Question for self-avowed atheists?

Question

Do you consider atheism as your religion? It is, after all, a set of common beliefs you share - just the belief of God not existing as opposed to the belief he does, and I've seen people just as passionately "fundamentalist Atheist" as I've seen for the other side, too. And, likewise to the theists, I've seen people disavow any arguments presented to support the idea of God simply on the pure faith that he doesnt.

Just seems to be that the only true non-religion is agnosticism, where you dont know and dont care....

edit: technicalities of language aside, the spirit of my question (no pun intended) remains the same

and the absence of belief is agnosticism. atheism is the belief of absence, its different :)

And yes, since you ask it like that, I guess I would have to classify myself religiously as an Athorist :)

Paul - I question your use of the word "passion"....I doubt you or many people would come onto a message board like this and decry your zeal for a shiny sun or the absence of an omnipotent cephalopod as vehemently as you do that of a God. If someone started saying the sun was in fact dark on a street corner, I'd venture to guess you just wouldnt care and would keep walking, which is what an agnostic would do regarding God.

Answer 1

Personally I call both atheism and agnosticism 'quasi-religions' (meaning 'as if religions'), a term which also covers the agreed 'religions' such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and other perhaps-not-so-agreed 'quasi-religions' such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Satanism, Humanism, Paganism, Marxism, Scientism, Darwinolatry, etc...

The word seems to avoid a lot of pointless semantic debate about the meaning of words such as religion, god, belief, atheist, agnostic, etc, etc, etc....

But my opinion may not count since I regard myself as some sort of agnostic and not a 'self-avowed atheist' as seemingly required by your question, though some theists and atheists insist that I must really admit that I'm a 'weak atheist' because I have no 'belief' in a God or gods.

If so, I'm the sort of 'atheist' who thinks the universe probably contains an infinite number of different kinds of 'godlike beings' and even more probably (or 'almost certainly, but not quite') contains at least one such being (though I don't consider myself qualified to say if any such being is a 'true' or 'false' 'god', or whether this question has any significance or not). The fact that this is what I 'think', but not what I 'believe', apparently means to some that I have thereby made myself an atheist, whether I admit it or not. So maybe you can count me as a 'self-avowed atheist' in this instance for the purpose of your question.

Answer 2

In a very small way. I was raised a Methodist, and the Wesleyan Quadrilateral was one of the few bits that really made sense, if only because it was the only major religious concept that credited reason as valuable. Three of the four legs - reason, tradition, and experience, are still useful; it's only scripture that I've ditched.

So in a sense, in that logical thinking has replaced some of the functions of religion, you could say that it's my religion. But I came from a denomination that gave its members considerable personal latitude in deciding how to think. Perhaps it's more accurate to say that I was reasoning while still religious, and I continue to do so now that I'm no longer religious.

I also think that many of the arguments against God based on the faith that he doesn't exist are simply to counter the circular logic employed by Christians frequently, you know, "Given that God exists, God exists" sorts of statements.

Answer 3

Atheism is not a religion, at least in any sense of the word "religion" that doesn't make ALL beliefs religious.

I'm passionate about my belief that the sun is shining, and that it's October - but those surely aren't religious beliefs. I'm also passionate about my belief that the world is not controlled by a giant octopus* - again, surely that's not a religious belief.

* Don't think it's the same? Let's elect a President who enthusiastically believes that the world IS controlled by a giant octopus, and you'll see my passion on the topic.

Answer 4

Atheism is a lack of belief in gods.

Calling it a belief is like calling not-apple a type of apple. Its not just a different variety, its a lack of that thing entirely.

Fundamental atheists? You mean atheists who are sick and tired of being told they are evil or immoral? Atheists who are sick and tired of watching public money go towards primitive nonsense superstition? Atheists who are sick of godbelievers who throw up roadblocks to important things like stem cell research for no other reason than their invisible friend told them it was bad.

Disavowing gods, doesn't take faith. I don't have faith in no-easter bunny. The easter bunny is a claim that I've seen has no basis in reality. If your god exists, show him, otherwise your claim is baseless and no rational person should believe you. Faith is what con-men want you to have. Snake oil salesmen love peope of faith, its how they make a living. Con-men hate science, because it demands they put up or shut up. Religion is a big con.

Agnosticism and atheism are not mutually exclusive.

Agnosticism is stance on the nature of knowledge. It simply means one doesn't know or believes that 'knowledge' of a certain thing is impossible. I'm agnostic about Santa Claus, I can't prove that he doesn't exist, but I have seen no evidence that he does and quite a lot ot suggest he doesn't. Based on this, I don't believe even though I can't prove he doesn't. I make a rational adult decision based on the evidence. Instead of holding onto childish fantasies.

Answer 5

Atheism is indeed a religion. An atheist believes in himself or herself. This belief is so strong that the faith involved to sustain this belief is phenomenal.

Answer 6

Atheism is not a religion. It is an absence of belief in divine beings.

Do you consider your absence of belief in Thor a religion?

Answer 7

Theo or theism = belief in deity or supernatural power, a = none....therefore a theism = no belief in deity or supernatuaral higher power. Atheism is not a religion, it is a way of thinking.

Answer 8

*Drink*

Atheism is not a religion. I must refer you to a dictionary for the actual definition of the term:

http://www.dictionary.com

Answer 9

i am just as passionate about math also but i dont think it would qualify as a religion either---lol---enjoy the day