Comment by baddy on June 30, 2010 at 10:01am

I refuse to be a part of any religion, which is why I don't think you should claim atheism to be as such. To me, religion is a negative term. It confines and conforms us.

Comment by CreezRLC on June 30, 2010 at 10:22am

To say 'atheism is religion' is like 'not collecting stamp is a hobby'

Comment by Tulshidas Singha on June 30, 2010 at 10:35am

Thank you.Both of you commented well.BUT MORE ELABORATE COMMENTS ARE EXPECTED.

Comment by Renshia on June 30, 2010 at 1:41pm

I think to associate atheism as a religion is plain silly. The next thing needed would be a gospel of Darwin, Richard and Sam. Atheism is simply no belief in a god. I think it would be a very short church service unless your goal is to complicate things out of proportion.

If a religious community is needed to fulfill your basic communal needs then find something that has more depth to it than 4 simple words.
I also think it is a shame to bring in all the other baggage into a simple basic concept. Remember k.i.s.s. We need to keep reality and fanciful thinking separate.

I also recommend putting spaces after punctuation it makes following the post easier.

Comment by Galen on June 30, 2010 at 3:06pm

Atheism is not a religion at all. There are no tenets, no sacraments, nothing SACRED to atheist. It has one, and only one, defining trait: The lack of a belief in a god or gods. That's it. Nothing else is required to be an atheist.

In fact, the word "atheism" itself is not an assertion of anything, it's a disavowing of something. Just as "asexuality" is not a sexual orientation (it's the LACK of a sexual orientation), "amoral" is not a form of morality, but the LACK of morality, the same is true of "atheism." Atheism (the "a-" prefix meaning WITHOUT and "theism" meaning "belief in a god") is pretty much the opposite of a religion. It is the absence of religious belief.

You can't take a word that, by it's very definition and grammatical structure, means the ABSENCE of a thing and then claim that it means the very thing it's defining the absence of! That's just plain silly.

Comment by Tulshidas Singha on June 30, 2010 at 4:17pm

Take it for granted that religion is the way of life . Forget the conventional meaning for sometime. As I've mentioned it was in the earliest stage . Consider it as a doctrine without the presence of the God ,a set of principles to follow in social life .Similarly atheism has been described as a concept without God.
On the contrary theism is a belief with God.Without harping only on these two words you are requested to enrich me by giving a total criticism.Thank you all.

Comment by Nelson on June 30, 2010 at 4:24pm

by calling atheism a religion and asking us to forget about the conventional meaning you've traveled into absurdity. if we're to forget about conventional meanings then why not write a blog entitled Pancake is the Best Religion To Date? if we're to forget that atheism is the antithesis of religion- that atheism is a religion like OFF is a TV channel- then we might as well call breakfast foods a religion too.
a doctrine without the concept of god? what is THE doctrine of atheism such that we can consider atheism A doctrine without the concept of god? where is there any doctrine inherent in atheism?
"atheism" is not a set of principles. it just means one single thing- the person professing atheism lacks belief in gods. if i tell you that i'm an atheist you can no more define my principles than you could define my favorite color. sure, you can certainly say that i'm more likely to have certain principles than i am to have others but by no means could you say that i have a specific set of principles and no others.

Comment by Dan on June 30, 2010 at 4:59pm

:Face palm:

Comment by Christopher McGuire on June 30, 2010 at 6:01pm

As an atheist, I believe I'll side with the rest of the group in my sentiment toward your "Our Religion is Atheism" statement. There is no reason to even entertain the notion that atheism IS what it professes NOT to be. To say atheism is a religion is to [Insert generic atheism statement here]. I also don't support your belief that religion is an inventive way of controlling the masses. I think of it as a struggle for power. More of a "I can't be wrong, because I'm closer to God than you are." It all just ego-stroking. The only thing religion is good for is population control. I don't wanna be lumped in with those fuckerheads (that's a good, Christian term, isn't it?).

@Nelson: Pancakes vs. Religion!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwyZ0ji1GRU

As you can see, pancakes are BETTER than religion! Good day, ladies and gents...

Comment by Radu Andreiu on June 30, 2010 at 6:02pm

Actually, maybe Atheism should be considered a religion. Of course, to call atheism a religion is plain silly, but I have this feeling that many of those who consider themselves Atheists (but not only them), instead of (the correct form) atheists, share some similitudes with religious people. It's that desire and pride of belonging to a certain group which is, in this case, the Atheist group. From what I can tell, there are people who dedicate themselves to Atheism much like religious people do to their religions. I don't want to elaborate, at least not now, but there are people who share more than the lack of belief (in other religions) and who are atheists from reasons much like the reasons Christians are what they are.

I don't want to upset any fellow atheist with my words, but that's what I think is true even if for only a small fraction of the total number of atheists. Anyway, a simple question which, I think should have a simple answer, even if I can't really think of a good one: Why Atheist and not atheist?

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