Why is it that some religious proponents treat or label Atheism as a religion? Is it easier to group us all together under that label and ascribe beliefs to us?
The only thing that you can be sure of if someone labels them self as an Atheist is that they don’t have a belief in god(s). Sure they are probably supporters, adherents of the scientific method, probably accept the theory of evolution and other well supported scientific explanations but not necessarily so. I have an Atheist colleague who subscribes to chakra’s and alternative healing methods that I am sceptical of.
Do some atheists behave as if they were part of a religion?
I am sure that there are Atheists for whom Atheism is just another position to be tried in their journey of self discovery – rebelling against the religion of their parents, trying on a new coat so to speak.
I suppose it is hard to suppress a movement if there is none in the first place. Do we need to supply a creed, a statement of understanding for Atheists to the rest of the world ? Is this even possible?
In the absence of a statement are we at the mercy of the religious to create us in the form they wish, the focus of the worlds woes?
Is this why every atheist blog is important, we are not a religion, we are a collection of individuals with a common stance in the absence of belief in god(s), we are a diverse and elusive enemy, pehaps this is both a strength and a weakness. A weakness in that we gain strength only when we combine on an issue – a woman’s right to choose, the right to die, the separation of church and state. A strength in that we are hard to pin down, to pigeon hole?
Thoughts?
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I have a friend who is an atheist and she too leans towards belief in certain mysticisms. She is currently into Depak Chopra…Obviously it’s possible to be an atheist and still believe in stupid stuff.
I’m not sure what the religious right has to gain by labeling atheism as a religion. It’s kind of weird how they use the term “religion” as a way to describe atheism in a negative way, when religion is their cornerstone. Ironic huh?
When I first started researching every scape of info about xianity and gods my DH said I was just as religious about my atheism as my family of origin was about being baptist. It make me stop and re-examine just how I wanted to spend my free time.
I don’t think I cut back from the Internet much, but I’m not obsessive about it anymore. And I feel more comfortable being an atheist now.
I know for me, going from christianity to atheism was a long drawn out set of plateaus over the course of about 10 years because I wasn’t aggressively becoming an atheist. It was more like a slow assending grasp of realizing there just isn’t a god.
The first stage was total denial that there couldn’t be a god. Wanting there to be a god but not really believing there was. Being pissed there wasn’t a god. Then being really pissed at the church for continuuing the belief that there is a god when I don’t think the top leaders genuinely believe. [pope, bishops, etc...]
Right now I’m really exploring what it means to be an atheist.
And it totally baffles me when people assume they know ANYTHING about me because I’m an atheist. The one that really gets my shorts in a bundle is being called a moral relativist. WOW. It just seems so insulting when someone says “Yeah, but you’re an atheist so morals are all just relative”. [seeing red].
If you find out someone is a biblical literalist you can guess a lot about them. Finding out someone is an atheist doesn’t even guarantee that the person doesn’t go to church.
Fundies are weird.
Summer,
I watched a documentary “The Little people of America” or something resembling that title. In charted the lives of 6or 7 “dwarfs”. One of these guys had been a real hard line proad to be a dwarf in his younger years, you know like gay pride, he was all for dwarf pride. At the end of the documentary he said that he had retired, he had given up fighting so hard for recognition(had got some measure of it) and now just wanted to live. For me I think it is good to do some deep thinking, but not become to redaical or rabid about Atheism, it is all in all just a statement of disbelief.
excuse the spelling in that last post
Ginny,
reading fundamentalist sites does my head in, it seems to me that they try and create a number of straw man arguments or ascribe a lot of straw man arguments to atheists as if we were a unified group and attempt to discredit atheists or at least reinforce stereotypes about them.
For me I think it is good to do some deep thinking, but not become to radical or rabid about Atheism, it is all in all just a statement of disbelief.
I couldn’t agree more. I think the more “rabid” atheists help perpetuate the stereotypes. It’s no different with Christians I suppose. We tend to lump them all together too because of their bad apples…I try not to do this but sometimes I think I do.
Ginny,
reading fundamentalist sites does my head in, it seems to me that they try and create a number of straw man arguments or ascribe a lot of straw man arguments to atheists as if we were a unified group and attempt to discredit atheists or at least reinforce stereotypes about them.
I agree, however I do think atheists are becoming more unified these days…but my perspective could be very limited on that given I spend most of my time with other atheists…
Good post, Sean.
I know what you mean about the Fundie blogs. I recently came to grips with my atheism…I think I am in the ‘pissed that there is no God’ stage and had to go make fun of the Fundies. Wow the idiotic stuff that spews from the fingers of some of them is laughable.
Thanks Tex. It was more of a late night, train of thought blog than anything noteworthy. I have a number of things I would like to post about, but they require deep thought and time.
If i have ever called atheism a religion, it's probably because i'm not sure what the political correct name is for it when talking about religion or faith groups. I visit online Christian-based forums and there are also atheists there. I have sometimes referred to atheist as non-religion when posting questions or comments there.
But wouldn't you say atheists are united by a religious belief? Given that to not believe in God is a belief that God does not exist, and that belief relates to religion.
I suppose the politically correct name for it is a position arrived at after considering the question to you believe god(s) exist.
But wouldn't you say atheists are united by a religious belief? Given that to not believe in God is a belief that God does not exist, and that belief relates to religion.
I think this blurs the definition of religous, making it so broad as to be meaningless. This would make any statement mentioning church or religion a religious belief. I prefer the tradtional understanding of a religious belief being that of a belief based on religious though, action, creed. God does not equal religion either.
That and to not believe in god does not equate to a belief that god does not exist. I see no credible evidence for god hence I don't take the claim that he/she exists to be true. He/she/ it/ they may exist and when I see convincing evidence I will change my mind.
Good question though.
Sorry, part 2.
Would you agree that there can be a culture attached to atheism? Or a stereotype vaguelly representing "the average atheist"? Triple J, the Greens, die hard Dawkins fans…
Most of my family is atheist and i know that not all people of a group can be pinned by a stereotype of blah blah blah but do you agree there is a certain culture or identity that can be associated with atheism?
Possibly, though its a bit too early to tell. I think we are a diverse bunch. Is there a culture- well there is an imposed one of belligerent, religion hating rights taking away evil doers
In very general terms I would say we are liberal minded, conscious of human rights, wary of religious attacks against democracy, but I wouldn't go much further than that