignorant also?

Answer 6

Peace!
Some atheists say Atheism is a religion, others say it is not. Let's get this straight. An atheist is in denial. He denies the existence of God.
Here's why it is a religion. It takes great faith to deny the existence of God just as much as it takes great faith to believe that God exists. Ergo, Atheism is a religion!
God bless

Answer 7

No, non-belief is all there is to Atheism. There is no religion, philosophy, or epistemology that goes along with it.

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The Grit --

Atheism is not a belief system. Atheists do share any common beliefs about anything - politically, socially, behaviorally, intellectually, or even spiritually (although I imagine there are few spiritual atheists).

Just because your beliefs are so tightly bound together that you cannot deal with each separately based on its own merit does not mean that everyone suffers the same intellectual handicap.

Answer 8

its just a belief that god doesnt exsist. did you know that according to religious belief, the earth is only about 4000 years old. does that seem right to you? and further more, why isn't there a record of dinosaurs in the bible. if it is "the word of god" why wouldnt that be included. maybe because it is "the word of greedy men" who didn't discover the existence of dinosaurs until archilogical exploration. atheism kind of makes sense to me... but im more of an agnostic

Answer 9

Actually, by definition, atheism could be considered a religion. However, by the primary definition of religion, it is not. It is first and foremost a belief system. But the principle is the same.

From Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:

1 a : the state of a religious
1 b : the service and worship of God or the supernatural
1 b 2: commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance

2 : a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices

3 archaic : scrupulous conformity : CONSCIENTIOUSNESS

4 : a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith

So, the answer to your question is . . . . possibly.

EDIT: Raoul . . . . so, what exactly do you think my belief system is? I was simply dealing with the definition of the word. I dated an atheist, and he considered atheism a belief system. He justified by explaining the definitions of belief system to me.

Think before you judge, please. I'm just dealing with the words, not the connotation behind those words.

Answer 10

The dictionary has a word for people who refuse to believe in God/s--"atheist"--However they don't have a word for people who refuse to believe in flying pink elephants--so would you call people who refuse to believe in flying pink elephants a "religion"--I doubt it.
Atheists have no dogma,no propaganda,no worship rituals--so--no---of course atheism is not a religion.

Answer 11

Atheism is not a religion because we don't go to Atheist church every sunday to confess our sins to the God of Atheists. Nor are monies collected every sunday to keep this church of atheism going. Also, we don't need to scare children out of their wits with stories of eternal damnation to get them to convert.