# If Atheism is a religion then....



## Greeyygooze (Dec 28, 2013)

If Atheism is a religion then the off button is a channel!!

Finish the sentence!! go go.


----------



## Frostbite (May 14, 2013)

Didn't netflix have stupid commercials like this?


----------



## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

Frostbite said:


> Didn't netflix have stupid commercials like this?


Unfortunately, there are many people who are stupid enough to think atheism is a religion.


----------



## HelpfulHero (Aug 14, 2013)

If atheism is a religion then coffee is a drug.


----------



## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

HelpfulHero said:


> If atheism is a religion then coffee is a drug.


Not sure if that is the best analogy since coffee contains caffeine which is a drug.

The "If atheism is a religion then..." analogies need to infer something which is the lack of something, such as, "If atheism is a religion then baldness is a hairstyle".


----------



## WillYouStopDave (Jul 14, 2013)

If atheism is a religion, it would make hardcore atheists who spend all their time attacking religious people look pretty foolish.


----------



## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

WillYouStopDave said:


> If atheism is a religion, it would make hardcore atheists who spend all their time attacking religious people look pretty foolish.


Indeed.


----------



## arnie (Jan 24, 2012)

HelpfulHero said:


> If atheism is a religion then coffee is a drug.


Coffee _*is *_a drug.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine


----------



## HelpfulHero (Aug 14, 2013)

ugh1979 said:


> Not sure if that is the best analogy since coffee contains caffeine which is a drug.
> 
> The "If atheism is a religion then..." analogies need to infer something which is the lack of something, such as, "If atheism is a religion then baldness is a hairstyle".


Being a wee bit technical no? I mean by that definition bananas are a drug because they act as natural SSRIs. Okay, I'll try again...

If atheism is a religion then .. I had sex with your mother.


----------



## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

HelpfulHero said:


> Being a wee bit technical no?


I like accuracy.



> I mean by that definition bananas are a drug because they act as natural SSRIs. Okay, I'll try again...


I didn't say coffee is a drug, I said caffeine is a drug, so by that definition bananas are not a drug. However, the mental health benefits of bananas are due to their high vitamin B6 content, but vitamins are minerals, not drugs.



> If atheism is a religion then .. I had sex with your mother.


I'm sure you can do better than that.


----------



## retracekim (Jan 13, 2013)

then...any gathering of fanatics is a church service!


----------



## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

If Atheism is a religion then not smoking is a habit.


----------



## HelpfulHero (Aug 14, 2013)

If atheism is a religion, then whales are fish.


----------



## Unnecessary (Nov 16, 2013)

If atheism is a religion, then abstinence is a sexual position.


----------



## WillYouStopDave (Jul 14, 2013)

Not IF. Atheism IS a religion.


----------



## Unnecessary (Nov 16, 2013)

WillYouStopDave said:


> Not IF. Atheism IS a religion.


How so?
I wouldn't consider it a religion, because it's a passive action. It would be like saying what I and other users have said before in this topic.

Remember that atheism isn't believing that there isn't a deity, it's not believing in a deity.


----------



## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

WillYouStopDave said:


> Not IF. Atheism IS a religion.


How about you try to form an argument rather than just making baseless statements. Nobody has any reason to believe or respect you until then.


----------



## thelonelysound (Dec 10, 2013)

has anybody yet said "atheism is a religion like abstinence is a sex position?"


----------



## thelonelysound (Dec 10, 2013)

WillYouStopDave said:


> Not IF. Atheism IS a religion.


I'm a non-astrologist.


----------



## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

WillYouStopDave said:


> Not IF. Atheism IS a religion.


Same way not skiing is a sport. Someone hasn't been paying attention to this entire thread.


----------



## _AJ_ (Jan 23, 2008)

its a religion cause its a collective of people for the belief that their is no god. They all say there absolutely without a doubt is no god without proof. someone with no religion would have to have no belief at all. They'd simply accept there is a hypothesis for the existence of a god and hypothesis for nonexistence and require more proof to determine which is correct.


----------



## Steinerz (Jul 15, 2013)

http://www.strangenotions.com/is-atheism-a-religion/


----------



## thelonelysound (Dec 10, 2013)

_AJ_ said:


> its a religion cause its a collective of people for the belief that their is no god. They all say there absolutely without a doubt is no god without proof. someone with no religion would have to have no belief at all. They'd simply accept there is a hypothesis for the existence of a god and hypothesis for nonexistence and require more proof to determine which is correct.


Well, it fails the scientific method then.

p.s. read the entire thread.


----------



## Greeyygooze (Dec 28, 2013)

WillYouStopDave said:


> Not IF. Atheism IS a religion.


ummm no it is not a religion. keep up with the thread. Atheism is a belief that god does not exist. Theism is a belief that god does exist. Theism is not a religion so therefor Atheism is not a religion. Christianity is a religion. It's a detailed novel that tells us about life and death in a very vague/novelish way.


