Is Athiesm a religion? Why?

Answer 1

You mean "atheism"?

No, it's not, for the same reason that "theism", "polytheism",
"monotheism", and "deism" are not religions.

These terms ONLY describe where one stands on the issue of the existence of deity. You need more than that (ceremony, dogma) to define an actual religion.

"Atheism" does NOT mean "without a religion". It means "no belief in deity". There are some non-theistic religions out there (e.g. Therevada Buddhism). And there are plenty of theists who do not hold a particular religion. So "atheism" and "having a religion" can be mutually exclusive.

EDIT: I see some people have used the classic line of "it's like saying bald is a hair color". Again, this isn't accurate. Atheism does not necessarily mean "no religion". It means "no belief in deity", period. And no, the fact that there are "humanist" churches does not make atheism a religion, just as philanthropic churches doesn't make "philanthropy" a religion.

Answer 2

Nope not at all, but you'll get some Christians who will swear up and down that it is.


I do not miss being that ignorant. No offense intended but I don't know what else to call it.

Edit:
From Lion of Judah above: "Therefore, atheists must go on the attack and negate any evidences presented for Gods existence in order to give intellectual credence to their position."

Sigh, no I would love to see creditable evidence for God, but there simply is none. Christians, by being willingly ignorant, have very little clue what "evidence" means - this does not apply to all Christians.

Answer 3

Atheism is complete freedom from religion . In addition , most Atheists are free from all supernaturals , ghosts , zombies , gods , spells , curses , being possessed by spirits, and all other B.S.
If it's not of the natural world , it's just stupid superstition .

Answer 4

Atheism is not a religion. Even once you get around the absence of a deity, you run into the absence of central text, and the absence of specific practices.

Would you define not playing racquetball as a sport?

Answer 5

If you examine a dictionary, you will find that, in fact, "athiesm" does not exist. Things that do not exist cannot be religions.

Answer 6

No, it is a lack of religion. Some believers try to say it is a religion, and that evolution is one too, but they are lying outrageously for their own sinister purposes. If a word can mean anything at all, it has no meaning, and no word does. This whole thing is right out of Alice's discussion with Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carrol's "Alice in Wonderland". A means no or not in greek, and theos means god(s). No does not mean something, it means no.

Answer 7

Faith, however, is not something atheists like to claim as the basis of adhering to atheism. Therefore, atheists must go on the attack and negate any evidences presented for Gods existence in order to give intellectual credence to their position. If they can create an evidential vacuum in which no theistic argument can survive, their position can be seen as more intellectually viable. It is in the negation of theistic proofs and evidences that atheism brings its self-justification to self-proclaimed life.

There is, however, only one way that atheism is intellectually defensible and that is in the abstract realm of simple possibility. In other words, it may be possible that there is no God. But, stating that something is possible doesn't mean that it is a reality or that it is wise to adopt the position. If I said it is possible that there is an ice cream factory on Jupiter, does that make it intellectually defensible or a position worth adopting merely because it is merely a possibility? Not at all. So, simply claiming a possibility based on nothing more than it being a possible option, no matter how remote, is not sufficient grounds for atheists to claim viability in their atheism. They must come up with more than "It is possible," or "There is no evidence for God," otherwise, there really must be an ice cream factory on Jupiter and the atheist should step up on the band wagon and start defending the position that Jupiterian ice cream exists.

At least we Christians have evidences for God's existence such as fulfilled biblical prophecy, Jesus' resurrection, the Transcendental Argument, the entropy problem, etc.

But there is another problem for atheists. Refuting evidences for Gods existence does not prove atheism true anymore than refuting an eyewitness testimony of a marriage denies the reality of the marriage. Since atheism cannot be proven and since disproving evidences for God does not prove there is no God, atheists have a position that is intellectually indefensible. At best, atheists can only say that there are no convincing evidences for God so far presented. They cannot say there are no evidences for God because the atheist cannot know all evidences that possibly exist in the world. At best, the atheist can only say that the evidence so far presented has been insufficient. This logically means that there could be evidences presented in the future that will suffice. The atheist must acknowledge that there may indeed be a proof that has so far been undiscovered and that the existence of God is possible. This would make the atheist more of an agnostic since at best the atheist can only be skeptical of Gods existence.

This is why atheists need to attack Christianity. It is because Christianity makes very high claims concerning Gods existence which challenges their atheism and pokes holes in their vacuum. They like the vacuum. They like having the universe with only one god in it: themselves.

Answer 8

Atheism is not a religion but a religious belief, i.e. a belief (or a cathegory of beliefs) about religious questions.

Answer 9

Yes it is. Since there are churches, there must be a religion.

It has infiltrated some Christian churches too.

Harvard has a Humanist Chaplaincy (Humanist is identical for Atheist), and San Diego has a Humanist Church.

Answer 10

it can be regarded as a religion if you also consider that people who don't believe that harry potter is real,(aharrypotterists?), comprise a religion too. but the people who would consider this to be true have trouble working a dictionary.