Is atheism a religion?

Question

Technically. I've had a big old argument with someone over this!

I don't believein Santa. Does this make me a non Adventist?

Last time I had this discussion it was the religious people that said yes, and the athiests that said no.

I agree with Rev Sol. If atheism is a religion, then bald is a hair colour.

Answer 1

Atheism is no more a religion than "bald" is a hair color, or NOT collecting stamps is a hobby...

Answer 2

Is a republican a form of monarchist?

Is a desert a type of ocean?

What colour is darkness? (And black is not a colour)


What breed of dog is a cat?


The absence of something (belief) is not a different type of that something.

What the theists want to do is reduce atheism/theism to a 50:50 choice. If it is a religion, well, you are still believing in something and there is equal validity.

However, replace God with Unicorns and it can bee seen how foolish this argument is. For the rational person looking at the evidence available it is not a 50:50 choice whether unicorns exist. it is more like 99.999999999999999:0.00000000000000001 against.

For some reason the requirement of real evidence disappears for deities, and the writing in some book is sufficient proof. All the books that document unicorns however are just myths and misunderstandings of uneducated minds.

Answer 3

Does a religion require a Deity? If so Buddhists don't qualify. Is religion defined as a set of life guiding principle? If so Atheism qualifies. Don't get into argument/debates without agreed on definitions for terms.

Answer 4

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 atheism is often equated with irreligion, some religious philosophies, such as secular theology and some varieties of Theravada Buddhism, also lack belief in a personal god.

Answer 5

No. There is no definition of 'religion' that would include the absence of belief in gods.
And if such a definition did exist, it would have to include any instance of disbelief, and since obviously there is no one who believes in everything that could possibly be thought up, the term religion would be utterly meaningless.

Answer 6

Probably not a religion by definition, but it sure takes some faith to believe there is no God. Faith to believe in a theory of macro-evolution that cannot be proved, faith to believe all this complicated creation was the result of exploding gas...and then not being able to explain where the gas came from, etc. So it is a system of faith more than science.

Answer 7

atheism



Main Entry: athe·ism
Pronunciation: \ˈā-thē-ˌi-zəm\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French athéisme, from athée atheist, from Greek atheos godless, from a- + theos god
Date: 1546
1archaic : ungodliness, wickedness
2 a: a disbelief in the existence of deity b: the doctrine that there is no deity

Answer 8

No, not at all, although some theists claim this, en route to the argument that atheism is just another set of beliefs or faith.

Answer 9

It completely depends on your particular definition of religion.

Answer 10

" No , but it embraces other faiths and laughs at the way there followers are destroying each other in the name of religion"