“Yes, Atheism is a Religion”
Please provide your definition of religion, then, and where you get it from?
“It's really obvious when you think about it: When atheism critiques religion, it inevitably ends up being either religious or very much like a religion.”
Pick one.
“Take, for instance, what atheism purports to say. Any meaningful form of atheism says either that God doesn't exist, or that one ought not to believe in God.”
No. I say that I do not believe in ANY gods. Jehovah, Zeus, Isis, Krom…
“They don't just mean this for themselves"
Yes, i do. I even wore a Navy Uniform for 20 years to defend your right to believe anything you want.
"Instead, they take it that not a single person has a rational basis for believing in God.”
Well, that’s true. I mean, i ASK for reasons to believe in god, I don’t get rational arguments. I get piss-poor science, poorer math, i get blamed for NOT believing, and i get anonymous tales thrown at me.
“These are very strong claims.”
More of a track record of piddle-poor performance.
“There's no science to back it up.”
Doesn’t have to be. I ask for a reason to believe, I’m told that if Earth were 1 inch closer to the sun we’d all bake like gingerbread cookies.
“No empirical evidence for it. So on what basis are these claims made?”
Your claims, mostly.
“There's one clear explanation: Blind faith.”
And here we go, blaming me for not buying into your superstition.
How unusual. How unlooked for. No one’s ever done this before.
“Atheists have blind faith in some claims, and hence they form part of an atheist's belief system.”
Your ad hominem is noted. Not compelling, just noted.
"We can look at the definition of religion.”
All this effort to prove that atheism is a religion.
Why not this much effort to provide a rational argument for believing in gods?
"Instead, they look for one common ingredient in all religions, and that is the state of being ultimately concerned. Having a "most important thing" that you care about.”
What a bogus definition of religion. This makes every Single Issue Voter a religion. Every sports team fanatic. Every superfan.
“…the broad pool of beliefs, of which atheism is a necessary and important feature.” Even if this were true, this doesn’t make atheism a religion.
“In that sense, atheism is a necessary part of one's religion. The transference of one's ultimate concern from God, to themselves.”
Oh, blow it out your ass. I’m an atheist because you people can’t convince me gods are necessary, not because i have to be an atheist to accept evolutionary science. I accepted evolution before I left myfirst Church.
“There's a third way in which atheism does the job that religion does.”
that doesn’t make it a religion, either.
“Atheism itself, or as part of a larger worldview, informs our answers to the ultimate questions in life.”
No, it does not. the only question Atheism answers is ‘is there a god?’ and the answer is ‘not as far as I can see.’
“If you find yourself an atheist, you are NOT ALLOWED to believe some set of answers to questions like "What is the meaning of life?"”
Who doesn’t allow this?
I mean, if i don’t have a reason to believe in gods, and your answer to the meaning of life involves gods, I will not believe you, but not because I’m not ALLOWED to believe you.
Same as if i don’t believe in fairies, your explaining rainbows as fairy constructs is inconvincing, no ‘disallowed.’
“As such, atheism not only plays the role of dogma, in defining what we are not allowed to believe.”
No, you fucking idiot.
I don’t reject your religious answers because they’re against the rules, but because they’re unconvincing.
“It defines the range of answers we can take to be true.”
I do not believe in gods. Your answers depend on gods. It’s not a range of answers, it’s answers that assume an element I don’t believe in.
It’s not a dogma, it’s just a flat out lack of belief in your answer.