I need definition help!!

[sandy whitelinger]

Debating with someone who choses to use words differently than their meaning is about a useful a a kickstand on a tank.

Perhaps it would be good, before getting in a debate with someone, to agree on a dictionary to use.

 

[Valjean]

Did you actually go to dictionary.com yourself and look up the definition of religion? [/quote]

Yep I did. An I used those words exactly to disprove that the definition implies atheism is religion. Because as we all know, atheists don't necessarily share the same belief system or ideals. The only one they can all agree on is there is no god.

And Zenzero... I honestly am not sure what you're talking about. I don't know if you're trying to be profound or trying to give me a life lesson or what. But if it's important to you... well, ok then.

Atheism has no belief system and no ideals. Any belief system or ideals an individual atheist holds is entirely unrelated to his atheism.
Only hard atheism believes there is no God. Ordinary, soft atheism is simply a choice not to believe until some evidence is produced.

 

[robtex]

:help:
I'm having a debate with someone in another forum who keeps trying to tell me atheism is a religion. I know it is not!

You never posted the link to your debate but based on this alone I am going to suggest you are not in a debate. The person or people who make a vapid claim such as this have already decided their position on god, atheism and anything to those related topics and are very unlikely to change opinion irregardless of what you post. A debate is only legitimate if both sides view the opposing arguments and address them in relation to the op. From my experience a theist who starts off with "atheism is a religion" is rarely if ever, open to anything that opposes their opinion or suggests that their God 100 % surely exists.

Generally if you see things like :

1) atheism is a religion
2) You can't prove God doesn't exist
3) absence of evidence is not evidence of absence
4) ID (or creationism) is just as valid as evolution
5) Atheist deny God based on faith

or other equally vapid phrases you are not likely in a debate. You are more likely part of proselytizing event where everything you post will be ignored while the other side sticks to their opening premise as "proof that God exists".

 

[Tristesse]

:help:
I'm having a debate with someone in another forum who keeps trying to tell me atheism is a religion. I know it is not! They posted the definition of "religion" (from dictionary.com) and said that atheists share a common belief, so therefore that makes it a religion. I said atheists share a common disbelief, and therfore it isn't a religion! You can't make a religion out of not believing something. I went even further to give them a definition of atheism (via dictionary.com) and told them that every definition of religion says something about how a religion "usually has a set of morals/ethics often agreed upon by a sect or group". Atheists don't have a common moral ground. In fact, the only thing they do have in common is not believing in god!

They replied "usually... not always."

That's it? How lame! I gave three valid reasons and they toss me one lame one?? So I argued again that every definition of religion says it has a moral standard, and atheism does not. So how can it be religion? It seems to me that they are just incapable of accepting the idea that someone does not have a religion, so they need to make it one.

Can anyone help me out here?? Find me a definition/explaination that might settle that no, atheism is not a religion no matter how bad this person seems to want it to be?

It's not a religion, all atheism is, is a single answer to a single question. Everything else is up for grabs. Atheism is not a system of beliefs, which most religions are. It's a single stance on one issue, nothing more, it's just a lack of belief in a god or gods. There isn't a system of beliefs that follow from it, there isn't any dogma, or tenets. It would be like saying, having a lack of belief in unicorns is a religion.

 

[Tristesse]

I came up with an excellent analogy for atheism against theism. Ask them "is wearing nothing a new type of clothing?"

HAHA! or is bald a hair color?

 

[Thales of Ga.]

And then there is the kind of faith-head like haughty John Haught who declares that we atheists should be like the Existentialist ones who take atheism to its distressing outcome! John Loftus told him that was just a straw man and that we can be ever so exuberant, in effect! Haught said OK, but he probably still runs that one.

 

[DeitySlayer]

Atheism is a disbelief in supernatural deities, theism the belief in supernatural deities. Both are massive overarching descriptions which contain hundreds of subsections. People forget that atheism is just as diverse as theism; you can have Buddhists, secularists, humanists, anti-theists, Hindu atheists, spiritualists, Scientologists etc.etc.

If 'atheism' is a religion, then so is 'theism'.

 

[Skwim]

That's pretty clever. I'll use that. Although the correct response to that would be "The Emperor's new clothing made him appear nude to all those who could not see the Truth!"

As the Hans Christian Anderson version goes, the Emperor was told by two unscrupulous weavers that they could weave him clothes whose special power would make him invisible to everyone who was stupid or not fit for his post. However, when he went out in public wearing the "clothes" that's not how he appeared. To everyone he appeared as naked as he really was.

 

[Senior NevaLes X]

For starters religion is a point set in time devouted to the praise of the god of what ever your denomination is. My point is in religion people tend to worship there god the most at a certain time. My personal theology is this. There is a Creator of all life. No belief can ever get beyond that fact. Now if you love your mother or like icecream for that matter then you have SOMETHING to be thankful for. Here is the most important part though. ITS ALL ABOUT LOVE AND DOING WHATS RIGHT FOR YOUR FELLOW MAN. IF IT IS PRO LIFE AND DOESNT INSULT, DISCOURAGE, BELITTLE, DESTROY ETC. Then you are on a path of enlightenment and your actions will not go unrewared. We as individuals must strive for holiness. Go boldly before the thrown and confess all sin. Rise and continue to uplift one another!

 

[Tor_Hershman]

I"m an Atheist and IMO people who say if the whole world became atheist THEN it would be a better planet DO turn Atheism into a religion.

Frankly, put a monkey in a Dali Lama outfit, a Pope costume, a Billy Graham suit or a Darwin getup and you have.....a monkey.

 

[NewGuyOnTheBlock]

This is an argument I have given up on.

There are a couple points that could be made to help your case; though specific definitions of "religion" are ambiguous at best, making defense difficult; and you will never unconvince the convinced.

• We have no clergy, no uniform doctrines; no holidays, no rituals, no temples or synagogues. We have no prayers, no deities, no "scriptures". We lack all the trappings of religion; we are everything that religion is NOT.
• What sets us apart from religions is the lack of belief in life after death, soul and spirit. We do not concern ourselves with the fate of our immortal souls, nor heaven or hell or hades, nirvana, reincarnation, ascending. This is the one commonality of all religions: that there is some kind of life after death, and what we do in our mortal life dictates the fate, punishment or reward we will experience after death. Atheism, unlike all religions, lacks such dogma.

 

[NewGuyOnTheBlock]

I"m an Atheist and IMO people who say if the whole world became atheist THEN it would be a better planet DO turn Atheism into a religion.

Frankly, put a monkey in a Dali Lama outfit, a Pope costume, a Billy Graham suit or a Darwin getup and you have.....a monkey.

Then republicans and democrats are religions; as many would state the same about "if republicans ran the world ... " Next, we can add capitalists or communists; who believe that the world would be a better planet if everyone shared their views; so capitalism and communism are also religions.

Religion should not be defined as merely having a strongly held belief or opinion. Such a broad definition of religion turns everything into a religion.

 

[Marisa]

Atheism is a religion like bald is a hair color. Like "off" is a TV channel. Like not collecting stamps is a hobby. Like not playing golf is a sport.

 

[Curious George]

This topic has come up on RF before. The problem rests in how definitions of both "religion" and "atheism" are defined. Your argument seems to revolve around the latter. Usually the two definitions are atheist = not theist, and atheist = believes god/gods do not exist.

Hope this helps. Either way both discussions usually bring about long winded posts have fun, hope you learn something in your discussions. Otherwise, you should probably just walk away from that contentious poster now.