Atheism is a Religion

Pro makes false claims about atheismI will argue that atheism in its most inclusive form is the absence of belief/non belief in God/s. But even if Pro wants to claim that atheism is the belief/claim that no God/s exist, then what Pro says about atheism below is still false. Atheism in of its self doesn't get you to anything more than well atheism. With that in mind consider the following claims made by Pro in regards to atheism. .. .. Pro says. .. "Atheism argues that the universe created itself"Pro says "It claims that what we call fine tuning in the universe, which allows for life, is nothingmore than random inevitability, chance, or some similar argument. "Once again, are there atheists who make these claims ? sure, does atheism its self get you to these claims ? No. On a side note atheism by its self doesn't get you to chocolate is better than vanilla either. Pro says. .. "Atheism is a system of beliefs"No it isn't. I sense medic has trouble drawing the line between atheism its self, and what other beliefs atheists may have and is therefore concluding, oh well all those other beliefs are atheism too. To give an example, just because a theist has the belief that God incarnated himself as his own Son, or that the Quran is the perfect word of God doesn't mean that theism its self is those beliefs too, are we clear here ? Pros court casePro refers to a court case where "atheism" was found to be a "religion", okay and was there a reason/s given for this decision ? If Pro think the courts reasoning justifies his claim, then I invite Pro to share with us what the courts reasoning was. Until then I don't think pointing the finger at athiests in one case and making nasty remarks about "deceitful" athiests is gonna cut it. So what are we arguing about here exactly ? The question here today is if atheism is a religion. Two obvious questions arise from considering such a claim, at least in my mind in order to make this link that atheism is a religion those being. .. ..1) What is atheism ?2) What is a religion ? Please note, complaining about atheists in general does nothing to help answer these questions and I do get the feeling that Medic digresses into rants about atheists in general. Here is a huge problem from Pros side they never told us what religion is and thus how the link is made to justify the claim that "Atheism is a religion"What is Atheism ? Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Most inclusively, atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which in its most general form is the belief that at least one deity exists. [1]Christopher Hitchens elaborates on this point in a debate with William Craig at Biola University where he explains. .. "There is a terminological problem here which may conceal more than just terminological difficulty: The proposition that atheism is true is a misstatement of what I have to prove and what we believe. There's an argument among some of us as to whether that we need the word at all. In other words, I don't have a special name for my unbelief in tooth fairies, say, or witches, or in Santa Claus. I just don't think that they're there. I don't have to prove "atoothfairyism"; I don't have to prove "asantaclausism"; I don't have to prove "awitchism. " It's just, I have to say, I think that those who do believe these things have never been able to make a plausible or intelligible case for doing so. That's not agnosticism because it seems to me that if you don't think that there is any evidence you're wrong to take refuge in saying you're neutral. You ought to have the courage to answer the question which one is regularly asked, "Are you an atheist or not? " Yes, I will say, I am. You can't tell anything else about me. You can't tell anything else about what I think, about what I believe, about what my politics are or my other convictions" [2]What is a religion ? Pro asks the question. .. "what more do you need to show that atheism qualifies as a religion? ? "Well I have an answer, how about a definition and or criteria to draw the line between what is and what is not a religion, instead of just pointing to certain things and saying, hey that's a religion cause I say so. "There are numerous definitions of religion and only a few are stated here. The typical dictionary definition of religion refers to a "belief in, or the worship of, a god or gods"or the "service and worship of God or the supernatural". However, many writers and scholars have noted that this basic 'belief in god' definition fails to capture the diversity of religious thought and experience. " [3]Let's take that definition of religion, under this definition its clear that atheism is not a religion, even if you use different definitions of atheism it doesn't help, cause all of the definitions of atheism have in common are the absence of belief in "God", and thus obviously the absence of the worship and service of a "God". Unfalsifiable propositions, Dogma & Faith An unfalisifiable proposition is a claim/s made that can not be proven wrong, even if the claim is false you still won't be able to prove it wrong. Consider the claim that there is an alien in the same room you are in right now. You may point out well I don't think there is an alien cause after looking around I don't see one. But then I tell you, ahhh but you see, the alien is invisible. Now maybe you get some instruments like infra red to look for this alien, but then I tell you, ahh but you see, the alien is undetectable by any human means. And it goes on and on like this, no matter what objection you raise I have a rationalization/caveat to add in order to save the alien proposition from being falsified. Would it be dogmatic for you to reject the existence of such an unfalsifiable alien proposition cause of all the caveats and rationalizations thrown in ? Would your denial here be an act of faith ? I don't think so, like wise, what about a God proposition that has so many caveats and rationalizations thrown in to make it unfalsifiable ? the atheist is being no more dogmatic or committing an act of faith to deny such an unfalisfiable proposition than you are to deny the above mentioned alien. Sam Harris explains. .. "This whole idea of secular fundamentalism or atheist dogmatism is just a play on words. There is nothing you have to accept as dogma, there is nothing you have to accept on insufficient evidence in order to reject the biblical God or in order to reject the idea that the Quran or Bible is the perfect word of God. There is no dogma that you and I have accepted on insufficient evidence in order to reject Zeus and Poseidon and thousands of dead Gods that lie in that mass grave we call mythology. " [4]As such It is my argument that to claim that atheism and/or atheists are being "dogmatic" or are engaging in some sort of "faith" to not accept such an unfalsifiable God or Alien proposition is false. Who is up for a game of not playing tennis ? Most people I think would agree that playing tennis is playing a sport. But what about the claim that NOT playing tennis is a sport too ? this would seem unintelligible, the absence of playing tennis is a sport ? of course not. Now consider the claim that absence of belief in a God/s is in of its self a religion ? I submit for you judgement that it's just as unintelligible. I look forward to Pros reply. Sources[1] . http://en.wikipedia.org...[2] . http://hitchensdebates.blogspot.com.au...[3] . http://en.wikipedia.org...[4] www. youtube. com/watch? v=o9zeGbkjKk8Note you might have to put "http://" in front to see the video. I took it out cause I didn't want the video embedded in my post.