Atheist Religions?

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CassandraW

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What we need is a different word for someone who doesn't believe in anything not explainable by physical laws and not provable by observation and experiment.

I describe my own philosophy (more or less this) as "Pfft."

ETA:

I suppose others might prefer a more dignified word.
 
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Angie

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What we need is a different word for someone who doesn't believe in anything not explainable by physical laws and not provable by observation and experiment.

"Physicalist" is probably the best term for it that I've heard. Or rationalist.

I prefer to just call myself an atheist, because no matter what term you use, you're probably going to have to explain yourself anyway.
 
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ChansonRoland

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Did You get your answer about Atheist Religions?
I'm an Atheist. You were asking about Philosophies that are non-religious.
One of the best and one that goes along with much of what you asked for Hedonistic, Humanism, Scientific, Non-Fear, and Very Social is Epicureanism.

I'm an Atheist, but also very much an Epicurean in many ways.

You should look him up Epicurus. His school in Athens, unlike Plato and Aristotle, encouraged and allowed Slaves, Non-citizens, and Women into their fold.

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veinglory

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I ended up being a materialist which is an adjacent concept in that is basically rules out the supernatural. So now I can only hang out with pagans who take the unitarian approach to heathenism. Fortunately there are plenty of these and they have the best parties.
 

kuwisdelu

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Of course, Fox Mulder wasn't believing it on faith. He was believing it based on evidence.

Sometimes. Very often he was believing it despite the lack of evidence.

Or else Scully would've believed more often, too.

But an atheist (by the strict definition of the word) can believe in the supernatural. They just don't believe in one or more supreme beings. A belief in reincarnation, for instance, is completely compatible with atheism. Technically.

Hint: I was agreeing with you.
 

Opty

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What we need is a different word for someone who doesn't believe in anything not explainable by physical laws and not provable by observation and experiment.
We do. It's called "philosophical naturalism." People who adhere to that philosophy often also adhere to "methodological naturalism" when trying to explore and learn about the world and usually describe themselves as skeptics (not all do, though).


ETA: Oops! I saw this thread near the top and mistakenly thought it was recent. Apologies for resurrecting a dead thread.
 

redrobin62

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Hi all. I'm a Jain myself. I practice Jainism, a religion that does not believe in a creator God. You might hear some Jains say we have gods, but what they mean is we have thirtankars, or prophets. We do revere them, but it's just out of respect for their teachings and sacrifices.

We have many beliefs, but our central tenet is ahimsa - non-violence. I brought this up because I recently wrote a children's book, my first, about Jainism. I already sent the manuscript out and everything and hope to hear from the publisher in a few months. I thought I'd give children's book a try and take a break from the horror, mystery, and sci-fi I'm known for.
 

Kalsik

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A stellar body based 'atheistic' religion could be adopted. Basically sun worship taken a scientific level up.

The stars could be the god of each system, and the next tier of gods would be those stars or other bodies around which clusters or even entire galaxies orbit [black holes, super/hypergiant stars, anything bigger if possible].

Sun worship makes sense anyway, as without it, we'd die, and in the future, we'd lose a source of solar power. So may as well be thankful for it.
 

Helix

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A stellar body based 'atheistic' religion could be adopted. Basically sun worship taken a scientific level up.

The stars could be the god of each system, and the next tier of gods would be those stars or other bodies around which clusters or even entire galaxies orbit [black holes, super/hypergiant stars, anything bigger if possible].

Sun worship makes sense anyway, as without it, we'd die, and in the future, we'd lose a source of solar power. So may as well be thankful for it.

If the stars are gods, how is that atheistic?
 

The Otter

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There are also a lot of definitional issues here as to what constitutes a "god." Does something have to be a conscious, supernatural entity in order to qualify as a god? I'd generally say yes, but I guess someone could make the argument that godhood is defined by the act of being worshiped and therefore if people decide to worship the sun, it qualifies as a god (at least to them) regardless of whether they regard it as conscious or not.

There are also people who don't believe in a Creator god but believe that the universe itself, or matter itself, is conscious, and is therefore a kind of super-entity that we're all components of. Are they theists or atheists? Or does it depend on how they frame their belief?
 

Fullon_v4.0

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The term "Religion" has many different definitions. Simply put, it's one's way of life.
Technically, Atheism in itself is a religion, a way of life without the belief in a superhuman force.
 

morngnstar

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The term "Religion" has many different definitions. Simply put, it's one's way of life.

