Why Atheism Is A Religion

This is the one argument you've made so far that could convince me. Should atheists have first amendment protection as a religion for purposes of claiming the right not to be discriminated against? I 'd say yes, because they hold a conscientious position on the existence of god(s)--a negative one, to be sure. I think it's possible to get to the same place, as far as constitutional protections are concerned, via first amendment freedom of speech and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment without getting into the religion issue. But I do think the first amendment should extend to any expression of conscience. And if that's true, atheism must be a religion , but in a special context. I go along with Meagain on that one.

 

I cannot be devoted to Reason , and I don't mind if you are .

As to answering these criticisms - hey , thanks for playing . My ideas y'all
refer to is a ball of yarn thrown to the kittens .

 

As an activist in the service of Reason , a non-atheist' devotion could be anything but Atheism .

 

Why can you not be devoted to reason?

If you're going to sit back and throw out cryptic criticisms of atheists as a group you might want to have the intellectual honesty and fortitude of character to actually explain your reasoning instead of playing the "haha jk you guys i dont even care" card as soon as you are challenged by someone who is used to uncovering deepities on the internet.

 

You can be devoted to Reason. And others can be devoted to God. It's perfectly OK to have devotion in Religion, afterall. Reason is to Atheists what Faith is to Theists.

 

Thanks for asking .

My devotion to the Quest is too constrained by orderly reasoning . Often , reasoning is
only an after-thought when I feel like translating elemental thought and feeling into generic
social language .

And now in the new year of 2016 , I may feel like Questing a new Devotion ... which could be
a rational discovery through adventure ( and what it shall be cannot be reasoned ) .

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I have not said all athiests comprise a cult . The conspirators are Devotees , and those can be
so cruel when they are encountered as activist internet creatures . They are able to promote
genocide as reasonable . Some religious people are athiests in that way , some athiests are
religious like that . It's a slippery , slimy cult .

 

I agree. Naturally it's like this.

I disagree. Seems an oversimplification. Reason can be and often has been the same to theists as to certain atheists. Even when it's not so it is still not right to conclude that reason is to atheists what faith is to theists. Well, if you would include 'to some' it seems right. Lots of theists seem to be devoted to (what they perceive as) good, which is not exactly the same as god, and not mainly or primarily their faith. Faith is related to trust and hope: it helps, but it is generally not what people are devoted to in the first place.

 

I think that it makes sense in the fact that Reason is what is used to conclude or disbelieve in God for Atheists. It is saying, "I can't see or find God in a way that can be measured Scientfically, so I therefore conclude that it doesn't exist until further evidence is presented".

This mirrors what Faith is for Theists, which is saying "I can't see or find God in a way that can be measured Scientifically, and yet, I still have intuition and trust that God still exists".

Neither one can measure God. One says through Reason that therefore, God isn't real. The other opposite end of the spectrum has Faith that God is real anyway.

 

Yeah, I can see how you got there and it kind of makes sense. Still it is a general statement and doesn't work for all theists or atheists. I'm not even sure it is correct as a general statement.

I also understand how you got to the conclusion that atheism is a religion and it is not completely nonsensical either. Still, It doesn't make atheism as a whole a religion or the bigger majority of people that are atheist religious. Perhaps it seems a fitting description for just those atheists that joined in on that church idea (and fit those other 7 things of religion), which seems a minority.

 

Well I feel that perhaps Atheism may have not always been a Religion. But in its gaining of momentum, it is starting to glaringly show characteristics of a Religion, currently.

 

I think it always was a religion. I think they have convictions they try to hide, like "fuck authority." I don't understand the need to be so cerebral. Maybe it's to deal with overzealous Christians who would try to harass them into converting if they detected a hint of emotion.

A perfect example of how I know it's a religion is this refusal to do a deathbed repentance or let people pray for them at death. Why not just do it? Just in case! What's the harm, even if they think it's silly? If someone wants me to read a letter to Santa Claus before I die, I would just do it! If I get to go to the North Pole and collect presents, even better. If I don't, I didn't lose anything. What if I refuse and I go to the South Pole and get beaten by penguins?

Because to an atheist, in their religious belief system, the worst thing you can be in life is...a hypocrite.

 

I would agree. Didn't know that about the deathbed praying, but it makes sense. Atheists are just as proud as any other Religion, and have certain standards. I would be honored to have any sort of prayer that somebody felt inspired to do if they wanted to at my deathbed, rather than smugly saying "no" as my proud Atheist ego is frightened yet has intellectually convinced itself that it knows that nothing happens once it dies. Pretty lame way to spend your final hours.

 

That's like saying why not accept every Jehovah's Witnesses offering that comes to your door? Just in Case..

Regardless of beliefs, I think when most people are dying they just want to be surrounded by a few close loved ones and introducing random people to start praying for you, imo seems in pretty bad taste.

 

What if it's a close loved one that's praying for you?

 

It's up to the individual, some people refuse to take medications or certain treatments too when they are dying. If they don't see praying as useful when they are dying, why begrudge them as "lame" for that? That's pretty callous.

 

Because, it's a rather smug approach to death. Right before you die, you shouldn't be carrying your beliefs to the grave. You should be in full surrender mode to all possibilities.

 

There are plenty of people who die who don't get an opportunity to weigh various possibilities before dying, (babies dying young, people shot, so and so forth) so that negates your idea.

 

We are talking about the deathbed scenario. If you do have the opportunity to weigh it, then why be a crank about someone praying for you? Pathetic.

 

It's the individual choice, just because you want a whole circus of priests, palm readers, astrologers and so forth around your deathbed doesn't mean it's for everyone. Hey while we're at it and since it's "religion", do you want to add some atheists around your deathbed telling you how all your cell walls are going to break down and micro-organisms will feed on you and stuff too?