Thread: Why don't you consider Atheism a religion?
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Re: Why don't you consider Atheism a religion? - February 11th 2010, 07:18 AM
Because atheism isn't a set of beliefs; at least not as I use the word. I'll try to make this as clear as I can. Firstly, it's important to be talking about religion and atheism in the same terms, and since atheism is really just a lack of religion, this isn't really the case. I think it's safe to say though that most atheists adopt a scientific view on the universe.

Religion is an attempt to explain the universe
Science is an attempt to understand the universe

If the difference between the two isn't clear; science deals only with what we can find physical evidence for, and molds itself to fit new evidence. It's a "bottom up" approach, where any religion is "top down;" starting with whatever explanation they have and trying to fit new understanding into the same theory. To illustrate the difference, a question and the usual answers I hear.

"What would it take to change your beliefs?"

Athiest: Evidence; something to indicate that a given religion is more likely to be correct than any other theory we have.

Theist: Proof of the non-existesnce of god, if anything at all.

Is the difference clear enough?

The atoms that make up you and me were born in the hearts of suns many times greater than ours, and in time our atoms will once again reside amongst the stars. Life is but an idle dalliance of the cosmos, frail, and soon forgotten. We have been set adrift in an ocean whose tides we are only beginning to comprehend and with that maturity has come the realization that we are, at least for now, alone. In that loneliness, it falls to us to shine as brightly as the stars from which we came.