Quote:
Originally Posted by Rathji
Exactly. You will notice that I did not claim in my post that atheism was a religion. I said that it had many things in common with religions, so much so that some scholarly definitions of what religion was, would fit.
Many of your objections are merely semantics.
Atheists don't have a central tenent, yet they tend to think the same things as each other (as much as religions tend to believe the same things at least). Just because it isn't central doesn't change how people act on those thoughts.
Belief and knowledge are not the same thing, but how they motivate people to do things is the same.
I think the real difference in what we are saying is that you think the cause of the atheism is the real defining metric, where as I think the result is equally as defining. In some ways, the influence of a strong atheist thought process is the same as a strong religious belief. The way you define it, then absolutely not, atheism is not a religion. I think if you look at the bigger picture though, that line blurs.
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Other than not believing in a god atheists don't 'tend' to think anything, you might as well argue hockey fans tend to think a certain way.