We continue and conclude considering the disappointing discussion on the Think Humanism (aka restricted thinking due to adherence to atheism) website which posed a question/statement, Atheism is a religion???!!! As previously noted, one commentator eruditely elucidated with the following (this is the entire text of the comment):
How about baldness as a hairstyle? or atheism as a ‘belief’.
There are certainly many ways to tackle this issue. The question is opened to be discussed in the comments section. What do you think? Is it or is it not?
In part, one issue is how one defines “religion.” For example:
1) Some would look it up in the dictionary de jour and demand adherence to whatever it stated.
2) Some define it as a systematization of the worship of some supernatural something.
3) The New Testament’s only favorable reference to “religion” is, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27)—see, The Most Anti-Religion Book Ever Published
4) _________________ (fill in the blank).
Thus, let us consider the following and leave the rest to the comments section.
On the issue of origins, there is much to consider: from the universe, to the Earth, to life, etc. The ultimate atheist answer to this is the same as the ultimate atheist answer to anything and everything, “It just is,” or “It just happened,” or “It just happens to have happened that way,” “Coincidence,” “Happenstance,” “Time’did’it,” “Matter’did’it,” “Chance’did’it,” “the multiverse’did’it,” the most recent by Stephen Hawking, “Gravity’did’it,” etc.
The universe either popped into being uncaused or from previous universes which popped into being uncaused, or from a multiverse which popped into being uncaused, etc. It used to be “It’s just turtles all the way down” but now the latest of atheist erudition the latest philosophy and the latest science states, “It’s just multiverses all the way down.” In fact, the multiverse is the atheist’s supernatural realm.
Life came into being due to a miracle…oops, replace the word miracle with the word “luck” and you are getting somewhere. Indeed, consider that this was the famous biologist and Professor, Richard Dawkins’ explanation for the origins of life, “luck” (The Blind Watchmaker, p. 145 also see and John Horgan, “In the Beginning…” – Scientific American).
Atheists also believe in mythological creatures such as a common ancestor and tell Victorian Era tall tales about our past (see Atheist and Darwinian Science and Story Telling).
They also have their priestly class (see Scientific Cenobites and Scientific Cenobites – Some notes on Skepticism).
Lastly, let us simply note that for the atheist, the ultimate reality, in a manner of speaking, is: that which brought the universe and life into being and/or fine tuned the universe and/or rules the universe is uncaused, invisible, immutable, omnipresent and omnipotent laws—sound familiar?
In short, what we are lead to believe is that we must leave behind our primitive superstitions and adhere to the erudition of atheism:
It is ignorant and superstitious to believe that God made everything out of nothing. It is rational and scientific to believe that nothing made everything out of nothing.
It is ignorant and superstitious to believe that God is eternal. It is rational and scientific to believe that matter is eternal.
God is an effect and must have had a cause. Matter is the uncaused first cause.
If God made everything, then who made God? Matter made everything and nothing made matter.
What thinkest thou?
First dentistry was painless,
then bicycles were chainless,
and carriages were horseless,
and many laws enforceless.
Next cookery was fireless,
telegraphy was wireless,
cigars were nicotineless,
and coffee caffeineless.
Soon oranges were seedless,
the putting green was weedless,
the college boy was hatless,
the proper diet fatless.
New motor roads are dustless,
the latest steel is rustless,
our tennis courts are sodless,
our new religion Godless.
—Arthur Guiterman
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Also, consider that there are basic similarities between Christianity and atheism
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