Thread: Atheism is a religion

Maybe somebody could answer a question for me: what is this obsession with establishing atheism as a religion? I just don't get it.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Bow To The Robots

Maybe somebody could answer a question for me: what is this obsession with establishing atheism as a religion? I just don't get it.

Thanks.

Religious belief cannot move anything in reality. For example, an existence of divinity has no impact on the physical world. It only has value within the realm of itself. Therefore, it must be asserted that any opposition (usually just being an absence of religiousity) is included within that realm, or else it has no impact at all. Which, though it cannot move anything in reality, is not an option as it moves tremendous amounts of things in the mind.


I remember Kmisho having referred to it as a desire to say, "you're just as bad as I am". Which is the shorter version of the same phenomenon.

Originally Posted by Swensson

You do, of course, realise that this thread was not meant to reiterate the same old tired arguments over and over but to try to figure out where the discussion is actually going, right?

It's a very common debate which to me seems to have the same philosophical implications as sock colour yet people get heavily involved in the debate and spend endless hours on a fight that wouldn't change the state of the overall discussion if it was settled.

I understand the premise for the question, but being that atheism is not a religion, the question is somewhat irrelevant. Akin to asking "what if the sky was neon green...?".

I don't think anything would change whether we all decided to call it a religion or the theists all decided to stop calling it a religion.

Originally Posted by Bow To The Robots

Maybe somebody could answer a question for me: what is this obsession with establishing atheism as a religion? I just don't get it.

Thanks.

What is the obsession with atheism taking on religion ALL the time?

And the reason people do it, is to point out that atheism's focus is essentially hypocrisy. Well, nothing essentially about it, it is straight up hypocrisy.

What is it atheists like to say?

#1 - Religion is stupid because you believe in things without proof. Guess what atheists, you are utterly convinced in something without a shread of evidence.

#2 - that there are just too many contradictions in religion. LIke this?

http://www.atheists.org/religion

Oh, religion causes anything and everything wrong - especially violence.

http://www.atheists.org/military

But, gosh darn it, we atheists are nit cowards and we have been there with you the whole time!

No apparently contradiction averse atheist has ever voiced concern about that, or many other, contradictions in the statements of atheism. Worse, we routinely see atheists chastize religious people for violence, but, in a slightly differnt context, brave, brave atheists would have us believe they are all Delta Force Ranger Ninjas.

Its the same contradiction that leads to the inclusion of Jefferson and Einstein, who both believed in God, as atheists, but the exclusion of prisoners who have no God but do not actively describe themselves as atheists. Buddhists = Good atheists, North Koreas = communists, not atheists.

#3 religion has a doctrine and you don't.

That is pure BS as well. How many atheists have explained what agnostic atheism is, as per the OP BTW, and done so by referring s to a doctrinal source - like Wikipedia - to explain it, often in derision like, "Geez, are you too stupid to read that (putting aside the apparent inability of atheists to read the Bible for a moment - ahem)".

And yet, that means you are not a bunch of ruged bear eating individualists does it? It means the wikipedia definition of agnostic atheism defines your beliefs - and all other agnostic atheists who refer to it as well.

So, what is it about religion that you hate? What is that you hate in religion that does not also apply to you?

At some point, the more thoughful and intelligent atheists will see this and conclude that they are just being jerks for no reason - then they engage with their brains and .... can no longer be atheists.

Its the reason I left atheism. Left it for something MUCH better mind you.

Originally Posted by Neutral

What is the obsession with atheism taking on religion ALL the time?

And the reason people do it, is to point out that atheism's focus is essentially hypocrisy. Well, nothing essentially about it, it is straight up hypocrisy.

What is it atheists like to say?

#1 - Religion is stupid because you believe in things without proof. Guess what atheists, you are utterly convinced in something without a shread of evidence.

#2 - that there are just too many contradictions in religion. LIke this?

http://www.atheists.org/religion

Oh, religion causes anything and everything wrong - especially violence.

http://www.atheists.org/military

But, gosh darn it, we atheists are nit cowards and we have been there with you the whole time!

No apparently contradiction averse atheist has ever voiced concern about that, or many other, contradictions in the statements of atheism. Worse, we routinely see atheists chastize religious people for violence, but, in a slightly differnt context, brave, brave atheists would have us believe they are all Delta Force Ranger Ninjas.

