Atheism is NOT a Religion - Accept this, move on.

Continually, theist ATS members are openly spreading lies and deceit about what Atheism is, and what it is not. Many ATS members are actively trolling any threads or comments which display an openly atheist theme.

Understand this: Atheism is NOT a religion.

Religion IS:

"Religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of life and the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a supernatural agency, or human beings’ relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, spiritual, or divine. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life. They tend to derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle from their ideas about the cosmos and human nature.

The word religion is sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief system, but religion differs from private belief in that it has a public aspect. Most religions have organized behaviors, including congregations for prayer, priestly hierarchies, holy places, and/or scriptures."

SOURCE: Wikipedia

Atheists do not know what the cause, nature or purpose of life and the universe is. We do not pretend to know.

Atheists think that the only supernatural agency we know of is the FBI's X-Files department. That and the staff department of ATS!

Atheists are not capable of thinking something 'holy' or 'divine', unless you take into account sport - then you'll find we're very holy about our favourite teams!

Atheists have no standard 'narrative' or 'dogma'.

Atheists have no symbols or traditions.

Atheists have no sacred histories or ancient stories to tell.

Atheists DO NOT KNOW THE MEANING OR PURPOSE OF LIFE, and do not pretend to know. (Again, just for good measure.)

Atheists derive morality, ethics, laws and our lifestyles from the society around us, based on empirical, provable, 'Social Contracts' and 'Utilitarian' philosophies associated with Democracy. NOT Theocratic 'diktat'.

Atheists generally have ideas about the cosmos and human nature derived from the application of scientific method to generate facts. If scientific method proves something beyond all reasonable doubt, we take it as fact.

Atheists generally only have faith in hard evidence. Sometimes we have faith in humanity, but we are a sceptical bunch.

Atheists do not discriminate between private and public and public opinion on theism - we can't, as the difference just doesn't apply to us, we do not comprehend this difference.

Atheists have no organized behaviours - we all do our own thing, with our own motivations.

Atheists have no prayers. We have hopes and fears - but we know that our destiny is of our own making for the most part.

We do not need to congregate to share our lack of belief.

Atheists have no organisational structure, and therefore hierarchy is not applicable.

Atheists have no holy places, unless you count sites where mass murder in the name of religion took place - e.g. Ground Zero.

Atheists have no scriptures - only protests at being abused by theism formed in the written word. To normal people, these are known as books.

Atheism is NOT a religion - do not Troll by arguing that Atheism is one.

The Reverend Revenant.

I couldn't agree more with you :-) Nice Post

reply to post by Shminkee Pinkee


Thank you! Very kind words. Let's hope our colleagues in denying ignorance all receive a little education here.

Rev.

Atheism is pretty much the same thing as being agnostic, innit?

It's the Anti-religion.
Star for common sense.

reply to post by SamTGonzalez


Not really. I'm agnostic, and that means that I am not sure, I don't know, and am open to the truth.
Atheists do not believe in god, and denounce any existence.

Originally posted by CHEDwick
reply to post by SamTGonzalez

 

Not really. I'm agnostic, and that means that I am not sure, I don't know, and am open to the truth.
Atheists do not believe in god, and denounce any existence.

Your sentiment is accurate, and your idea of agnosticism is accurate too. But Atheism isn't about purposefully NOT believing, it's just that we don't care either way. We don't denounce existence of theistic entities, we refute evidence put forward to suggest they do, as that evidence is always flawed.

The Rev.

But...but...Atheism is INDEED A RELIGON!!! :-P

It's the belief in oneself. Still a belief, regardless of in public or in private. With the fullest liberty to pursue one's goal in life. And worse, with no moral qualms to adopt any other's beliefs to their atheist system of beliefs in such pursuits.

A religon often comes with demands such as 'thou shalt not.....whatever...etc.

Already, the Atheist OP had demanded others to 'Thou shalt not troll by claiming atheism is a religion'.

