Those who wanna cling to their ignorance can keep caliming atheism is a religion. so be it.?

Question

religion: a set of common beliefs and practices generally held by a group of people, often codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law.

atheism: the absence of belief in deities, alternatively called "nontheism".

how can ever a set of beliefs be ever confused with the absence of belief?

Answer 1

This is true.
Atheism is not a religion.
Nor is it spiritual.

Now I have a whole list of questions that will only get people drunk.

Answer 2

One thing to realize is that atheism is a belief. A belief that there is no god or deities.

You can also have problems with the definition of religion. Many people have different views on what the exact meaning is. For instance in Lindbeck's Nature of Doctrine he says religion is:

"a kind of cultural and/or linguistic framework or medium that shapes the entirety of life and thought… it is similar to an idiom that makes possible the description of realities, the formulation of beliefs, and the experiencing of inner attitudes, feelings, and sentiments.”

So by this definition you can include atheism as part of the religious groups.

Even your definition says that religion is a set of common beliefs and practices generally held by a group of people, often codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law.

The key word in that definition is "often" codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law. It does not necessary require prayer or ritual to be considered a religion.

I believe that there is no god. But I came to the conclusion through a path of logical arguments and belief in our modern scientific knowledge and practices. I follow a common belief that there is no god. Many people share that belief. So in a way I am part of group that has a set of common beliefs and practices. A religion in a sense.

But define it as you wish.

Answer 3

So right this is the entire article interior america, atheism is secure under the 1st modification's loose exercising Clause. In August 2005, in a case the place a reformatory inmate became blocked by utilising reformatory officers from arising an inmate group to verify and talk atheism, the court docket ruled this violated the inmate's rights under the 1st modification's loose exercising Clause. america court docket of Appeals for the seventh Circuit affirmed previous desirable court docket precedent by utilising ruling atheism be afforded equivalent protection with religions under the 1st modification.[12][13] There are additionally on line church homes that have been created by utilising atheists to guard legal rights, to ordain atheist clergy to hold ceremonies, as properly as for parody, training, and advocacy.[14][15][sixteen][17] observe the courts granted rights under the 1st modification and did no longer say atheism is a faith. They in straightforward terms recognized that atheists are entitled to an analogous freedoms under the shape that theist communities are entitled to. i'm getting fairly tired of human beings wh the two out an out misrepresent those variety of articles, or in basic terms won't have the capacity to appreciate what they study.

Answer 4

It says "often" not always...and it didn't say "belief in God". Atheists are a group of people with the "common" belief that deities don't exist. To "believe" is to "have confidence in the truth...without absolute proof that one is right." To "believe in" something is to have "faith in the reliability" of that belief. So in essence, to be an atheist is to have faith that God (or any other deity) is fiction.

Semantics, I know...personally I don't think it matters...if atheists want to redefine religion as "belief in the existence of a deity", then atheism isn't a religion. If I (or anyone else) wants to define religion as "a set of common beliefs" then atheism is as much as religion as Christianity or Hinduism or Islam.

Answer 5

I agree with you. I've been an atheist for a very long time and never considered atheism to be a religion. It seems obvious to me. There is no dogma or doctrine. There is no ritual. There are no associated laws. There is no charismatic leader. As is often said here in R&S, "Atheism is a religion, like bald is a hair color."

Answer 6

I don't see how anyone could not "get" that, but I've seen several questions in the past few days in whicn atheism is referred to as a religion.


Who knows?

Thanks for trying to help clear it up.

Answer 7

Me, I don't even know if I qualify as an atheist, I mean I only suspect the Bible god is a fake, and that it was invented by that pervert Moses and his syphilitic half-brother Aaron.

If I only suspect something, how can that be faith or religion?

Answer 8

"how can a set of beliefs be ever confused with the absence of belief"

the same way that a belief can be confused with the absence of beliefs, ie "Christians are atheists because they don't believe in Thor"


but, to be fair, there are atheist churches.

Answer 9

Word!

Answer 10

All of us believe in something. Atheists are more like to believe in evolution. And at this point, evolution is faith based. Nothing conclusive. It requires you to believe something may have occurred to get what we see in the evidence. That's the problem. Creationists also see the same evidence and they come to a different conclusion.

So you are exactly right - so be it.