The Myths of Atheism - It's Just Another Religion

Myth #6: Atheism is a religion.

Hopefully you've been following along and have read the Myth #1.  If you have, you know that an 'atheist' is a person who lacks god-belief.  With that in mind, how can one think that simply not believing in a god constitutes a religion?

Atheism has no creeds, doctrine, or philosophy unto itself.  There's no dogma in non-belief.  Even if there were (and apparently are) such things as churches or "ministers" for atheism, what would they promote?  What could atheism possibly hold as dogma?  Most atheists don't believe in anything supernatural, but that doesn't mean they can't, or even that some don't.  As stated elsewhere, Raelians are atheists – they don't believe in any gods, but they do believe that aliens created people, taught them Hebrew, and want them to build a temple so that they can come back to Earth and save humanity.  Clearly, if someone can believe that and still be an atheist, then atheism isn't a religion, club, or worldview.

So the only thing that bonds atheists to one another is one thing: a lack of believe in gods.  That doesn't mean that you have to say "There is no God" to be an atheist.  You're free to leave the possibility open.  For myself (the only atheist for whom I can speak), I leave the possibility of god open.  If someone can provide sufficient evidence for their god, and back it up with logic, reason, and facts, then I'll no longer be an atheist because I'll believe in their god(s).  For example, if you worship the sun, and you call the sun "God", then I believe in God.  I can see your God, know it's real.  Now I might not agree with all the attributes you may give to your God (like that it tells you what it wants you to eat or wear), but I'd believe that your God exists.  I'd be a theist with respect to your God.  But so far, no theist has convinced me that their God is real.

Check out Austin Cline's great Step-by-Step Guide to becoming an atheist, as posted on Hemant Mehta's site.  It's very simple to be an atheist, and in no way a religion.  If you'd like to sign up, we're having a Baby Barbeque this weekend!

-STA

(Just kidding about the baby thing.)