Atheism is not religion!
I hate to do two rants in succession, but well I must.
I need to make sure people know that Atheism is not a religion. But first let me define atheism
Atheism (without God): It is the absence of faith or belief in the higher power.
That does not mean that Atheists believe there is no God, they simple do not believe there is. This is an important distinction. "Hard Atheists" do not admit the possibility of a God, but they are a minority.
Now, what is a religion? I was informed today by some friends that having a belief in anything is religion. THat is too broad; certainly everything is not a religion. THe government likes to think a religion requires a certain number of members, or else it is a cult. My definition will lie somewhere in between.
Based on the fact that people view Christianity as a religion, and Darwinism, or Socialism as not, here is a list of things that are primary for something to be a religion.
- Belief in something supernatural or inexplicable.
- Identifying some things as sacred
- A more or less total organization of one's life based on the world view.
- A social group bound together by the above.
Now, this is a pretty wide definition. And I think it is fitting. I challenge you to name one religion wherein these things are not done. From Judaism to Buddhism (purist theravada discluded because it is a philosophy), all religions conform to this and more, but I excluded the other things because I do not consider them primary and people would get mad at me.
So, step by step:
- Atheists do not believe in the supernatural or a higher power (in terms of gods/ if you do you are not atheist / if you practice witchcraft then you are technically atheist, but have stupid beliefs otherwise)
- Atheists to not have any sacred object such as a bible or qu'ran or anything like that. No cross. NOTHING! Yes, we do value the works of Darwin and others, but they are not sacred.
- Atheism leaves you to do whatever you want with your life. If you wanted, you could be a murderer. Well... it wouldn't be against your religion...the government might have something to say though.
- Atheists in a social group? The fact is, I have only 1 atheist friend. I know other atheists, but we don't gather for purposes of atheism. There are atheists that gather, but they are usually just scientists, doing an experiment.
So, atheism is not a religion, that is clear. It isn't even a cult! But, in that ever broad definition, do atheists have beliefs?
Yes, some do. But the beliefs are not collective. Some atheists believe that socialism is the best form of government, some democracy. Some believe that abortion is wrong, some think it's okay. The fact is, not believing in god is different than believing there is no god.
The difference is faith. There is no faith involved in not believing in god. It is simple, because we can prove through reason that the god which is discussed in religious documents does not exist. That is for a later and more heated post! Atheists whom believe that THERE IS NO POSSIBiLITY OF GOD EXISTING!!!! well, they do have faith in there being no god, and that is a belief, but it still doesn't make "hard atheism" a religion. A religion is more than just having faith in something.
I need to make sure people know that Atheism is not a religion. But first let me define atheism
Atheism (without God): It is the absence of faith or belief in the higher power.
That does not mean that Atheists believe there is no God, they simple do not believe there is. This is an important distinction. "Hard Atheists" do not admit the possibility of a God, but they are a minority.
Now, what is a religion? I was informed today by some friends that having a belief in anything is religion. THat is too broad; certainly everything is not a religion. THe government likes to think a religion requires a certain number of members, or else it is a cult. My definition will lie somewhere in between.
Based on the fact that people view Christianity as a religion, and Darwinism, or Socialism as not, here is a list of things that are primary for something to be a religion.
- Belief in something supernatural or inexplicable.
- Identifying some things as sacred
- A more or less total organization of one's life based on the world view.
- A social group bound together by the above.
Now, this is a pretty wide definition. And I think it is fitting. I challenge you to name one religion wherein these things are not done. From Judaism to Buddhism (purist theravada discluded because it is a philosophy), all religions conform to this and more, but I excluded the other things because I do not consider them primary and people would get mad at me.
So, step by step:
- Atheists do not believe in the supernatural or a higher power (in terms of gods/ if you do you are not atheist / if you practice witchcraft then you are technically atheist, but have stupid beliefs otherwise)
- Atheists to not have any sacred object such as a bible or qu'ran or anything like that. No cross. NOTHING! Yes, we do value the works of Darwin and others, but they are not sacred.
- Atheism leaves you to do whatever you want with your life. If you wanted, you could be a murderer. Well... it wouldn't be against your religion...the government might have something to say though.
- Atheists in a social group? The fact is, I have only 1 atheist friend. I know other atheists, but we don't gather for purposes of atheism. There are atheists that gather, but they are usually just scientists, doing an experiment.
So, atheism is not a religion, that is clear. It isn't even a cult! But, in that ever broad definition, do atheists have beliefs?
Yes, some do. But the beliefs are not collective. Some atheists believe that socialism is the best form of government, some democracy. Some believe that abortion is wrong, some think it's okay. The fact is, not believing in god is different than believing there is no god.
The difference is faith. There is no faith involved in not believing in god. It is simple, because we can prove through reason that the god which is discussed in religious documents does not exist. That is for a later and more heated post! Atheists whom believe that THERE IS NO POSSIBiLITY OF GOD EXISTING!!!! well, they do have faith in there being no god, and that is a belief, but it still doesn't make "hard atheism" a religion. A religion is more than just having faith in something.