Is atheism a religion? [Spirituality & Religion]

@MetalGreymon: hahaha.. you will just not do what I say but keep arguing otherwise. I don't wish to do it your way cause you are no authority or anyone with significance to convince you.

My verdict is "atheism is a de facto religion"... as every child is a born atheist .. and religion is force fed into them without its consent. No opportunity is given to it even after it attains adulthood to say if it would like to embrace the religion.

We talk about common law here and not about any of the religious views about atheism.

A religion is just an association, and can be for any cause or entertainment.

But to answer you about true meaning of the word religion, is the word reign. Once upon a time religion was used to reign by creating regions.

But after the advent of Money, religion was no longer required as people were more faithful and loyal to money, than even their own gods. Thus most religions lost their significance and now just part time entertainment. Like you go to a movie or visit a pub etc.

And there was nothing to argue about in the first place. I just wished to knock you from all sides so you mature and find the answer yourself, for it is within you.

@in10RjFox:
[quote]My verdict is "atheism is a de facto religion[/quote]


Yes, you've made that clear. But your verdict is unsupported and therefor meaningless. You can say whatever you want but if you can't back it up then it isn't worth the time you took to type it.

[quote] I just wished to knock you from all sides so you mature and find the answer yourself[/quote]


Well if that was your aim, you're going to have to raise your level of discourse higher. If you want to help people think then you're going to have to elevate your thinking,

Simply proclaiming that atheism is a religion because it has a name and a belief is not going to help anyone mature.

I'm not sure if you're being condescending or if you are well-meaningly ignorant, but you have offered nothing to grow on.

Perhaps you think it deep to pretend that the meaning of a word is not what a word means. You're going to have to work on your arguments because as it stands they are superficial and uncompelling.

I hope you will allow this commentary to help you mature in your intellectual discourse.

@MetalGreymon: civilized are those who grant a civilisation to the uncivilised. A new born or aborigines appear without clothes. Matured don't tease or single them out or critise them for their nudity. Obvious that they are without clothes.

@IlovePeaches:

Apparently to some people...

@in10RjFox:


[quote]Once people start claiming to be atheist, and the government allows it, it then becomes a deemed religion.[/quote]

Aaaand that's where your argument breaks down.
You haven't shown this to be true. You've just stated that it is so.

[quote]
Its stupid to say that a religion has to have a god and rituals and some theory[quote][/quote][/quote]


It's not. Because that is what a religion is.
Again, they only way you are able to classify atheism as a religion is by diluting the word to the point where it is meaningless. You'll notice that being gay is a religion too because they are identified by the church and accepted by the government.

No.
I'm sorry but there can be no debate if we can't agree on terms.
I think religion means what most people think it means. You think it means virtually anything.
This discussion can go no further.

Thanks for your time

That's exactly what atheism is. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

@MsAnnThropy:

1. there's no proof that gods exist (otherwise we'd all be deists)
2. there's no proof that gods don't exist (they might be lurking around a mountain-top somewhere)
3. in any event, there's no compelling necessity to postulate the existence of gods, and the postulation explains nothing... it merely tries to explain everything away.
4. therefore, I have no gods

Can you find any extraordinary claims in there?

@AnnoyingAf:

...yeah...but we're really just pointing out that they are passionate or obnoxious about their belief that there is no god. Doesn't quite make it a religion

@MetalGreymon: Never said it is a religion. They just seem to think it is :)

@AnnoyingAf:

No doubt. People can get dogmatic about virtually anything

@MetalGreymon: If we go by governmental acceptance or a loose definition it is a religion. If we go by philosophy it either possibly isn't or definitely isn't. The history of Buddhism is perfectly traceable to skepticism and shares a pessimistic worldview with it. And there is no worship. Prayer consists of repeating the teachings- not making any form of contact. And as regards Buddha: this is limited to veneration- never worship. Perhaps one day Buddha will be considered a minor god- but kowtowing to gods isn't the Buddhist way.

@Peekaboo:

Yeah ok. I an get behind that. Although if it shouldn't be considered a religion, i would say that it's treading awfully close to religion status

@Peekaboo: Mahayana is practiced more like a religion. Theravada is more of a philosophy. They both fall under "Buddhism". Theravada is your Buddhism. Mahayana came about as the philosophy spread.

@bijouxbroussard:

Yeah i don't get it either. I can understand how you might characterize atheism as a faith claim, but it takes more than an unverified belief to make a religion.