Is Atheism a religion?

[HarrassedDad]

My DW and I were debating this and thought we would ask all of you! The question stemmed from asking if Atheism is taught at schools during RE lessons (we think it should be).

[SaintGeorge]

Buddhism is atheistic but is also a religion so yes, the non-belief in gods can still be deemed a religion.

[Tinker]

But atheism doesn't have any rules. What could be taught? You could teach that there is such a thing as atheism.

[emankcin]

It is a group of people who have a distinct belief system, that being not to believe. there is no ritual behind this practice although there is a belief. Therefore if the RE lesson was named " The exploration of human belief systems" your point would be valid.

[HarrassedDad]

Wow! Quite a few replies!

How to teach it? Well, they could start with a definition and take it from there! Perhaps a discussion of the reasons why some people believe and some do not? The arguments for and against? A discussion? A vote? An exploration of the inherent contradictions and conflicts in many Religions with science? The fact that my question has prompted such a rapid response shows that there would be no problem finding material to discuss in an RE lesson? Besides, can it really be any more difficult to teach atheism than teaching impressionable children that one or more gods exist ?

One definition I found of Religion was "a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith". It certainly applies to my feelings about Atheism.
I guess I would like RE to teach all beliefs. Atheism is my belief.

[Tinker]

I prefer Jonathan Miller's "definition":

"I'm rather reluctant to call myself an atheist, not because I'm embarrassed, ashamed, in fear of my life or even socially disabled as I might once have been. No, no...I'm reluctant because the term 'atheism' itself takes on almost sectarian connotations and it hardly seems necessary to have a name for something that scarcely enters my thoughts at all."

[bran]

It's a belief, but not a religion. I think to be a religion there has to be rules/rituals/morality that has to be followed which is not decided on an individual basis. Personally I don't think that atheism really needs to be taught during RE lessons, although it should be acknowledged as an option. There isn't really much commonality in atheism in the way there is in a religion.

[HarrassedDad]

Hi Bran, surely Atheists do share a common belief - that there is no god or gods? (Lets not get into the debate about whether you can be an Athiest towards some gods and not others!)

Hi Tinker, I like Millers definition but I can't help thinking he must live a different world to me. It is impossible not to think about or 'be' an Atheist when your kids ask why their teachers keep talking about God!

[Tinker]

True HD. But can dream of an ideal world.

[bran]

I don't think that's necessarily the case HD, that's like saying that everyone who doesn't play golf share a common interest. While people who do play golf obviously do have a common interest, there are millions of reasons not to play golf, and people very rarely gather together to discuss their lack of golf playing. Similarly there are many reasons not to believe in a deity or an underlying 'reason' for creation/life. For some people atheism is the result of deep philosopical deduction or perhaps a loss of faith and they probably do have aspects of atheism to discuss, but I suspect for many like me atheism is simply a lack of religion, similar to a lack of interest in the football results or a lack of belief in leprechauns with no conscious decision to be that way.

[DontCallMeBaby]

Definitely not a religion.

There was a long discussion on newsgroups at work recently about flavours of atheism - one chap purporting, backed up by Wikipedia I think (yawn) that true atheism was when you actively believe there is no god, whereas not believing there is a god is agnosticism.

Ah - weak vs strong atheism (though I think agnosticism could be argued to fall within the latter). Or implicit vs explicit, rather different divide. Plenty of material!

[theUrbanDryad]

nope - atheism is not a religion. it's often what people turn to who have explored religion and found it to be less than convincing. give Richard Dawkins' the God Delusion a read. it's absolutely brilliant (Chapter 4 is my favourite - Why There almost certainly Is No God.

[admylin]

I'm half way through Richard Dawkins, it's a very good book. I've just finished Karen Armstrong's History of God and it is also a great book but a bit hard going - helps to understand where religion actually comes from.
I think all religions should be taught about in school. As Richard Dawkins says it's unfair to talk of "a muslim/jewish/christian child" because a child isn't able to decide or understand what religion is so it would be better to say "a child of muslim parents etc" and later let the child decide what he/she wants to be or follow.

[Pruni]

Message withdrawn

[BarefootDancer]

Surely atheism is the opposite of religion? It is also emphatically not a belief system. You don't have to believe in anything to be atheist.
You do have to believe in something specifically set out for you in every world religion.
But, yes it should be taught in RE at school, though how it is fitted in to that I would be interested to know.

[DominiConnor]

Atheism is taught in a very politically correct way, ignoring what many people who style themselves atheists believe.
Some people actively believe there is no God and as such this is inherently a religious position, and of course one of faith since the claimed non-existence of God has no more evidence than the claimed existence of Jesus.

Many simply have no place in their world view for religion, not from disagreement, but simply not caring.

Many don't care if there is a God, but have a real problem with the actions of organised religion.
Within all these views is an issue that political correctness would not allow into the teaching of RE, that all large scale religions have behaved badly, and even the relatively small ones punch above their weight whenever they get the political power to hurt people.

[PeachyChocolateEClair]

FWIW my religion course doesn't teach Atheism as it is not a religion or a specified belief or moral system.

Untilr ecently however they taught Humansim, which many Athists are, because it ahs a define set of morals and as such can be taught / discussed (with some voracity).

St George- aaaah, you are right about Buddhism but it has a set of teachable, defined beliefs. And a whole huge accompaying debate about Tbetan Buddhism / the Cult of Tara / etc. (Have your ead about Pure Land Buddhism? Sort of Christian / Buddhist hybrid). Plus then there's the whole thing of yes, Buddha states in the Dhammapada (I think) that after Nirvana he goes for ever- but lots of schools don't follow that they beleive Buddha reappears in different manifestations, or that Boddhisattvas come back and manifest in order to assoist humanity- which makes them sorta Gods. Its a complex debate, Buddhism spans a lot of avrying beliefs.

[Pruni]

Message withdrawn

[PeachyChocolateEClair]

Interestingly BTW, my lecturers (wellt he ones we nac get an answer from) are Agnostic, rather than Atheist.

[glitterfairy]

I think budhism is a philosophy rather than a religion and so is atheism. I think humanism should be taught but then so should philosophy and form what I have seen RE has become a poor persons form of philsosphy education in schools. I cannot see why we dont teach philosophy as the french do as I think it would be useful.

I dont think atheism does mean believeing in nothing either it just means you dont believe there is a GOD.

[Pruni]

Message withdrawn

[PeachyChocolateEClair]

'Within all these views is an issue that political correctness would not allow into the teaching of RE, that all large scale religions have behaved badly, and even the relatively small ones punch above their weight whenever they get the political power to hurt people. '

Or help people, DC.

Jainism and Ahimsa being a case in point, very few adherents compared to the pop. of India, but also very well respected and with considerable influence because of the entire basis of their religion being non-harm.

[glitterfairy]

Sorry what I meant in my last sentence was that I dont think atheism equals believing in nothing. It just means you dont believe in the existance of God.

[geekgrrl]

I am an atheist and do not consider it a belief system or religion (actually, find the idea quite offensive in a strange way) - unless you count not believing that there's a pink elephant behind you right now a religion, or not believing in the tooth fairy.
So, I don't think you can teach atheism - other than say that a large part of the population think that everything taught in RE is about as true and real as Father Christmas, which would probably go against the grain of a lot of RE teachers.