Published by Let me first start off by stating that this piece is purely an opinion piece. These are my own thoughts and should not be regarded as anything other than an opinion.
What prompted me to write this piece was a statement I read the other day – “Atheism is a religion”. The proper definition of religion is as follows:
religion: a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. (via http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/religion).
As an atheist, I have no “set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature and purpose of the universe when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies”. I simply do not believe there is a superhuman agency behind all that is on Earth or the universe. I also do not involve myself in devotional or ritual observances as they would pertain to atheism. There are none. And my own personal moral code is not the result of what some imaginary creature has told me I should or shouldn’t do. In a nutshell, my being an atheist is completely the opposite of the definition of religion.
What is concerning is a growing number of theists firmly believe that atheism is a religion. This belief is quite simply based on a rule of opposite – if there exists a belief, there also exists a non-belief and therefore it is on the same plane, just at opposite ends. This is very odd thinking, in my opinion.
There will never be a Church of Atheism, the selection of ministers to preach the word of no god will never come to pass, and a book concerning how an atheist should live and conduct his or her life will never be written and read by the masses to such a degree as to throw out all logical reasoning. Atheism will never be and should never be considered a religion.
I’m afraid that book has already been written my dear! However, I understand and relate to the way you are thinking. And it may seem illogical that anyone would consider Atheism in the framework of a church setting, but as many minds as there are in the world, someone, somewhere will have that very idea…as inappropriate as it may seem.
Leonardo – Perhaps there has been a book (or for that matter, several) written on how to live life as an atheist. I probably should have stated that there will never be a book written that will be read by the masses with such devotion as to throw out all logical reasoning.
Thanks for prompting further thought on all this, Leonardo!
Put it simple…. those who don’t believe in any God is atheist… so it’s not very important that whether atheism is a religion or not… but atheism is certainly a belief.
Sourav – here’s where I have a minor problem with stating it’s a belief. We’re all born with absolutely no concept of “god”. In essence, the very epitome of atheist. How is it considered a belief at that point?
I agree…it is not a religion. Religion usually involves serving or praying to a higher entity. An Athiest doesn’t acknowledge a higher power or supreme being…therefore, I would think common sense comes into play here. If you don’t acknowledge the existence of something, you cannot pray or serve it, therefore it cannot be classified as a religion.
http://firstchurchofatheism.com/
Dawn – there’s also http://www.venganza.org/ Neither makes atheism a religion.
To say:
“Religion usually involves serving or praying to a higher entity” is not accurate. Like in Buddhism, it is a quest to enlightenment and Buddha does not claim himself as a higher entity but rather an example to follow.
But think about, religion or not depends on our definition and interpretation.
the dictionary confirms you can making fighting prejudice a religion, yet that does not entail a set of Gods, you can make anything a religion according to the dictionary
Dawn, simply because you can make anything a religion, does not make it so. I could call worshiping the Great Trix Rabbit a religion. It doesn’t make it a true religion just by me declaring it to be one.
(Hey, did you notice that I keep your comments up even if I do not agree with them? Amazing, huh?)