Do you believe atheism to be a religion? Why or why not?
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Which atheist are we talking about? There are atheists who are atheists for reasons of pure apathy. Likewise there are atheists who are evangelical and religious. These are the guys who listen to "sermons" by Richard Dawkins and take notes, who attend meetings with other atheists, and who build their philosophy of living around their atheism. In some sense they derive their identity from their atheism. And this is what distinguishes such an atheist from a person who is equally involved in, say, the local bird-watching club. I would say that this type of atheist is most certainly practicing a religion.
Atheism is no more a religion than monotheism, pantheism, or polytheism.Do you believe atheism to be a religion? Why or why not?
Which atheist are we talking about? There are atheists who are atheists for reasons of pure apathy. Likewise there are atheists who are evangelical and religious. These are the guys who listen to "sermons" by Richard Dawkins and take notes, who attend meetings with other atheists, and who build their philosophy of living around their atheism. In some sense they derive their identity from their atheism. And this is what distinguishes such an atheist from a person who is equally involved in, say, the local bird-watching club. I would say that this type of atheist is most certainly practicing a religion.
Atheism is not a religion. It is the assertion that no deities exist, which I suspect is due to the lack of any empirical evidence. Other than that, atheists, as I understand them, do not have any official "atheistic ideology" to which they all subscribe.
It depends on how you define "religion" I guess. I typically believe religion is just a series of beliefs about the supernatural and since atheism is a series of beliefs about the supernatural, namely, that they don't exist, then it is a religion - just not a god-based religion like Christianity or Islam.
As an aside, out of curiosity I Googled the phrase "Is atheism a religion?" and it seems that many atheists are abhorrent of such a claim and defend atheism as not being a religion as though their lives depended on it. IMHO, atheism requires just as much faith - if not more - than the god-based religions.
Which atheist are we talking about? There are atheists who are atheists for reasons of pure apathy. Likewise there are atheists who are evangelical and religious. These are the guys who listen to "sermons" by Richard Dawkins and take notes, who attend meetings with other atheists, and who build their philosophy of living around their atheism. In some sense they derive their identity from their atheism. And this is what distinguishes such an atheist from a person who is equally involved in, say, the local bird-watching club. I would say that this type of atheist is most certainly practicing a religion.
Atheism is no more a religion than monotheism, pantheism, or polytheism.
No. The a- doesn't mean "against".How can atheisim be a religion? A-theism... a.k.a. against-theisim....
Why is this? Theism states God/Gods exists whereas atheism is the lack of belief in those Gods.
Please note, atheism is not the belief God does not exist. That would be incredibly stupid. Why? There is no way to support it,(for how can you provide evidence of something that does not exist?) and you base it on as much faith as the belief God does exist. A very common misconception.