Deny ignorance, c'mon my brothers and sisters of the atheist faith. You DO HAVE a belief and its in yourself. Should you claim that you do not have a religon, it would mean you do not believe in yourself, have no confidence, and your meaning of existance in this life is worthless, no reason at all to wake up in the morning!!!! :-P :-P

cmon who you kidding... atheism is a belief system just like religon who you trying to kid?

kx

Originally posted by SeekerofTruth101
But...but...Atheism is INDEED A RELIGON!!! :-P

It's the belief in oneself. Still a belief, regardless of in public or in private. With the fullest liberty to pursue one's goal in life. And worse, with no moral qualms to adopt any other's beliefs to their atheist system of beliefs in such pursuits.

Sorry Seeker.... That's not Atheism - that's more akin to Humanism.

Atheism is not belief in one's self. That's called self-confidence, and is a very different thing. You're talking semantics here.

Rev.

reply to post by purplemer


No kidding my friend. Refute the OP if you will, but do bring a bag... with evidence in it.

The Rev.

reply to post by SeekerofTruth101


Being a former Atheist I can say it's a choice. People who use the Atheist title to define themselves have different characteristics. Many people who I have seen use the Atheist title feel like they are above everyone else or that they have not yet matured enough.

reply to post by The Revenant


I'm not sure what the point of this thread is and I'm an atheist.

Originally posted by backinblack
reply to post by The Revenant

 

I'm not sure what the point of this thread is and I'm an atheist.

Enjoy your trolling while it lasts - try not to follow me thread to thread please.

Rev.

reply to post by The Revenant


Whether or not a lack of faith would qualify as an actual faith, in and of itself, is great fodder for rhetorical debate and discussion...

But in real world application, I can tell you this much. Atheists tend to be every bit as zealous in their lack of belief as believers are in their chosen beliefs. Both sides tend to get so heated that, with the volume down, so to speak, one wouldn't be able to differentiate which participant was the believer and which the nonbeliever.

So, in that regard, the two things do share a commonality.

~Heff

Originally posted by The Revenant

Originally posted by backinblack
reply to post by The Revenant

 

I'm not sure what the point of this thread is and I'm an atheist.

Enjoy your trolling while it lasts - try not to follow me thread to thread please.

Rev.

lol mate, don't flatter yourself..
I read many threads..
BTW, the last thread you actually followed me.
And thats the only thread other than this I've come across you..
You simply make no sense..
Go figure..

reply to post by The Revenant


I guess I am agnostic, then.
I believe in God, but not the way that any of the religions in this world portray him.
I believe that "God" is actually the Universe as a whole.

Originally posted by Hefficide
reply to post by The Revenant

 

But in real world application, I can tell you this much. Atheists tend to be every bit as zealous in their lack of belief as believers are in their chosen beliefs. Both sides tend to get so heated that, with the volume down, so to speak, one wouldn't be able to differentiate which participant was the believer and which the nonbeliever.

So, in that regard, the two things do share a commonality.

~Heff

I couldn't agree more. I think it's necessary to define for our more egregious friends that Atheism isn't a religion, as they wish to drag this concept into their mire of theistic contrivances.

You are right though - that is a commonality.

Rev.

reply to post by Hefficide


I agree with this, well said.

Personally, I describe myself as an agnostic- how can we know for sure that there is no god? I most certainly can't prove it either way. I don't believe that there is any truth in the god the bible describes, because that would be truly depressing.

On one hand, it annoys me a bit to see people of faith try and push it in everyones faces. On the other, it's annoying to see people who describe themselves as atheists, who seemingly believe they have the answers to everything, including the universe. Try sitting on the fence sometime, it's comfy.

Originally posted by SamTGonzalez
reply to post by The Revenant

 

I guess I am agnostic, then.
I believe in God, but not the way that any of the religions in this world portray him.
I believe that "God" is actually the Universe as a whole.

That is an inspired take on things, and an accurate assessment of your own thoughts. Thank you for being accurate with your language.

Rev.