Is atheism a religion

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Like Buddhists, Communists believed in a superhuman order of natural and immutable laws that should guide human actions. Whereas Buddhists believe that the law of nature was discovered by Siddhartha Gautama, Communists believed that the law of nature was discovered by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The similarity does not end there. Like other religions, Communism too has its holy scripts and prophetic books, such as Marx’s Das Kapital, which foretold that history would soon end with the inevitable victory of the proletariat. Communism had its holidays and festivals, such as the First of May and the anniversary of the October Revolution. It had theologians adept at Marxist dialectics, and every unit in the Soviet army had a chaplain, called a commissar, who monitored the piety of soldiers and officers. Communism had martyrs, holy wars and heresies, such as Trotskyism. Soviet Communism was a fanatical and missionary religion. A devout Communist could not be a Christian or a Buddhist, and was expected to spread the gospel of Marx and Lenin even at the price of his or her life.

Harari, Yuval Noah. Sapiens (pp. 292-293). Harper. Kindle Edition.
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Religions don’t need to be organized religions or to recognize gods. Religions can include values and beliefs as simple as “I do my own thing” and “I don’t worry because everything is going to be alright.” Adherents to a particular religion can be as few as one.
 
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stoplooklisten said:
Religions don’t need to be organized religions or to recognize gods. Religions can include values and beliefs as simple as “I do my own thing” and “I don’t worry because everything is going to be alright.” Adherents to a particular religion can be as few as one.
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I think that you just defined the word up to the point where it has become meaningless.
 
Pattylt said:
Ok, I know that I do not know. Is that better?
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No, a knowledge claim is about something that can be verified w facts or evidence (“I know the Earth is round”), hence excludes knowledge of subjective thoughts (“I know that I do not know”).
Pattylt said:
Agnosticism is a knowledge claim
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Pattylt said:
Agnosticism = without knowledge
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A knowledge claim without knowledge isn’t a knowledge claim.
 
Everyone has values and beliefs. They use them to make decisions ( and to avoid fear and paralysis).

Atheists may hold them individually but they have values and beliefs.
 
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I can agree with most of what you have said. However, I personally know atheists that have organized and look at their movement as their
religion. Their own words.
 
If you personally know atheists in the loud minority, you would know many say atheism is their religion.

And they proselytize.
 
Yes, and I mean what I said. There are people who have made politics, saving whales, etc their religion. (You seriously don’t know people like that?)

Obviously, everyone who gathers together for a hobby or playing bunco is not necessarily putting those activities at such a priority to consider it a religion. However, ask the family members of those related to an addicted “hobby enthusiast” and they may say the hobby has become their god.

Yes, atheists who are meeting and proselytizing are behaving exactly as religious people do in that regard.
 
You seem not to get this. People who treat something religiously does not therefore make that something a religion.

But I did my best…
 
I feel as you do- You just don’t get this. I did my best. Atheists who have put their beliefs into action and call it their religion should be believed.

Thanks for the conversation!
 
I agree. I think because we are using the biblical definition of “gods” some posters are not understanding where we are coming from
 
SunshineGrandma said:
I feel as you do- You just don’t get this. I did my best. Atheists who have put their beliefs into action and call it their religion should be believed.

Thanks for the conversation!
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But atheists don’t have beliefs. You are talking of secularists, not atheists.
 
That’s a fascinating statement.

What is the definition of an atheist?
 
An atheist is someone who doesn’t believe in God or gods. He could be a communist. He could be a capitalist. He could be a liberal. He could be a conservative. He could be a republican. He could be a monarchist.

I think many on this thread are conflating atheism, which is a very generic category, with a certain brand of secular humanists.
 
SunshineGrandma said:
That’s a fascinating statement.

What is the definition of an atheist?
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‘Do you believe in gods?’
‘Me? Nah, I’m an atheist’.

Now how am I meant to promote that? People believe what they want to believe for their own individual reasons. I’m happy with that.

My answer above covers all variety of gods at all times whatever the religion might be. But if someone has a particular version of a particular god and want to discuss it with me then I’m always up for a chat over a beer (I just poured myself one as it turns out).

Then they can describe the attributes of their god and why they believe in him/her and I can tell that person if I find credible what she has told me. That is most definitely not promoting my beliefs onto that person. What I am doing is telling her if I believe what she is telling me.

One interesting facet of those type of conversations is that I will always admit that I might be wrong (but they haven’t convinced me).The other person, with some exceptions that prove the rule, will never take that position.
 
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Bradskii said:
…atheists don’t have beliefs.
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As I observe it, people in the category of atheists / agnostics / secular humanists / religiously unaffiliated generally subscribe to an ideology that believes in the natural laws of the physical sciences. There is an observed order in these natural laws.
 
stoplooklisten said:
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Bradskii:
…atheists don’t have beliefs.
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As I observe it, people in the category of atheists / agnostics / secular humanists / religiously unaffiliated generally subscribe to an ideology that believes in the natural laws of the physical sciences. There is an observed order in these natural laws.
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Agnostics have a different view as to the existence of gods. Not sure why you are bringing them up. Let’s stay focussed. Likewise secular humanists or any other flavour of humanist. And the only thing you can say about the religiously unaffilliated is that they are religiously unafilliated.

As far saying that atheists believe in natural laws, that’s as groundbreaking as saying that you have found that atheists don’t believe in the supernatural. Gee…
 
That is an oversimplification of a definition of atheism.

You said earlier- atheists don’t have beliefs
Then you said (without using the word believe)-
“Nah, I don’t (believe) in gods”
That is a belief. I am certain you have a belief about how the world came into being. You probably have beliefs about the meaning of life. You can’t know these things for sure, but you believe these ideas at this point in your life. This belief system supports your belief that there is no God.

There are also many shared beliefs atheists have for not believing in God:
I don’t believe God created the world.
I will believe in God if I see him.
I believe those who believe in God are stupid, gullible and naive.
I believe religion is the opium of the people/masses.
I have engaged theists in their beliefs and don’t believe their argument.

Atheists may think if they substitute “think” for “ believe” it solves the issue.

But, it doesn’t.

Theists think God is real.
Theists believe God is real.
Atheists think God does not exist.
Atheists believe God does not exist.

I think and believe that atheists have a complete belief system that shapes their thoughts, actions, and egos. This complex view of life is so well thought out, so much a part of every aspect of life, it deserves to be called something more.

If a theist, we would call this belief system religion.
If an atheist, we would call this belief system…what?

(The answer to this is where I think, and believe, the ego gets inserted)
 
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