----------



## Greeyygooze (Dec 28, 2013)

_AJ_ said:


> its a religion cause its a collective of people for the belief that their is no god. They all say there absolutely without a doubt is no god without proof. someone with no religion would have to have no belief at all. They'd simply accept there is a hypothesis for the existence of a god and hypothesis for nonexistence and require more proof to determine which is correct.


no dude. it's just a belief. It's not a religion. people don't worship not having a god. just like how black isn't a color it's the absence of one.


----------



## JoSo (Dec 31, 2013)

Greeyygooze said:


> no dude. it's just a belief. It's not a religion. people don't worship not having a god. just like how black isn't a color it's the absence of one.


most people don't worship not having a god. some weirdos do ¨

If Atheism is a religion, then chocolate is a kind of medicine!


----------



## Arthur Dent (Jan 15, 2013)

_AJ_ said:


> its a religion cause its a collective of people for the belief that their is no god. *They all say there absolutely without a doubt is no god without proof*. someone with no religion would have to have no belief at all. They'd simply accept there is a hypothesis for the existence of a god and hypothesis for nonexistence and require more proof to determine which is correct.


Yay for broad generalizations. I choose not to believe in god because the uncertainty in its existence its way bigger than the uncertainty I have in the things I believe.

Also to the people claiming that atheism it's a religion, please do define both.


----------



## Steinerz (Jul 15, 2013)

Technically atheism isn't a religion.

"*re·li·gion *_noun_ \ri-ˈli-jən\ : the belief in a god or in a group of gods"

Atheism doesn't relate humanity to a god thus it is not a religion.

Though they are the same as a lot of religious people in their will to convert believers. If the term god is mentioned it is an atheists prime mission to tell them that god doesn't exist and that atheism is the one true view of the world. I have seen it countless times where an atheist gets into a debate with a religious person over the existence of god. They usually say "look at all the flaws in the bible." etc etc. I mean if someone mentions even the word of god I always see some atheist roll on in trying to stir the ****.

So they do share some similarities with religions with the way they act about religion but no technically it is not a religion if you want to look at it from dictionary terms.

I hear more of atheists about their beliefs than I do from religious people about theirs.


----------



## Foh_Teej (May 5, 2004)

I have to correct this board several times a month. Theism is the belief in a god or gods. Theism is a SINGLE proposition of which you accept as true, or do not. Atheism is precisely anything not exactly the definition of a theist. It has no other criteria. The only thing atheists necessarily have in common is disbelief in the claim that god(s) exist. Disbelief is NOT the affirmation to the contrary.


----------



## thelonelysound (Dec 10, 2013)

"I hear more of atheists about their beliefs than I do from religious people about theirs."

Nonsense. You just notice it more.


----------



## Steinerz (Jul 15, 2013)

cheers said:


> "I hear more of atheists about their beliefs than I do from religious people about theirs."
> 
> Nonsense. You just notice it more.


Nah. I notice more because they talk about it more.


----------



## gunner21 (Aug 4, 2012)

_AJ_ said:


> its a religion cause its a collective of people for the belief that their is no god. They all say there absolutely without a doubt is no god without proof. someone with no religion would have to have no belief at all. They'd simply accept there is a hypothesis for the existence of a god and hypothesis for nonexistence and require more proof to determine which is correct.


No one says that God doesn't exist for sure. They just say that the probability of his existence is way less than him not existing. Hell, even Richard Dawkins said that he wouldn't say with a 100% certainty that God doesn't exist.


----------



## Foh_Teej (May 5, 2004)

gunner21 said:


> No one says that God doesn't exist for sure. They just say that the probability of his existence is way less than him not existing. Hell, even Richard Dawkins said that he wouldn't say with a 100% certainty that God doesn't exist.


Even this is irrelevant as epistemological positions do not address doxastic positions.


----------



## darkangel (Apr 19, 2005)

Don't worry guys, I gave Aj my point of view on the subject (NOT being a religion) and he was like.. "oh crap you're right.." and said he's just not going to look back at this thread/responses to his post lol


----------



## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

_AJ_ said:


> its a religion cause its a collective of people for the belief that their is no god.


Religion is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence.

Therefore, atheism is a disbelief in a core tenet of religion, and not itself a religion.

If you claim that disbelief in one thing equates to a religion then you have to say that disbelief in anything equates to a religion. Do you?



> They all say there absolutely without a doubt is no god without proof. someone with no religion would have to have no belief at all. They'd simply accept there is a hypothesis for the existence of a god and hypothesis for nonexistence and require more proof to determine which is correct.


To the contrary very few atheists claim to _know _there is no god. Any respectable atheist is technically an agnostic atheist about the god hypothesis, but one who chooses to believe that the chances of it being plausible are low enough not to warrant belief.

Just as any rational person chooses to believe the chances of unicorns being real are so implausible that it doesn't warrant belief. (Until evidence is found to warrant belief)


----------



## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

darkangel said:


> Don't worry guys, I gave Aj my point of view on the subject (NOT being a religion) and he was like.. "oh crap you're right.." and said he's just not going to look back at this thread/responses to his post lol


It's rare for someone to do that much of a u-turn but fair enough. It's good when people can accept the have made a mistake.


