For JustA11en
The dictionary definition of Religion as "An objective pursued with fervor..." is almost always found at the bottom of the list of definitions (if found at all) and is meant to be understood as a metaphor - not a literal definition. In the same way, the word "Christian" is defined at about definition 5 as "Showing a loving concern for others; humane". If I were to use JustA11en's misappropriation of defintions I could call Mahatma Ghandi a Christian or maybe call Bertrand Russell a Christian but are they really? The answer is, of course, no. Definition five of the word "Christian" is a metaphor or simile as in "He acts like a Christian." Any definition after the first two is generally not acceptable as a literal definition but is instead unusual usage, metaphor, simile or slang.
Let's research how the word, Religion, is defined in each of the online dictionaries and is the definition applicable to atheism? I'll use only the first couple definitions because after that we're mostly hitting metaphors.
Meriam Webster's Online Dictionary
"1). A strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny; "he lost his faith but not his morality".
2) Institution to express belief in a divine power; "he was raised in the Baptist religion"; "a member of his own faith contradicted him"."
Sounds to me like the opposite of atheism, huh? That seems right.
"A religion is a set of beliefs and practices generally held by a human community, involving adherence to codified beliefs and rituals and study of ancestral or cultural traditions and mythology, as well as personal faith and mystic experience."
Hey, that also sounds like the opposite of atheism!
1)
Both of these definitions are again the opposite of atheism. It's not until we hit definition 4 that we get: "A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion." This is using the word "religion" as a metaphor as opposed to an actual, literal translation. This is akin to putting your brother in the AKC because at around the fifth defintion the word dog is defined as:... "A person: You won, you lucky dog." In a dictionary, the actual, literal translation will always be in the first couple definitions while unusual usage, metaphors, simile and slang will occupy numbers three and up. Religion therefore, is always literally defined as devotion to supernatural ideologies.
Now onto my general rant against 'Argument Turners'.
ARGUMENT TURNERS:
Sometimes Christians will try to 'turn the argument' in order to avoid a question or to somehow equivocate positions. Argument Turners upset me more than any other debater - even ad hominem artists, because not only are they artificially avoiding any actual debate but they are taking up arguments that they don't really believe in (Atheism is a religion?). What happens next is, instead of debating the existence or deity of Christ, atheists have to patiently debate on the merits of applying definition #27 of religion in a dictionary to atheism. The Christian then merrily does his little song and dance around the facts keeping this illegitmate debate going on forever! Now what? What if I, as an atheist, fall to my knees and scream. "Yes, you are right, I pray to the atheist god at atheist church on Sunday to forgive me for deceiving you." Wouldn't you say: "What? Atheism isn't a religion, dumb ass!" Many atheists won't waste their time responding intelligently to argument turners and will either hit them with an ad hominem or ignore them.
Here are some common (and idiotic) arguments used by 'argument turners'.
ARG: Atheism is a Religion
ARG: Science is a Religion
ARG: Science is your God.
ARG: You have faith in Science.
ARG: SCIENCE IS YOUR GOD OR YOU HAVE FAITH IN SCIENCE:
Science is not my god, my giant, my witch or my fairy queen, it is just the correct method of reasoning if you want to arrive at honest, truthful conclusions. It is not infallible but it will honestly attempt to arrive at a rational conclusion using the evidence at hand rather than pronouncing dogma and persecuting heretics.
ARG: ATHEISM IS A WORLD VIEW OR ATHEISM IS A BELIEF:
Atheism is not a belief system, it is not a world view and it is not a philosophy. Atheism is simply an opinion on religion in pretty much the same way that A-Leprechauns would be an opinion on the existence of Leprechauns. Beyond having no belief in gods, atheism says nothing else. People who say that atheism is a religion would have to say with equal fervor that not-believing-in-Islam is a religion or not-believing-in-Mormonism is a religion. Philosophically atheists run the gamut from Ayn Rand the supercapitalist to Lenin, the supercommunist - both atheists with opposite philosophies and world views. Using philosophy as an example: Can we say that antiCommunism is a philosophy? No, other than expressing your opinion of communism, this statement says nothing about you: You could be a nazi or a fascist or a free-marketer! Your worldview, politics and philosophy are not revealed by the opinion; antiCommunist. In the same way atheism says nothing about the individual's politics, world view or philosophy.
ARG: ATHEISM IS A RELIGION:
I don't care what supreme court decision said that atheism was a religion. I don't care which president, pope or prophet said that atheism is a religion. Atheism is not in any way, sense or form a religion. Atheism is the very rational rejection of religious superstition and as such is certainly the opposite of religion. In order to prove that atheism is a religion, argument turners will seek the deep, backwaters of definitions in order to find something that might work. The problem is; not all dictionaries have the definitions right and anything past the first couple are probably just metaphor, this is akin to calling Steven Spielberg a Christian because definition 5 says "Showing a loving concern for others." I believe Wikipedia gives the best definition of religion: "A religion is a set of beliefs and practices generally held by a human community, involving adherence to codified beliefs and rituals and study of ancestral or cultural traditions and mythology, as well as personal faith and mystic experience." There is no way that you can define atheism in this manner. In fact the definition of atheism would be the exact opposite of this defintion.
ARG: YOU HAVE FAITH IN EVOLUTION OR BIG BANG:
Faith is belief in an idea that is unsupported by facts or evidence. Big Bang and evolution may not be proven but they are supported by facts and evidence and therefore believing in them is NOT faith! This is NOTHING like believing in a religion. Big Bang and evolution are just theories that have as much impact on my life as believing in blackholes or string theory. I actually don't believe in either theory wholeheartedly and whether I do or not is thoroughly irrelevent as it does not make me behave, vote or raise my children any differently. Turning the argument in this absurd way does nothing. Explaining that a system of religious beliefs, prejudices, doctrines, commandments, sins and rituals is different from entertaining the possiblity of a scientific theory should go without saying and simply wastes time.
ARG: YOU HAVE FAITH IN EVERYDAY LIFE:
Some Christians will confuse "confidence" with FAITH - they will say that when you turn the keys in the ignition you have FAITH that the car will start. This isn't faith, it is "confidence". Faith is the belief in insubstantiated dogma irregardless of lack of evidence or even with evidence to the contrary. Confidence is a rational assumption in the behavior of known forces. Experience will provide you with confidence in certain behaviors whereas no amount of experience will help you with faith. If you believe that a medicine that has cured pneumonia in the past will cure pneumonia now, you are only showing confidence. If you believe that faith healing, which has a track record of zero proven miracles, actually will work than you are showing FAITH - you are ignoring the lack of evidence and believing in something for which there is no substantiation.