Is Atheism a Religion, a Philosophy, an Ideology, or a Belief System..?

Question

Because of atheism's long-standing association with freethought, anti-clericalism, and dissent from religion, many people seem to assume that atheism is the same as anti-religion. This, in turn, seems to lead people to assume that atheism is itself a religion - or at least some sort of anti-religious ideology, philosophy, etc. This is incorrect. Atheism is the absence of theism; by itself, it isn't even a belief, much less a belief system, and as such cannot be any of those things.

So atheism IS CLEARLY NOT a religion, so why do creationists continue with such lies..?

Answer 1

Religious people WANT to believe that atheism is a religion so they can say, "o those silly atheists, they say they don't believe in religion, but they actually are religious."

It's kinda like how they WANT to believe in God, and that's not true either.

Answer 2

Atheism, as a philosophical view, is the position that either affirms the nonexistence of gods or rejects theism. When defined more broadly, atheism is the absence of belief in deities, alternatively called nontheism. Although atheists are commonly assumed to be irreligious, some religions, such as Buddhism, have been characterized as atheistic

Answer 3

Atheism is a Philosophy because it has a personal belief system about how to live or how to deal with a situation which is a definition of Philosophy. For this reason, should atheists be in the Religion and Spirituality section?

May the Lord's peace be with you!

Answer 4

Atheism is not a religion or a system. It is simply denying the existence of God due to lack of evidence. I agree it is more of a belief. It is a belief of denying because of the absence of substantial proof.

Creationist continue with such lies because they are paranoid. Some of them are just blind followers who reject logic.

Answer 5

On one of my previous questions I referred to atheism as a religion. Upon further thought, I would have to say it is not a religion, and by its very definition it has no association to a particular belief or belief system beyond the disbelief in spirituality.

Answer 6

*pffffffft!* Egregious twaddle!

If not literally a religion, atheism is certainly TREATED as such by many of its adherents, who hold *religiously* to two primary dogma:

1. That atheism is NOT a religion, but based ENTIRELY on logic and rational thought.

2. That ALL religious beliefs are nothing more than superstitious "fairy tales" and "make believe."

As neither premise can be objectively proven, or even holds up to close scrutiny . . . *poof!* you're a Capital "R" Religion.

BTW . . . I'm neither xian or creationist.

Answer 7

anti by definition means opposed to or against something. some people prefer chocolate milkshakes. does this mean they are "anti" vanilla? some people prefer action movies. does this mean they are "anti" comedy?
what i'm trying to say is......just because i am an atheist does NOT mean i am anti-religion.i don't have any harsh feelings toward those who do have such beliefs. i just don't care.

Answer 8

not one of the above. you does no longer call non-concept in fairies a faith, a philosophy, an ideology or a concept gadget, could you? No, of direction no longer. We purely get caught with the term as a results of fact there are an incredible sort of idiots who DO have faith in a paranormal sky-fairy.

Answer 9

I believe that atheism is a belief that god does not exist as conventionally defined by Christians or other organized religions.
To answer the last question, Christians lie.

Answer 10

Ah, just one in a string of lies they tell themselves. Why? To make themselves feel better I guess, I don't know. They also say that all atheists are amoral, angry with their imaginary god, satan worshippers, and the list goes on and on. Just the other day, I learned that we atheists now also have no empathy. Rough to be so insecure, I guess.