Chris Olson wrote: > > Randi128 at aol.com wrote: > > > Atheism is a religeon of non-belief in > > > god. So even atheists have a religeon. > > Ah! And what about us agnostic nihilists, huh? > > You saying I have faith in not knowing what the > truth is? Granted, you could make an argument > that my nihilistic leanings are quasi-religious, > I suppose... :) <grin> > > Chris Ah, but according to Descartes you have only two choices, belief and unbelief. Delaying the choice (being agnostic) too long ends up being indistinguishable from atheism. :) OK, I'm not sure I can support that one either, but... Some of the most devout people I know are atheists. Dennis Higbee wrote: > Atheism is not a religion, but there are atheists who make it into one. I think we are saying the same thing but making different divisions. I would say there are people who have no religion but they are not atheists. It may boil down to the difference between: I believe in no god. and I believe there is no god The first is not a statement of religion. The second is indistinguishable >from a religion. Matthew Hunter wrote: > Atheism can be defined as faith in the non-existance of God, > above and beyond the evidence available. That's very similar to > religion and many atheists treat it as such, absent the trappings > of ceremony and ritual. You could make an argument that baiting > the religious constitutes ritualized worship, though. The devout atheists I describe above in fact do create ceremonies and ritual that parallel ones that might be practiced in other faiths. These rituals meet their own needs and those of their family and friends who do not universally share their faith. Casey In the interests of full disclosure, the grains of salt you need to take with any of the above statements are: a) I am religious. I am a devout Christian. I am an Episcopalian. b) Matthew, Joshua and I (and probably others if I were to check) have all been discussing this issue on another list.