Why do Atheists always say Atheism is not a religion?

Question

You do not need a deity to be a religion. Many Buddhists and Hindus have no deity, and neither do many Taoists.

You do not need prayer or such devotions, since those before mentioned religions do not quite have prayer (the closest they come to is meditation but if anything that is the time for silence and shutting out the senses, not for contact with a deity)

Also you do not need religious books, since the Budha rejected such books.

Religion is an attempt to bind yourself to some good consequence. For Buddhists, it is awakening. For Hindus it is moksha. For Christians, it is righteousness. And for Atheists I suppose it could be self-reliance (also common among many Therevada Buddhists)

Answer 1

I see where you are getting at with atheism.

But Christianity = righteousness? Where do you get that? From Phelps? LOL that man and those like him are not what ANY Christian should aspire to be because they are just like the Pharisees and Saducces = FAKE. Christians are to love, so please don't confuse the few extremists as anything of Christianity.

Atheism is more of a belief.

Answer 2

//You do not need a deity to be a religion. Many Buddhists and Hindus have no deity, and neither do many Taoists. //

They have faith, though; a distinguishing factor.

//You do not need prayer or such devotions, since those before mentioned religions do not quite have prayer (the closest they come to is meditation but if anything that is the time for silence and shutting out the senses, not for contact with a deity)//

And atheism doesn't necessarily have meditation, either.

//Also you do not need religious books, since the Budha rejected such books.//

Have you ever heard of the "Tipitaka"?

//And for Atheists I suppose it could be self-reliance//

Hmm. Here's the problem.

Atheism says nothing about what a person believes, other than that they reject theism. You can't say this about an atheist, because you know nothing of an atheist's belief, except that they are not a theist.

Answer 3

Because atheism isn't a religion? Buddhism which has no central deities, and Taoism and Hinduism since you mentioned them, all have a few things in common with theistic religions. They have rituals. Yes, they have scripture or doctrine (Buddha-dharma, fyi) that they hold important. They have a moral code. They have central myths or stories involving some facet of the belief system. Heck, they have a central belief system that's more involved than a single statement.

Atheism has only one thing involved in it. A single statement that defines an atheistic point of view: there is no god. There's nothing else there. There's no morality, no norms, no values. There's no ceremonies or rituals. You can have a Buddhist monk/priest preside over a Buddhist wedding or funeral. You cannot have an atheist authority preside over an atheist wedding or funeral. Sure, it can be atheistic in that god is not mentioned, but it's not from some atheist tradition. It's actually from a religious tradition with the god part removed.

It's why Buddhism is a religion and atheism is a philosophy. Buddhism has all of the religious trappings and atheism only has one. One is just not enough to classify it as religion.

Answer 4

Review this definition of a religion and you'll see that atheism does not qualify as such.

A religion is a set of beliefs and practices generally held by a community, involving adherence to codified beliefs and rituals and study of ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and mystic experience. Religion is often described as a communal system for the coherence of belief focusing on a system of thought, unseen being, person, or object, that is considered to be supernatural, sacred, divine, or of the highest truth. Moral codes, practices, values, institutions, tradition, rituals, and scriptures are often traditionally associated with the core belief, and these may have some overlap with concepts in secular philosophy.

Answer 5

I have no Idea where you get the Idea that Hindus have no gods. Patently false. I can go with the idea that Taoism is not a religion. But I think that a belief in an afterlife that we are to struggle to avoid makes Buddhism into a religion. It can be practiced in an atheistic fashion though.

No atheism is not a religion. It postulates no belief system in place of the God belief. It only means that a person does not believe in God(s).

Answer 6

Well, a religion is a set of beliefs somehow relating to the supernatural.

An atheist is characterized by his LACK of belief in an element of the supernatural.

You could say that atheism is a religion in the same way that NOT collecting stamps is a hobby.

Answer 7

Because it isn't . . .

"Religion: Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power recognized as the creator and governor of the universe." (The American Heritage Dictionary)

Atheists believe none of the above, therefore, atheism is NOT a religion.

It's not a good idea to try to prove a point by creating your own definitions for words. If you had a good argument you wouldn't have to make one up.

Answer 8

Atheists see that man has crated over 8,000 Gods---yet these deities we are presented with wither away as we learn more & more about our common reality --Myths get exposed--then forgotten except into a history book--The Jewish one could teeter any time now---it was one thing learning the earth was round --not flat & standing on pillars!!--but now daily fossil finds keep pushing away as the "god did it in 6 days" rhetoric!!They need to find a God with a higher IQ!!!

Answer 9

I'm not an atheist. You are wrong. How can you say a belief in the non-existence of God and religion, is a religion? They pray to nobody or nothing, have no rituals, organized groups, churches, and just ridicule believers in God.

Answer 10

We have one thing in common, a lack of belief. I guess I also belong to the religion of people who like fettucine alfredo and the religion that enjoys chemistry, and the religion of cynicism.

One commonality does not a religion make.