The WP Strident Atheists

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". But religions all have a dogma for that is the structure of a religion. "

This is a common misunderstanding, stemming from the ambiguity of religion.

Not to get too deep into typology here, we may loosely differentiate religion = culture and religion = organization. A religion in the culture sense is a loose collective of individuals who have in common that they have similar and compatible, but not identical beliefs in the areas of cosmogony, cosmology, eschatology, morals, ethics, what will you; they may also share in certain rituals, feasts or fasts.

A religion in the organization sense is structured, will often though not necessarily include a leadership cadre, and will generally have a body of dogma to which the membership is expected to subscribe and practices the membership is expected to follow.

Christianity is best seen as religion-culture, whereas the Primitive Methodists are religion-organization. Despite the existence of the creeds, there is really no clear inventory of doctrines and practices defining Christianity - which is part of why so frequently one Christian organization will deny that another is Christian.

Seen in this light, atheism is not a religion, since there is so far as I know no cultural identity, nor no organization comprehending all or most atheists.. Materialist scientism might at a stretch count as an atheistic religion-culture - but from what I have seen I am inclined to doubt that the bonds that link a culture exist.

Within the set of atheists there are subsets that would qualify as religion-organization. Loose though it be, I would have to include our own Wrong Planet Strident Atheists here - I note that the founding posts list features members are expected to share. But unqualified atheism is not a religion in either sense any more than theism is.

There are those [and I do NOT refer to mainline Christianity] who ascribe some level of sentience and spirituality to rocks, and those who [with backing from admittedly poetical portions of the JudeoChristian scriptures] will speak of rocks and other elements of nature acknowledging their maker.

Why not snowflakes, which are water [known or alleged to have sensitivies] and crystals [much used in esoteric power manipulation.

Do you KNOW that snowflakes have no religion?

Have you even discussed the question of Spirit with cetaceans?

The starfish I know see octopods as evil because of the association betwee 4 and squares - 8 = 2 x 4 and fundamentalists are squares and evil. They worship squid, since 5 x 2 = 10.

But Awesomely Glorious is the expert on cephalopod deities.

Because it is an ideology; atheism like theism is an ideology in regards to spiritual concerns of man. Anarchy is an ideology just like communism and capitalism. Anarchists don't believe in government, but that fact is based upon other ideologies.

Read the definition of ideology. Tell me what about it excludes atheism from being described as a world view or ideology. Why is it important to you that it not be labeled as such? To me, it's just an observation that seems obvious but judging by the responses on this thread, I see I hit a nerve. Why does that bother you? You think you are free from brainwashing. That is a joke. Atheists parrot words from Dawkins left and right. They refer to "authoritative" sources to make claims about their own spirituality. If there were no books or videos to read, what would you really think? Would you be more in tune with your spiritual nature? Maybe, but we'll never know because we are all brainwashed and delusional to some extent.

I gather my paleontologist rabidly anti-me brother does not think Dawkins is so hot, save for agreeing with him about the God idea.

Atheism is an ideology. Why is that so hard to see? An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things (compare worldview), as in common sense (see Ideology in everyday society below) and several philosophical tendencies (see Political ideologies), or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to all members of this society (a "received consciousness" or product of socialization). The main purpose behind an ideology is to offer change in society, and adherence to a set of ideals where conformity already exists, through a normative thought process. Ideologies are systems of abstract thought applied to public matters and thus make this concept central to politics. Implicitly every political tendency entails an ideology whether or not it is propounded as an explicit system of thought. It is how society sees things.

To be a bit more clear: atheism, where it exists in reaction to and in opposition to some theistic religion, such as Christianity and Islam, is an ideology. "Atheism" in the broadest possible sense of not believing in a theistic God means very little, and does not constitute an ideology as such.

Yah, form your own little group so you can pat each other on the back and give each other metals for not believing in God.