I think American law actually acknowledges atheism as a religion, which is kind of funny when you think about it. Atheism is like darkness: not a thing in itself, but the absence of a thing.
You don't need faith to not believe in something. I don't need faith in my disbelief of bigfoot, the lochness monster, and aliens causing crop circles. The same goes for disbelief in religious doctrine.
An atheist is simply someone who doesn't believe in a god. They can still be religious, for instance buddhism is an atheistic religion, but atheism itself is NOT a religion.
It really comes down to personal definitions, both in how you define "atheist" or "religion". By the way I interpret those words, atheism is a religion, but I can agree that by some of the rest of your definitions that have been presented, that in that light it cannot be considered one. To me, if someone doesn't believe in something, to the point where they are apathetic and don't think about it, they are not an atheist. The suffix -ism implies a system of beliefs that guides a social group. Those that specifically believe that there is no god, think about this as part of their core beliefs (and are usually vocal about it), are showing a belief system, and are in effect practicing atheism. Since they cannot provide proof of their beliefs (as Carl mentioned, you can neither prove nor disprove the existence of a supreme being(s)), they are taking their assumption "on faith".
I also believe that the word "religion" means simply that you have faith in something. It does not have to be organized into a church or even a social group, just a personal belief in something greater than yourself, that you can neither prove nor disprove. So by my definitions, to me, atheism is a religion.
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I am too sophis...
at 1:09am on May 9th, 2008
This is a matter of semantics - Saying that " I believe that there is no God." is different than saying "I do not believe in God." By definition, atheism is the lack of theism, or belief in God. Faith, or lack thereof, is the key here. The first sentence is implying the presence of faith, or religion, as some here put it - Faith that there is no God. ( I call these people capital "A" Atheists. The ones that practice it LIKE a religion. The ones that define their lives with the word. Zealots for no Word. The second describes a true atheist (Dan, this be you) - one lacking in faith of God. These are people that respect others' rights to believe whatever the hell they want, but see no measurable PROOF apparent to them of God, so therefore, CANNOT (it's against their logic) believe in God. My opinion, but it's served me well. I prefer agnostic theism - I think there is a God, but He is so out of our realm of understanding, that He is unknowable to us.The concept of God is just too big a subject for a person to wrap his or her mind around, IMHO, so why try?
True athiesm is not a religion, However I said yes because I think there is much confusion on BBA as to what exactly is athiesm.....and dictonary definitions aren't really turning out to be helpful.
There are claimed athiests who are religious like in thier beliefs....they are the folks that will question proof of a God, ask why God allows bad things to happen if he is so pious, confront christians about the Bible, etc etc.....which goes against true athiesm because by arguing God doesn't exist or that they don't "believe" or have "faith" in God actually validates his/her existance. Talk to a real true blue athiest regarding a God and chances are he/she will change the subject, for them it is not a "belief or faith" that a God does not exist....they just know.
Agnostics - (without knowledge) state that the concept of a God is not only too big to wrap our heads around but also that although unlikely, God's existance can never be truley known one way or the other.
Agnostic athiests on the other hand combine a bit of both, they question, they confront, they believe that the existance of a God is unlikely, but deep down they have an awareness that nothing exists in absolutes.
To make a long story longer what I am getting at is that even the rejection of theist dogma can be viewed as religion when you (a) infuse words like faith and belief into it (b) pursue and "practice" it with religious zeal and (c) when it is USED as a means to question the rationality of another rather than lived.
My friend is Athiest, not an Athiest which implies he belongs to a homogenous group. He also would never question what kind of God does _________ or why do you believe in a God that __________ to a religiously devout person because he feels it is disrespectful, he is confident in his knowledge and does not feel it is dependant on disproving anothers beliefs or knowledge. If God is brought up he politely changes the subject, if he was confronted he calmly tells the person "my knowledge is not up for discussion or debate".
Originally, the word "atheist" meant "godless" or "without a god", which is now "nontheist". I am nontheist, but I don't believe in the non-existence of gods, I just don't have a god myself. Some say that could be agnosticism, but I stand firm that I am simply godless, based on my own interpretation of what "god" really means.
"Atheism, as an explicit position, either affirms the nonexistence of gods or rejects theism." whereas religion "is a set of beliefs and practices"
Religions have dogma and traditions and often some sort of hierarchy or structure. Atheism is simply a position and lacks either. So, my answer is No, atheism is not a religion.
not in my opinion atheism is the belief that all religions are fabricated and there is not one that tells the whole truth or any part of one..I cannot give any reasons to believe that not believing in a cult or church forum could be linked into some form of religion because Atheists dont believe in any of those practices or beliefs.I say that in my opinion as an atheist I do not belong to a group of Atheists whom storm churches preaching how bad god is and the many flaws such religions have and so therefor I am a single person preaching my own word not someone elses and i dont see how anyone could consider Atheism a religion based on my own person feelings
The short answer is, yes. Any belief in the absolute non-existence of God implies faith, since no proof can be offered that He either does or does not exist. Faith not only implies religion, but is the very definition of it. Ergo, atheism is a religion.
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