re:Isn't athesim the religion of non-belief?

Question

I asked this question before & recived from very interesting, and hostile answers. based on the general mood of the various answers, i'd almost have to say that atheism is the religion (sorry the PRACTICE) of attacking religious people,. but i know that's not true. i will rephrase my question. i subscribe to a much larger view of the concept of religion. I am a functionalist, if anything, and i analyze such things on the basis of their functions in society. from this point of view, religion provides a frame of reference that the individual uses to view the world and make moral decisions. i'd like to pose the question "how is atheism different than the concept of religion?" from a functionalist point of view, they are just different belief structures, athesists don't believe in nothing, they believe in facts. how is this different?

Answer 1

Atheism, etymologically speaking, is the religion of believing in no gods. It's NOT a religion of "non belief", but rather the religion of believing in no god.

Semantics, you say...

But believing there is no god is considerably different than not believing there is a god. One is conviction, the other merely doubt.

Answer 2

If you make up your own definitions (such as religion means something that provides a frame of reference that the individual uses to view the world) then you can categorize things any way you want. Maybe you should try to define the differences between religion, belief, and philosophy.

As for me, I am irreligious. Being an Atheist is a separate but related thing for me.

Answer 3

Look...if you want to believe that Atheism is a religion or that Atheism is the religion of attacking religious people or that Atheism is a similar belief structure to other religions then by all means do so.

Whatever floats your boat, brother.

Enjoy your life and pursuits to the fullest, it's the only one you're gonna' get.

Answer 4

So many things wrong with this....for a start I dont thin you spelt atheist correctly once.

"Isn't athesim the religion of non-belief?" -No

"athesists don't believe in nothing, they believe in facts. how is this different?" - You don't see how believing in things that can be proven to be true is different to believing in something just on faith?

Besides which atheism is merely the lack of belief in gods, after that you can believe what the heck you like.

Answer 5

religion: 1.a. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power recognized as the creator and governor of the universe. b. A particular integrated system of this expression. (The American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition)

Atheists do not believe in gods, i.e. supernatural powers.

If we humans are to communicate, we must agree on definitions, which is why we have dictionaries. If we all redefine words to suit whatever point we're trying to make, words will lose their meaning.

Answer 6

Fren you are asking very good question. Actually religion come from our hearts. Its not create by prophet or others. Religion is natural and its alive forever. For example our love to someone come from our hearts. Our moral values also come from our hearts and we are display through our attitude etc. All the values thoughts in religion.. Our hearts itself become Church, Temple and Mosque. Athesist are included in this category. They express love, moral values, humanities etc. Their heart itself is religion and i am agree with you saying they believe in facts. For example in Hinduism they are against the ' System of Carst' which is divide and rule. Actually Hinduism never encourage that system. In the classic era, especially in Erope, the priest used Christianity to dominated the churches. This is also one kind of divide and rule the society. The athesist are against all that. They hope fairness, humanaties, welfare, protection for mankind. Its also facts, true and religion too...Every religion hope for the same things...

Answer 7

Why is this so hard for people here to understand. The ONLY thing Atheists have in common is their lack of belief in god. Asides from that we have a huge variety of opinions, on all aspects of life and the nature of reality.

Some are more scientifically leaning than others. I know several who are clueless about science, my daughter comes to mind, but she has common sense and reason which tells her that god is just a dumb idea, for dumb people. (her opinion).

We have no Book, no rules, no clubs or meeting halls. No leaders or any hierarchy at all. We simply are NOT in any way shape or form, a religion.

There are authors who are Atheist who write about their personal philosophies. But that does not mean they speak for all Atheists, it is merely their opinion.

Theists are so used to living in a herd, that they find the concept of individual thought impossible to comprehend.

*sigh*

Answer 8

Very good question! I am agnostic, but do not accept the organized religions that have created crimes-against-humanity with benefit of policing their members criminal actions.
It's nothing personal. I just have a tough time accepting, for instance, why a human being would condemn a Nazi-German in Hitler's Germany for their genocide when their own religion has committed more acts of genocide that Hitler's government?

Answer 9

i cannot presume to speak for others, and as a hedgewitch i can only speak for myself, but at a guess;
religion provides a framework devised by men to control others, to impose their morals upon others and to use threats and fear to ensure those people adhere to the rules.
atheists rely on common sense, an innate sense of right and wrong within their lives, morals that are instinctive and inclusive - religious people appear to lean towards exclusivity and ignorance and hatred and judgmental attitudes rather than morals
therefore there is obviously quite a vast difference, as any open-minded being can observe

Answer 10

Not very reasonable to call it 'RELIGION"... There is *NO*:
- Deity or supernatural / mystical elements at all.
- Assets or Infrastructure (buildings, land, etc.)
- Dogma, central book, guidelines, etc.
- Belief-set (12 letters of *non-belief* hardly counts)
- Hierarchy, Clergy or any other employees of any kind.
- Central office/body/org./group representing Atheists. Nor likely will *ever* be.

Yours is a grasping, hollow attempt to define it as a religion.
BUT IF WE ARE... I WANT TAX-EXEMPT STATUS *NOW*!
Wiktionary had a definition... "You can't really call it a religion if there's no god to pray to." ... Sums it up nicely, methinks.