Many religious apologists tend to opine that atheism is a religion I think because they're sending the message that if any of the members of their respective sects lose their faith, then they will still be religious only without any God(s), miracles, life after death, prayer and worship and other trivialities like that.
You just can't get away from religion, in other words.
While I don't agree that atheism is a religion, I've seen a lot of "religious behavior" among atheists. Religious people are often criticized for being close-minded, intolerant, fanatical, dogmatic and irrational, but atheists often suffer from the same problems. There is evidently a human need to hold certain pet philosophies and to hold on to them with great tenacity. Christians have life after death, and atheists have "good" death. Christians have their villains like Tomás de Torquemada, and atheists have their villains like Stalin. Christians get riled if you tell them Jesus never rose from the dead, and atheists get riled when you tell them Terri Schiavo is not better off dead. Christians have three persons in one Trinity, and atheists have 2 + 2 = 4.
Only fools and heretics disagree, and their logic is irrelevant.
So I suppose I'm a bit disappointed with atheists. Thirty five years ago when I left Christianity I thought I was going to leave the ills of religion behind forever. But sometimes I think that both atheists and the religious are irrational fanatics; it's just that the religious are irrational and fanatical as groups acting in tandem, and atheists go it alone.
You just can't get away from religion, in other words.
While I don't agree that atheism is a religion, I've seen a lot of "religious behavior" among atheists. Religious people are often criticized for being close-minded, intolerant, fanatical, dogmatic and irrational, but atheists often suffer from the same problems. There is evidently a human need to hold certain pet philosophies and to hold on to them with great tenacity. Christians have life after death, and atheists have "good" death. Christians have their villains like Tomás de Torquemada, and atheists have their villains like Stalin. Christians get riled if you tell them Jesus never rose from the dead, and atheists get riled when you tell them Terri Schiavo is not better off dead. Christians have three persons in one Trinity, and atheists have 2 + 2 = 4.
Only fools and heretics disagree, and their logic is irrelevant.
So I suppose I'm a bit disappointed with atheists. Thirty five years ago when I left Christianity I thought I was going to leave the ills of religion behind forever. But sometimes I think that both atheists and the religious are irrational fanatics; it's just that the religious are irrational and fanatical as groups acting in tandem, and atheists go it alone.