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Is Atheism a religion

I'm guessing this has been discussed before but i got into a debate with a religious (christian) friend of mine. It started with "Well, atheists don't believe in anything" and ended with him saying Atheism is just another false religion (like Hinduism in his mind). I really couldn't debate one way or another whether Atheism was a religion or not. Thoughts?

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Permalink Reply by Madhukar Kulkarni on November 22, 2011 at 8:03am

TNT666! You call humanism a religion or a dogma but your your anger seems to be directed towards gods looking like humans. No one doubts that they have been created by humans and that is why we too dislike them, but humanism is far, far removed from these gods. Please, forget the gods for a moment, they are not at all an issue in our present discussion. There is no relation between any kind of gods and humanism. Humanism is just noyhing but COMPASSION towards all living things. What is wrong with this? How does this get related to gods? If you have anything against humanism, you must be able also to say what is your alternative to this.

TNT666, please leave aside your notions for some time and make full effort to see why those 'that you have met here' think well of humanism. Another thing I want to make clear very specifically is that I neither believe nor have said that humanism= atheism. There is no mathematical relation between the two!You see, every atheist is a rational thinking person and we all, including you, must have some clear view, not only of present but of the future too. You owe it to your atheist friends that you should make a sympathatic effort to understand their thoughts that they have formulated after great deliberations.

I only hope that this time your reply will be accurately to the point, if what you say is not to appear as cynicism.

One doubt. If you say that you are a third generation atheist, have yo simply inherited atheism, like religion? No offence meant.

Madhukar Kulkarni.

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Permalink Reply by TNT666 on November 22, 2011 at 9:30am

Your words from your first comment:

A religion says that its own beliefs and practices are correct and any contrary beliefs are incorrect. [...] suffice to say that atheism is as opposite to religion as any two things can be. It believes in humanism and is not in intolerant.

-First sentence confirms Humanism's link with religion (not gods)

-2nd sentence... "it" was a stand-in for atheism

As for your last response, I am not angry at gods for no such human concoctions exist. And one cannot "inherit" atheism for there is no such "thing" as atheism. I am atheist because my parents raised me as an individual rational questioning thinker. What I inherited was the use of my brain to question the dictates of society. I am the only strong atheist in my family, the rest of my family use various atheist related words to self-describe, not necessarily atheist, as this atheist forum has many people who self describe with a variation, such as agnostics.

Compassion is a trait of many humans, of many different religions. or non. Compassion does not belong to Humanism alone. But now I start to see where you err in your understanding, you seem to use your own personal definition of Humanism humanism, which in fact just stands in for humane? Which is again is entirely different from Humanism. There is indeed a very small minority of Humanists who are "compassionate to all living things", but that in no way is today's foundation of Humanism.

But as my final contribution on this... my point in responding to you was not to discuss Humanism, as it's futile, but to redress your apparent interchangeability of atheist and Humanist from your first post. Arrivaderci, as I too tire of this thread.

Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on November 22, 2011 at 5:43am

"Atheists have no manifesto, no agenda," but TNT666 does, and they are more rigid than those of any theist I've ever met.

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Permalink Reply by Madhukar Kulkarni on November 22, 2011 at 8:16am

Why should this die in misery? Simply because of some differences? Why dont you add your different views too. I do not think that differences are misery. At least, I would not want this to die so soon. I may still have to say a lot more. Please join the discussion.

MADHUKAR KULKARNI.