Oftentimes in the past, when I have debated with theists and especially fundamentalists and Creationists I have noticed a very interesting phenomenon, that I want to discuss here: Mainly the phenomenon, that they accuse us of adhering to the “religion of Atheism//secularism” and other such nonsensical attacks.
Now to be clear: Atheism is not a religion. It is precisely one thing: The rejection of any and all deities, that have been proposed to us so far. Might someone in the future propose a deity, that I might end up accepting due to the evidence being presented? Absolutely yes. Might I change my mind on the previously proposed ones, when new evidence comes along? Of course.
The point however is that Atheism is not a belief system nor is it a worldview. An Atheist is perfectly free to reject evolution and the Big Bang, he is perfectly free to disagree with secular humanism. He is perfectly free to believe in ghosts and demons. An Atheist is someone who believes in zero deities. Not more, not less. Now, it may be true, that most Atheists adhere to materialism/naturalism, although that belief is always subject to revision but that doesn’t mean, that Atheism IS Naturalism.
The second question, that I want to ask at this point is: Why are you demonizing religion, when you yourself adhere to it? Why do you say “I don’t have enough faith to be an Atheist” when you think faith is a virtue? Wouldn’t that mean, that you should be an Atheist, since Atheism requires so much faith? Or is faith not a virtue after all? If it’s not then why it is praised in the Bible?
To address the “I don’t have enough faith to be an Atheist” objection: It takes zero faith to be an Atheist. Once again you might think, that it takes faith to believe in evolution (you would be wrong) but the rejection of the claim that deities exist, takes no faith whatsoever.
Even if it could be established, that we were created and that the Universe is fine tuned for us, it still takes no faith whatsoever to say “Sure we were created in finely tuned Universe but I don’t believe, that it was a deity who did it”.
Once again being an Atheist doesn’t take any faith.
But why do they make these accusations?
Well it’s pretty simple really: It’s the same reason creationists say that evolution is “just a theory”. They want an equal playing field. They want to put Atheism down as just another religion, no more reasonable than the belief that a snake talked or a man lived in a giant fish for three days. If anybody has a religion, then every belief is just as reasonable as the next and everyone can believe as he chooses.
I’m sorry but either way you look at it, it’s not an equal playing field. Even if Atheism did require faith and even if it were a religion, Atheism requires less faith than the belief, that the Earth is balanced on the back of a giant turtle or that underwear has magical powers.
So in closing: If you want to go to the point, that Atheism is a religion and requires faith, then go there because then we’ll talk which requires more faith. If you know your scriptures, then you know that you can’t win this one.
Goodbye from yours truly,
Rene von Boenninghausen @Renevelation
Tarsier Renevelations 