[killshot]

Alright, on the off change you aren't a troll, I'm willing to give you a real response. People calling atheism a religion is sort of a pet peeve of mine since it demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of the subject. Now that my knee jerk reaction is over, I'll reply to what you actually said.

1. A religion is something you believe in. If you are an atheist, you believe in atheism. Being an atheist, you don't believe in Christianity, Buddhism, ect.

Belief in something does not qualify that something as a religion. I "believe" in gravity, yet gravity is not a religion. Religion has several historical and cultural implications that are not applicable to atheism.

2. Atheism, also known as Secular Humanism, is all based on the individual.
This means that you and only you are the one who decides what is right or wrong.
Your ideals are your truths.
You have the right to do whatever you think is right.
Nobody else can tell you what is right or wrong.
Your instincts tell you what is right or wrong.
That other guy's instincts tell him what is right or wrong for him.
Truth is relative.
Your moral comes from your and only your instincts.
If someone has a bad moral, it is because he or she has been badly influenced by his or her environment, and any wrong acts are not the individual's fault. "A person raised to be a thief will steal. A person raised to fight may kill."
In atheism, you are the only being in the world that you answer to. By bettering your self, you become greater in mind and social status in the world.

Atheism is not also known as secular humanism. The two ideas have much in common and many atheists are often secular humanists, but the terms are not interchangeable. You bring up several ideas in the remainder of this section that would require much more than an offhand response so I won't touch on them for now.

3. In Christian or New Age terms, this is the equivalent to regarding oneself as ones only "god" figure. This doesn't mean you go around "praying" to yourself, or saying that you're God. That, in action, would be more New Age than Secular Humanism.

I don't understand what you are saying here. Why would Christian terms be any different than other terms?

4. But because you choose to reject anything that society calls "god", you are accepting no other being as higher in importance than yourself.

This is a massive leap of logic. As a christian, do you believe yourself to be the next best thing to god? Why would an atheist automatically have to become a narcissist and value themselves over all others? Are you saying there are no self-sacrificing atheists?

5. Anyway, atheism has already been declared a religion by the Supreme Court and by several major atheistic leaders.

Citation needed. And who are these atheistic leaders? Didn't you just say that atheists only believe in themselves? I don't follow your logic.

6. "atheism is to religion as abstinence is to sex." makes hardly an iota of logical sense. Atheism is to religion as a giraffe is to animal. This quote is trying very hard to make it seem like atheism is the lack of a belief. That is more like agnosticism. I have already said this before: Everyone has a religion, whether that religion is based on the belief in a super natural, powerful being called "God", or based on the rejection of any thing called "god", or based on the refusal to acknowledge any known religion due to lack of proof of a god, the Force, or the lack of an Intelligent Designer of the world.

It makes perfect sense. Although the quote I used was intended to entertain as well as inform, it doesn't make it any less applicable. The quote tries to convey atheism as a lack of belief because that is exactly what atheism is. Saying anything to the contrary is just plain incorrect. Agnosticism is the belief that the existence of God is unknowable. Atheism and agnosticism are not mutually exclusive terms. For example, I am an agnostic atheist, meaning that while I do not believe in a god, I also concede that it is impossible to prove or disprove his existence.

Everyone does not have a religion. This is just silly.

7. Although they are given different definitions, the terms "Religion" and "Worldview" are nearly the same thing. Your worldview is the foundation of your beliefs about the world, and not just the world, philosophy and ethics as well. Religion is basically putting a label on a commonly shared worldview. Atheists call their worldview "Atheism" or "Secular Humanism". Christians call their worldview, which is based upon Christ's Salvation for a fallen world and society, "Christianity".

They have different definitions for a reason. They are most certainly not the same thing. There is nothing to discuss here, you are simply incorrect.

8. Every religion, worldview, belief, or whatever you wish to call it, has an opinion on the origin of the world, and the purpose for mankind. Atheism is not excluded from this fact.

Again, some basic fact checking would tell you this is wrong. Many belief systems make no attempt at explaining the origins of the world, let alone the purpose of life. Is is incorrect.

9. Lastly, the number analogy actually supports my theory xD Zero is not the lack of a number; it is a digit and another integer just like all the others on a number line or graph. But what it represents is the lack of whatever the numbers are counting! c:

Yes, zero is a number, but that has no relation to the topic being discussed.


I'm still not convinced you aren't a troll, but since you are willing to show some common curtsey I will give you the benefit of the doubt. In the future, please stop centering your posts. It looks strange and makes them more difficult to read.