This is not a question. 
But answering this charge (and, yes, it's a charge - and that a believer should do a little thinking that it has finished using "religion" as an insult ...) can have several different meanings. One is the common "atheists worship / idolize science / Satan / Darwin / to themselves," which will be treated in the following FAQ entry.
Another alternative is to not believe in any god - that is, belief in a 100% natural universe without a creator - requires as much faith as Christianity or any other religion. This is also for a future entry.
Finally, there is meaning to be addressed now: that atheism is a religion in the sense that it is something that one believes, with faith, dogma below with "true", a hierarchy, and the like.
What defines a "religion"? Basically, religion is a belief system that includes rules of behavior, rituals, in many cases (not all) a supernatural element (eg miracles), claims about the origins of the universe, about the reason for being, our purpose in the world, and what happens after we die. There is also usually a hierarchy, especially in Catholicism.
Well, pure atheism does not include any of that. Atheism is just lack of belief in a god or gods, no rules of conduct, rituals, statements about why we are here, or what we do. Nor does it make sense to speak of "atheist beliefs" because the only thing atheists have in common is that they do not believe in something that many people believe. In fact, as has been suggested before, the word "atheist" should not even exist, we do not have - or need - words that mean "person who does not believe in astrology" or "person who does not believe in Santa Claus."
While religions in general, generate some homogeneity among the believers of each one (because there is a common holy book, a set of common beliefs, a founder, and so on), atheism is nothing like that. Some atheists (but not all) are skeptical, and they come to atheism simply does not see any evidence of the existence of any god. Others will have other reasons (including not having thought of it, called the "apathy"). But apart from this non-belief, do not really have anything in common. Just as not everyone who collects stamps do not form a group.
PS - if you're here to think something like "oh, I got you, you just admit that atheists do not have any code of conduct, morality, etc.." This was not what I said. I said that atheism is not, not that atheists do not. Atheism is simply a non-belief in something, is not supposed to be a system of morality. Not believing in God (for example, the Christian god) does not tell us how to act in the world, as well as not believing in the Easter Bunny does not give us moral rules ... soon, we have to get to other sites. The secular humanism , which want to talk more in the future, the moral system is probably more common among atheists (including the author of this blog), but is far from alone. And yes, it can be an atheist and be a monster ... as the world's most devout believer in any religion (including yours) can be.
(Note: please restrict any comment that you make to the previous question and answer, and not to other matters as the existence or nonexistence of God. Thank you.)
Possibly related posts:
- FAQ: "Only you are attacking the most primitive forms / literal religion, ignoring all the sophisticated theology."
- FAQ: "Without God / religion / the Bible, how can there be morality?"
- FAQ: "The atheism / materialism does not explain the love / friendship / good and evil / poetry / beauty / irrational numbers in mathematics / <another abstracto> example of human concept, then they are wrong / God exists!"
- FAQ: "Atheism has killed millions! Look at Soviet Russia! "
- FAQ: "Who wants to buy disdain if critics both religion probably like to believe or not believe it!"
Labels: Atheism FAQ