That's not one of the definitions of religion. Many religions are influential on one's way of life. But not all ways of life are religions.
 

morngnstar

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Also, atheism is not really a way of life. It's a belief. Atheism is no more a way of life or a religion than is the belief that ice is cold.
 

Cyia

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Why do people keeping saying that atheism - the literal absence of religion - is a religion? This does not compute.
 

MaeZe

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The term "Religion" has many different definitions. Simply put, it's one's way of life.
Technically, Atheism in itself is a religion, a way of life without the belief in a superhuman force.
Sorry, I can't agree with this. I hear this claim from people (not necessarily you), mostly theists that wish to dismiss rejection of god beliefs as nothing but a different religion.

The difference however, is that religious beliefs are generally dogmatic. Tenets might change over time but the religious doctrine and a belief in god(s) stays the same.

Theists and atheists alike have the same range of beliefs other than a belief in god(s). In other words you can find theists whose beliefs are consistent with science and evidence based beliefs. They have no issue with evolution theory or the fact the Earth is 4.5 billion years old. At the same time there are atheists that believe all sorts of unsupportable things. Being an atheist is no guarantee you don't believe in ghosts or BigFoot or alien abductions.

Why do people keeping saying that atheism - the literal absence of religion - is a religion? This does not compute.
I have atheist friends who have adopted the Humanist religion because they want the things the religion they gave up offered besides belief in god(s). Essentially they have a community that is absent the theism.

https://americanhumanist.org/what-is-humanism/
http://huumanists.org/about/religious-humanism

Some of my atheist friends are not into religious aspects of a group. They do, however, socialize as a group, and celebrate holidays like Darwin Day.

Meetup became a source for people I know to find social groups with like-minded atheism and agnosticism.

https://www.meetup.com/topics/atheists/
 

Helix

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The term "Religion" has many different definitions. Simply put, it's one's way of life.
Technically, Atheism in itself is a religion, a way of life without the belief in a superhuman force.

Yeah. No. Not even in the hyperbolic advertising sense of 'veganism is the new religion'. Atheism is simply not believing in god/s.
 

mccardey

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Yeah. No. Not even in the hyperbolic advertising sense of 'veganism is the new religion'. Atheism is simply not believing in god/s.
Actually, I do seem to remember that definition (Religion is a way of life) from the Catholic catechism of the late 1960s. We learned it by rote - along with the definitions of papal infallibility and virgin births and oh well, you know. I'll just stop now.
 

Helix

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Actually, I do seem to remember that definition (Religion is a way of life) from the Catholic catechism of the late 1960s. We learned it by rote - along with the definitions of papal infallibility and virgin births and oh well, you know. I'll just stop now.

Oh, yeah, happy to agree that religion is a way of life. But I'd argue that atheism isn't a religion.
 

mccardey

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But I'd argue that atheism isn't a religion.
Yes I'd agree with that. I think it's all starting to get a bit 'how many angels can dance on the head of a pin' quite frankly, and that never ends well.
 

underpope

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The term "Religion" has many different definitions. Simply put, it's one's way of life.
Technically, Atheism in itself is a religion, a way of life without the belief in a superhuman force.

The best response I've ever seen to this claim: Atheism is a religion in the sense that bald is a hair color.
 

morngnstar

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Actually, I do seem to remember that definition (Religion is a way of life) from the Catholic catechism of the late 1960s.

Sure, religion is a way of life, but not all ways of life are religions. The Catholic Church is also a patron of the arts, but that doesn't mean the NEA is a religion.

Also, atheism is not a way of life.
 

mccardey

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Sure, religion is a way of life, but not all ways of life are religions. The Catholic Church is also a patron of the arts, but that doesn't mean the NEA is a religion.

Also, atheism is not a way of life.
Yep - actually I was trying to endorse Helix's comment of 'hyperbolic advertising' but it clearly didn't come across that way...

It's a sneaky bit of marketing, because once you say something like "Religion is a way of life" you're mandating that everyone alive must have a religion of some sort, whether they know it or not. Therefore atheism can't be real. Which is clearly an over-reach for the idea of religion in the sense that they're using the term, but is fuzzy enough to be hard to dispute without taking three giant steps back and redefining religion and way and life. And the verb to be.
 
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