https://charltonteaching.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-is-difference-between-science-and.html?m=1
Again, only religious people feel the need to categorise atheism as a religion when the only thing that makes someone an atheist is their non-belief of a supreme entity.
There are no defined set of rules that atheists have to live by, nor specific places, people or entities they have to worship, nor things they have to believe for whatever reason, so there are none of the defining elements to make atheism a religion.
If I, an atheist, were to wake up tomorrow and decided that I now believe in the presence of a supreme entity, would that mean I now instantly have to follow a particular set of rules that I have to live my life by? If so, which religion have I instantly become to know what rules I should be following? And if my religion is suddenly dictated by which entity I believe in, what would happen if I believe in more than a single supreme entity?
My point is that you can both believe or not believe in a supreme entity and still not have a religion. It's only narrow mindedness that creates the need to categorise everyone into a religion for reasons that I purely feel are self serving.
Ok fair enough. According to your definition of religion Atheism is not a religion.
However, according to your definition of religion I am also not religious. I believe in God but am not a member of any formal religion I find both Christianity and Judaism very interesting and give deep consideration to their views but am not a member of either.
Yet in the
Health and Religion thread I have been accused of being religious even a fundamentalist several times. So you are saying it is only the narrow mindedness of the Atheists in that thread that causes them to categorize me in this way? They do so for reasons that are purely self serving?
I think your definition of religion is too narrow in that it is not very useful or practical. I use a definition that is much broader and more functional.
I define religion as anything an individual structures their life around either consciously or unconsciously. Thus I consider things like Communism, Nazism (Fascist Darwinian Nationalism), and Nihilism religions if they are honestly embraced by the individual as overarching truth. I agree with BADecker that a very broad classification religion is more representative of reality.
Most people believe what they do because they were taught that way not because of an introspective search for the truth. This is true of a huge swath of humanity whether their religion is centered on God or centered on something else. It is one of our many major flaws a fundamental and deep lack of reflection.
The rise of nihilism in modern times is largely due to the fact that we are reaching the point in our development where this lack of reflection is becoming less and less of an option. Unlike in simpler times we can no longer ignore the question and blindly embrace the beliefs of our colleges and parents. We are increasingly forced to confront challenges to our views and thus actively define who we are.