The next time some ignorant person says "Atheism is a religion", tell them...

[cleanhippie]

[Angry Dragon]

1. ...........

[mr blur]

2. That's excellent! nt

[deucemagnet]

3. That's good, but it won't work any better than,

"Atheism is a religion like bald is a hair color."
"Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby."
"Atheism is a religion like abstinence is a sex position."
"Atheism is a religion like "off" is a TV channel."
"Atheism is a religion like "barefoot" is a shoe."
"Atheism is a religion like "unemployed" is a career."
"Atheism is a religion like "clear" is a color."
"Atheism is a religion like "healthy" is a disease."

There's no reasoning with the indoctrinated.

[dimbear]

6. No disrespect, but don't care for "like off is a TV channel."

Off TVs don't make noise.

Atheists should.

[AlbertCat]

11. Off TVs don't make noise.

They do if you drop them.

[idwiyo]

4. This is a good one though it's useless against the faithfull.

[Curmudgeoness]

5. I cannot comprehend how anyone could call it a religion.

It is anti-religion on steroids.

I have never encountered this, but maybe it is because when I talk about it to some god person, I say "I don't believe in god" instead of saying "I am an atheist". This may be why no one has yet hit me with the "atheism is a religion" meme. They still get the idea----I do not want to hear about it, I do not want to pray or be prayed for.

[elias7]

8. I disagree

You don't need to equate god with religion. A Taoist, for example might say that the anthropomorphic projections that people employ to imagine god is a parochial way of considering the transcendant principle of the origins and dynamics of the universe(s). For that matter, most eastern religions view god(s) as a representation, personification or symbol, not a fact or a literal reality. Nonetheless, these are highly religious and spiritual people.

[Curmudgeoness]

15. I disagree

Are you arguing that everyone has some form of religion, even if they do not believe in god? Maybe I am deluding myself, but I do not think that I have any religion. I am not spiritual. I do not have anything that would represent something that I would worship.

I will not say that I do not sometimes feel a sense of awe---which is as close to spiritual as I can get. When I see a beautiful sunset, I can be awed and I don't even think about the science behind it. I just allow myself to enjoy it. But that is not a religion. Science isn't even my religion, although I do respect it and try to understand it. But I know the fallibility of science---if I lived in another time, I would believe that the earth was flat or was the center of the universe---as science believed. One day, many things we think we know will be proved wrong.

Just sign me....lost my religion.

[elias7]

16. No, I'm saying you can be religious while not believing in god

I think many people who believe in what they imagine to be god are not religious at all.

There are also non-theistic religions, such as buddhism, taoism, and others.

When one says they believe in or don't believe in god, the first question, I think, needs to be , "what do you mean by god?" Because, I don't think anyone is on anyone else's page without establishing that. Some people need the idea of god to be concrete, to allay fears, to pray to, to give hope. Some people can deal in abstractions, where god is merely a label for the impersonal cosmic forces that inform the universe and our existence.

But a mythologic or religious system does not need a supreme being to function; creation myths come in all stripes...

[Curmudgeoness]

17. Since religion is very personal, I will agree

that you have to know what the person means when they say they "believe in god". This can explain why so many people claim to be "not affiliated with any religion".

[trotsky]

9. I believe it is generally one of two things that makes someone say it.

1) They know it's false but say it anyway because they can't address the arguments of atheism, and will grasp for anything to try and fluster/anger an atheist to escape an argument they can't win. I think that covers about 75% of the Religion Group people who use it.

2) They honestly believe it, because of the "god-shaped hole" nonsense that became trendy a while back. EVERYONE worships something. We have a "god-shaped hole" that MUST be filled, and if we don't fill it with god, we fill it with money, or sex, or whatever. Thus the definition of religion is stretched to mean "something you spend time or effort doing," and voila, posting your opinions on the influence of religion in society is now a religion in and of itself! Or, in other words, "Ha ha, you're just as religious as me!"

[AlbertCat]

12. EVERYONE worships something.

Ahhhh yes.... the "you and everyone else is just like me" thing. People who worship gods or their appointed minions on Earth simply cannot imagine someone not worshipping... something, like they do.
Combined with the all too prevalent redefining of any religious term (like "god&quot to try to make it fit into today's zeitgeist.

[Curmudgeoness]

14. OMG, now I get it----DU is god!

My "religion" is to come here and read and/or post. I worship DU.

Actually, I do think that people of faith do have a real problem with someone who has no religion. The whole idea is incomprehendible to them. I get that all the time----but you HAVE TO believe in SOMETHING!

Uh, no I don't. It is ok that there is nothing, and I can still wake up every day and live through the day.

[avebury]

7. That is too funny. I need to remember this one. nt

[Lucy Goosey]

10. Excellent!

I'll be stealing this line from you, definitely.

[elias7]

13. I find the idea to be somewhat arrogant

As if atheists have cornered the Ontologic market.