Originally Posted by Sirisian
So what you're telling me is you think Atheism is more than just "a lack of belief in deities" and is itself a religion? Is not believing in Christianity a religion? Or not believing in Islam? If so one would have multiple religions. It doesn't make sense to say that disbelief in something causes one to be part of a religion. The act of being forced to label oneself an Atheist is in direct response to people believing in deities.
It's gotten so complicated I think with religions trying to redefine Atheism that people have been forced to not label themselves at all because it's gotten so out of control.
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Atheism is definitely more than just a disbelief in a God or Gods.
The term itself of course means only that, but it is virtually equivalent to any religious belief structure.
It meets all 7 of the divisions of religion as defined by Ninian Smart, for instance.
Atheism is also protected under the free exercise of religion clause of the first amendment, as it has been ruled (on several occasions) an equivalent to a religion, all of the way up to the SCOTUS.
Everyone keeps assuming that in order for something to be a religion, that it must involve a belief in a God. That is simply not true.