General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I am not religious. Can you please categorize Atheism into a "race"? [View all]rjsquirrel
(4,762 posts)Atheism eschews the necessity for faith or "belief" in mysteries that have no naturalistic explanation. Natural causes, visible and sensible and replicable and intersubjectively verifiable, ate a sufficient explanation for all phenomena. We have no "spirits" or "souls." Those are beliefs. My atheism does not need them. It is materialist.
However I'll call it a church if we can have the nice sweet tax exemption people get for "believing" in arrant nonsense about a sky daddy and his son and eternal souls and evil spirits. Those are "beliefs" BECAUSE THEY NOT ONLY ARE NOT PROVEN, THEY ARE BY DEFINITION (and conveniently!) UNPROVABLE. They are stories, not explanations anyone can verify by observation.
Atheism is reason. It is the exact opposite of faith. Therefore by historical roots it is not a religion even if its adherents show some of the cult properties associated with religion (all religion is a cult, and depends on suppressing critical thought and giving oneself over to another's authority. Atheists can be followers of other people too.)
So no, atheism is not a religion. It is the refusal of explanation based on unverifiable assertions of faith.
Atheists do not "believe" in "no god." We don't need your God. At all.