Its the same contradiction that leads to the inclusion of Jefferson and Einstein, who both believed in God, as atheists, but the exclusion of prisoners who have no God but do not actively describe themselves as atheists. Buddhists = Good atheists, North Koreas = communists, not atheists.

#3 religion has a doctrine and you don't.

That is pure BS as well. How many atheists have explained what agnostic atheism is, as per the OP BTW, and done so by referring s to a doctrinal source - like Wikipedia - to explain it, often in derision like, "Geez, are you too stupid to read that (putting aside the apparent inability of atheists to read the Bible for a moment - ahem)".

And yet, that means you are not a bunch of ruged bear eating individualists does it? It means the wikipedia definition of agnostic atheism defines your beliefs - and all other agnostic atheists who refer to it as well.

So, what is it about religion that you hate? What is that you hate in religion that does not also apply to you?

At some point, the more thoughful and intelligent atheists will see this and conclude that they are just being jerks for no reason - then they engage with their brains and .... can no longer be atheists.

Its the reason I left atheism. Left it for something MUCH better mind you.

Did you just now ignore the actual question (including the one you quoted) and just randomly off-topiced to your favourite area? Is there anything in this post that even touches on why the discussion on whether atheism is a religion or not is discussed? I can't stop you but it'd be nice to have some order around here.

Originally Posted by Swensson

Did you just now ignore the actual question (including the one you quoted) and just randomly off-topiced to your favourite area? Is there anything in this post that even touches on why the discussion on whether atheism is a religion or not is discussed? I can't stop you but it'd be nice to have some order around here.

Agh, so atheists, who like to pride themselves on their skepticism of religion, don't seem to like it much when it is applied to their precious atheism.

The question was: What the obsession with people attempting make atheism a religion? Are you daft?

The answer: Because all the faults atheists find in religion are present in atheism - and by applying the standards and faults atheist find in religion ... hmmm, they are all present in atheism. Go figure.

Oh, YOU don't want to hear that? Well, we get a little tired of atheists romping through various religions and accusing people of being murders and rapists as well. Once again, go figure.

Originally Posted by Neutral

Agh, so atheists, who like to pride themselves on their skepticism of religion, don't seem to like it much when it is applied to their precious atheism.

The question was: What the obsession with people attempting make atheism a religion? Are you daft?

The answer: Because all the faults atheists find in religion are present in atheism - and by applying the standards and faults atheist find in religion ... hmmm, they are all present in atheism. Go figure.

Oh, YOU don't want to hear that? Well, we get a little tired of atheists romping through various religions and accusing people of being murders and rapists as well. Once again, go figure.

I believe that I have addressed such questions several times in the past, however, I have done so in appropriate threads. It is not that I don't want to answer your questions (since I already have), but that I do want answers to the questions that the thread is actually about, which is why I created it to begin with. If your logic is that the person who can spam their questions to the largest number of threads is most entitled to an answer, then I guess you have a point.

Anyway, your answer.

Originally Posted by Neutral

The answer: Because all the faults atheists find in religion are present in atheism - and by applying the standards and faults atheist find in religion ... hmmm, they are all present in atheism. Go figure.

And how exactly does labelling atheism a religion deal with this issue? If, as you say, atheism has the certain flaws that also belong to other concepts, including religions, then why not just discuss those issues instead of going into an unsolvable, infected, semantic argument which only complicates things? This is why I worded the thread the way I did, I wanted to know what logical conclusions would be drawn from the decision that would be arguments in the actual debate, whether there is a god or not.

Originally Posted by Neutral

Agh, so atheists, who like to pride themselves on their skepticism of religion, don't seem to like it much when it is applied to their precious atheism.

The question was: What the obsession with people attempting make atheism a religion? Are you daft?

The answer: Because all the faults atheists find in religion are present in atheism - and by applying the standards and faults atheist find in religion ... hmmm, they are all present in atheism. Go figure.

Oh, YOU don't want to hear that? Well, we get a little tired of atheists romping through various religions and accusing people of being murders and rapists as well. Once again, go figure.

Thank you for clarifying that. You're probably going to want to go gargle with lye at this point, because I agree with you.

Originally Posted by Bow To The Robots

Maybe somebody could answer a question for me: what is this obsession with establishing atheism as a religion? I just don't get it.

Thanks.

"If religion is bad, then since atheism is bad, it must be a religion"

The above is a quote to me from a neighbor who goes to something called a "rock church", is a religious nut (cannot complete one sentence without a reference to the KJV of the bible) and leader of a local tea party congregation.