This is disgusting. Why don't some of you stop calling atheism a religion!?

Question

It is NOT a belief system. It is NOT held by faith. It does NOT need evidence because it is a negative claim.

Faith is believing in a positive claim that has no evidence! Faith is also believing in any claim - positive or not - as 100% true.

The 2nd definition does, in fact, apply to atheist-gnostics because they won't consider theism true even IF there *were* evidence for it!

Educating is not the same as preaching.

It takes zero faith to live by a negative claim when the opposite, positive claim has no evidence. It is logical.

"How does a negative claim need no evidence?"

Perhaps a negative claim does/should need evidence. But can it? No. So this question is irrelevant.

"Your bank account is negative 50 dollars"

That's a positive claim.

Wow... Muffie got it all wrong.

Answer 1

Atheism is not a religion, but it is a belief system albeit unorganized. An atheist believes that there is no God.
Also as belief systems go, atheist are the most zealous of all, as they are always trying to point out and prove that God doesn't exist. Atheists that object to phrases on money such as "in God we trust" or the pledge of allegiance because it mentions God.
If a group of Christians and Atheists had a meal together and there were no prayer said before sitting down to eat, it is unlikely that the Christians would protest, though they may make silent prayers themselves, but if a prayer were said there is a good chance that the atheists would object to the prayer because it is contrary to their beliefs.
Atheists insist that only their beliefs are taught in schools and beliefs of organized religions should not be allowed.
You claim that atheist have no faith in positive claims, I say they do. They have faith that the world was created by natural means such as through the big bang etc. They have faith that all the species of the earth evolved from lower life forms into higher life forms. There is no proof for the THEORY of evolution. Any arguments are made on what believers in these theories believe to be plausible, but not certain.
So whilst atheism may not be a religion and are all individuals expressing their non-belief in God and belief in scientific theory, atheism is still a individual belief system.

Further more this question has been asked in the "Religion & spirituality" section, where many atheists ask and answer questions, so it kind of suggests that atheists feel that they have a right to be classified under "religion."

Answer 2

It's not a religion since it doesn't meet certain criteria, but it is a belief system. It's a system where the person believes, without empirical evidence, that deities do not exist. For all the ranting that "you can't prove a negative," (a patently untrue statement since scientists use this method instead of the "prove a positive" method to save time and energy) the truth of the matter is that you have no empirical evidence to indicate that atheism is any more true than religion. Without empirical evidence, then what you have is a philosophy and to claim that philosophy is true, particularly in the face of other unproveable philosophies, you must believe in it. Why? Because without empirical evidence, all that's left is belief.

The atheistic hypothesis is that god does not exist. How do you test that hypothesis? You can't.

Faith, by the way, is not believing a positive claim that has no evidence. Faith is believing something without evidence. The only empirical evidence you'll ever get regarding a god's existence or lack thereof is when you die. You'll either meet god or you won't exist.

Answer 3

How does a negative claim need no evidence? If I say, "There is no evolution" then, since that is a negative statement, then I don't need evidence, I am automatically right.... Right? Doesn't seem like a logical argument you have. Another analogy, if someone says, "Your bank account is negative 50 dollars" you still need evidence for that. You show why you were missing the original 50. A negative demands just as much evidence as a positive.

Second, you must not know a damn about religion if you say Atheism cannot be a religion. Some Hindu and Buddhist sects believe there is no God, but they certainly are religious. Religion is not necessarily "belief in God, faith" etc. For instance the Hindus rely very little on faith, but instead on karma and yogas, etc. Although deities and religious devotions are more common among the west, the eastern religions typically have no God or devotions to a deity... But they are still a religion.

Faith is not "a claim that has no evidence". Faith is trust. Think of it. Have you ever loaned someone money and told them, "I have faith in you that you'll return what I am lending you". Faith does not mean you blindly give your money/heart, etc to a stranger. Faith is something that is built up by previous experiences. It may begin with a little faith, giving someone five bucks for instance, and then they pay off their debts and as such you have more trust in them, and you can give them more money having faith that they are true to their word. Religion is the same way. We have faith in our deity, etc, and when we believe our faith is well placed we are better able to have more faith.

Answer 4

Because they are equating general human beings as their kind. They cannot survive without religion, hence if there is a group who does not believe it, they classify it as a cult or religion of some other people and condemn it as evil as there are no J.C. and their god in it.

Everything that is not in their bible is level 1 evil.
Everything that is not INTERPRETED as what their own denomination interpreted is classified as level 2 evil.

In other words, they feel they are the ruling superior.

Answer 5

Yes it is a faith.

Is it not faith/belief that there is no God or Gods

Take some thought here.

Is it not a faith/belief that the "science" of evolution is correct and still evolving.

Your question and statement destroys itself.

Atheism is not a unified religion nor is Christianity or Islam or Buddhism.

It is a belief system in and of self.

Answer 6

You need to calm down. God doesn't need you to defend Him. He just wants you to find the love He gave you and share it with everyone you meet.

It isn't your job to set the atheists straight and these terms are superficial.

It isn't disgusting its just a mis-use of terms. Ranting makes it appear that you are insecure about your faith.

Answer 7

Because they are ignorant and don't know of what they speak. Haven't you noticed that about many Yahoo Answers members? Some of them aren't too bright.

Answer 8

It takes more faith to be an atheist than it does to be a Christian or to just believe in God period. I hope you are having a nice day. God bless.

Answer 9

You belong to a group of non-group--therefore you are part of a group--that group pertains to religion

are you catholic---protestant--atheists

In group one we have catholics--a religious affiliation
In group two we have protestants-a religious affiliation
In group three we have Atheists--a non-religious affiliation

Answer 10

I never said it was.It cant be a religion if yo dont believe in God(s).