atheism is a religion

[shura]

what i'm saying is that EVERYONE HAS TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS. if atheism says there is no god, you have to ask why there isn't a god otherwise you wouldn't have a legitimate reason to deny god in the first place

one of life's big questions: does god exist

atheistic answer: no

THATS ALREADY ONE BIG QUESTION ANSWERED

WITH THAT ANSWER YOU HAVE TO ANSWER OTHER QUESTIONS:

if god doesn't exist then what is the meaning of life? - there isn't one. all purpose you find is just what you create for yourself in the time that you have on earth
if god doesn't exist then where does morality come from? (this wuestion has a lot of different answers provided by different atheists, which ties into my next point)

you would consider theism a religion most likely, but you wouldnt actually get the same answer from all theists because really theism is just a category of religions. the same could be applied to atheism - if you don't call atheism a religion, you couldn't really call theism a religion either. they're both just categories, and atheism has a category of non theistic belief systems (humanism nihlism etc). all of those are definitely worldviews

so if you want to argue that theism and atheism are not religions or worldviews then that's ok i guess, but all of the different beliefs in the atheistic and theistic categories are religions

jesus fuckin christ honestly

the reason why atheism doesn't answer "life's big questions" is becuase there is no standard holy text or scripture (like the bible or torah) that explains it.
Every single atheist will have a different opinion on morality, the meaning of life, and the origin of life. atheism provides no standard answer. the only thing that is consistent with atheists is that they all reject the idea of god.
it is not a worldview or a religion because every single atheist will have a different view of the world, and a different answer to life's big questions. it is totally subjective. there is no standard system of beliefs, doctrines or guidelines. atheism lets YOU decide the answers for yourself. religion is supposed to answer these questions FOR you.

you, rtil and i are all atheists but im sure the 3 of us have very different ideas of morality, the meaning of life, and the origin of life. whereas if you ask 3 different muslims these questions they would all give you the same answers because they are provided for them in the Koran.

if atheism were truly a religion or a worldview it would provide explicit answers and we would all believe the same thing. but it doesn't. and we dont.

[Mew_User]

I don't think these questions are "big" important or should affect anyone's life. Why aren't we content with what we know?

[Ashington]

Great, now can someone lock this thread?

[shura]

yes please for the love of christ

im mad btw!

[emanhattan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kweL_RUXXU4

[jjjjjjjjjj]

i think there is a god but he dont give a fuck

i havent paid attention to any of these threads

also i know i didnt read da threads but when did rtil say he was an atheist WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN RTIL DID YOU GIVE UP ON THE FAITH

[trent bortknob]

the reason why atheism doesn't answer "life's big questions" is becuase there is no standard holy text or scripture (like the bible or torah) that explains it.
Every single atheist will have a different opinion on morality, the meaning of life, and the origin of life. atheism provides no standard answer. the only thing that is consistent with atheists is that they all reject the idea of god.
it is not a worldview or a religion because every single atheist will have a different view of the world, and a different answer to life's big questions. it is totally subjective. there is no standard system of beliefs, doctrines or guidelines. atheism lets YOU decide the answers for yourself. religion is supposed to answer these questions FOR you.

you, rtil and i are all atheists but im sure the 3 of us have very different ideas of morality, the meaning of life, and the origin of life. whereas if you ask 3 different muslims these questions they would all give you the same answers because they are provided for them in the Koran.

if atheism were truly a religion or a worldview it would provide explicit answers and we would all believe the same thing. but it doesn't. and we dont.

that was what i ended up saying wit hthe end of my last post

that basically i guess you could say that atheism doesn't provide any answers of itself because it's just a category. a humanist or a nihilist is a type of atheistic worldview which offers answers

and you don't need scripture to hold beliefs. you can be a hedonist and there definitely arent any sacred hedonist texts

[trent bortknob]

yeah reading up on this i can understand what you guys were saying

theism isn\\\'t a religion either

there is no theistic answer for every question because different theists have different answers

[Isabella]

i suggest you go to the other thread but i'm an atheist and i don't believe in the supernatural but according to the definition of religion that i'm aware of that is popular among most philosophers, atheism just fits the category of religion because the definition doesn't entail any belief in the supernatural or higher powers, just the fact that you have some views that make up the way you view the world

please if your'e going to respond to this, do it in the other thread (that's why i made it)

Ok, my bad. I didn't know this topic existed.

to get understand why atheism is a religion, you have to understand both the definition of atheism and the definition of religion. again, this is from a philosophical stance and not from a any judicial or legal stance. it seems to me that pretty much everyone here believes that religion is the belief in a higher power, but that is not the case. let me give to you again the modern definition of religion that pretty much all philosophers follow:

religion - a set of views and beliefs which make up how one perceives the world

the above definition is synonymous for that of the term "worldview", and it doesn't mention at all any sort of belief in a higher power or in a god or gods.

Your definition is very broad and does not at all reflect the common usage or any dictionary that I've ever seen. I don't know who these philosophers are that you keep talking about, but why they redefine "religion" to mean "world view" is beyond me, since the word "religion" refers to specific types of world views and their associated culture, places of worship, etc. Your point is good if we redefine "good" to mean "useless."

The reason that people say that atheism is a religion (and keep in mind I'm not accusing you of this, as I see you've mentioned that you are an athiest) is as a means of semantic maneuvering to put their religion on the same level as atheism. It's a defensive maneuver to redirect an atheist's criticisms of religion back at himself.

[rtil]

so do you still think atheism is a religion taylor

[trent bortknob]

so do you still think atheism is a religion taylor

i believe the only way that atheism is not a religion is if theism is also not a religion and if instead they're both categories of religions

[DrRumack]

there is no such thing as an atheistic religion so that also makes no sense

[rtil]

so do you still think atheism is a religion taylor

i believe the only way that atheism is not a religion is if theism is also not a religion and if instead they're both categories of religions

theism is a means of categorizing supernatural, spiritual, otherworldly or otherwise completely faith-based beliefs that involve at least one god.

if you now insist atheism is a religious category, you are implying that secular humanism, naturalism, etc, are religions?

[trent bortknob]

yes

those are definitely religions

[put]

I'm used to seeing religion vs atheism threads on other kind of forums and sites that always end with everyone mad and atheists saying that if everyone was atheist this kind of discussions wouldn't exist, and yet I see you guys that are mostly atheists and this kind of gay threads still exist.
Seriously guys, can't you be a little more mature and let everyone think whatever they want  and lock this gay gay thread. Really it's not as if any of this arguments were to change you anyways.

Also:

[rtil]

what's immature about debate? of course there would be no debate threads about religion if religion didn't exist - what's your point?

yes

those are definitely religions

i wholeheartedly disagree with you on the basis that a religion requires a supernatural, faith-based element (like everyone else here), but will you at least concede atheism doesn't meet your broad qualifications for a religion?

[trent bortknob]

what's immature about debate? of course there would be no debate threads about religion if religion didn't exist - what's your point?

yes

those are definitely religions

i wholeheartedly disagree with you on the basis that a religion requires a supernatural, faith-based element (like everyone else here), but will you at least concede atheism doesn't meet your broad qualifications for a religion?

i guess i can see how atheism and theism are not religions

[Clock-Ninja]

Atheists believe in science right?

[rtil]

it's not a prerequisite, so no, not necessarily.

and what do you mean by "believe"?

[trent bortknob]

i'm pretty sure to be taken seriously as an atheist you have to believe that science is objectively true