----------



## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

SteinerOfThule said:


> Nah. I notice more because they talk about it more.


Isn't that because you are in a forum where the majority of people are atheists?

If you go to the spiritual support forum you'll hear almost nothing but religious beliefs.


----------



## Steinerz (Jul 15, 2013)

ugh1979 said:


> Isn't that because you are in a forum where the majority of people are atheists?
> 
> If you go to the spiritual support forum you'll hear almost nothing but religious beliefs.


True there are a lot of atheists on this forum. What is the connection between SA and atheism.

Though most of the friends in real-life that I had made were atheists. A lot of people I end up talking to are atheists or christians and I just notice the atheists push their agenda more so than the christians did. Though they both pushed a lot imo. The christian ones would just spout random bible babble which I would usually nod my head and go uh huh. Frankly I found both to be annoying.

When you compare the amount of threads talking about the other side of the fence you'll notice more of them on the Atheist Support forum than you would see on the Spiritual Support.

I am not really here for a debate. Just stating my thoughts.

If Atheism is a religion then the moon is made of cheese.


----------



## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

fredbloggs02 said:


> If religion is a positive unjustified assertion and withholding belief is an unjustified positive assertion, then atheism is a religion.


What a terrible logical fallacy.


----------



## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

fredbloggs02 said:


> If atheism is unjustified withholding of assent and unjustified withholding of assent is the unjustified holding of a positive tenet and religion is the unjustified holding of a positive tenet, then atheism is a religion.


What another terrible logical fallacy.

It's on the level of saying all dogs are brown, and all ducks are brown, therefore all dogs are ducks.

I expected better from you.


----------



## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

SteinerOfThule said:


> True there are a lot of atheists on this forum. What is the connection between SA and atheism.


I meant there are a lot of atheists in the atheism, agnostic and religious discussion forum, not the whole SAS message board.

In the same way, there are a lot of sports fans in the sports forum. Is there a connection between SA and sports? Of course not.

The reality is that SA spans all of humanity.



> When you compare the amount of threads talking about the other side of the fence you'll notice more of them on the Atheist Support forum than you would see on the Spiritual Support.


It's perfectly understandable why atheistic topics refer to religion far more than religious topics refer to atheism.


----------



## Steinerz (Jul 15, 2013)

ugh1979 said:


> I meant there are a lot of atheists in the atheism, agnostic and religious discussion forum, not the whole SAS message board.


Oh whoops guess I misunderstood that one.


----------



## Monroee (Aug 26, 2009)

I can't understand those that assert atheism is a religion. Theism is not a religion either. They both simply state whether or not one has a belief in a god. A religion is a set of specific beliefs, ritual practices, moral code, perhaps a holy book. Atheism/theism don't meet the criteria for a religion because they are not religions, simply descriptors. There are _theistic_ religions, there are _atheistic_ religions (like Christianity, or Buddhism, respectively), but notice how they are descriptors/adjectives for other religions, not religions in themselves.


----------



## nooneknowsmyname (Feb 4, 2013)

Saying Atheism is a religion is like saying Anarchy is a political affiliation.


----------



## Resonance (Feb 11, 2010)

Atheism is a religion it's a belief system concerning the divine!

No, no, if atheism a religion, off is a TV channel and bald is a hairstyle.

Bald _is_ a hair style!

Is it though?

I dunno, kind of.

Fair enough. Still though, lack of belief in something isn't really a belief system though is it?

Atheists believe there isn't a God, that is a belief.

Atheists don't necessarily believe there isn't a God, just that current evidence is not convincing enough to believe that there _is._

Isn't that the same thing?

I dunno, kind of, but also no.

etc


----------



## diamondheart89 (Mar 21, 2011)

Resonance said:


> Atheism is a religion it's a belief system concerning the divine!
> 
> No, no, if atheism a religion, off is a TV channel and bald is a hairstyle.
> 
> ...


Always enjoy your arguments with your other personalities. I'm rooting for "Marguerite".


----------



## Freyja (Jan 15, 2014)

A classic: if atheism is a religion, so is the lack of belief in a small teapot in solar orbit between Mars and Jupiter.


----------



## pazuzuinxs (Jan 23, 2014)

If atheism is a religion then---whatever you do don't fall asleep. 
I guess, by definition religion must hold some thing sacred, a la Durkheim. So while even communism may be considered a religion, atheism cannot be. Simply because there nothing is scared or important at all.


----------



## Pierre1 (Apr 25, 2013)

Atheism a religion LOL


----------



## noscreenname (Feb 24, 2013)

WillYouStopDave said:


> Not IF. Atheism IS a religion.


----------



## RRAAGGEE (Mar 15, 2014)

If atheism is a religion, then abstinence is a sexual position.


----------

