by Simon Wright

Created on: July 06, 2010

This topic could be answered decisively with the following eleven words:

“Atheism is not a religion. It’s the complete absence of religion.”

However, it’s clear that some people may be confused on this point so let’s look in more detail about what religion is, what atheism is, and why the two are polar opposites.

Religion:

Religion can be defined as

a. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.

b. A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.

(Source: Thefreedictionary.com)

The key thing to note here is that for something to be a religion it must be grounded in a belief in the existence of a supernatural power or powers; in other words belief in a God or in gods who sit apart from the natural world. And, furthermore, there is an aspect of reverence or worship involved. Additionally, most religions can be classed as “organised religions”, where followers are provided with instruction on how to observe their religion, whether it’s through morality instructions on how to lead their life, or guidance on how to communicate with their God/gods.

Atheism:

Again using thefreedictionary.com as the reference point, here is their definition of atheism:

1. Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods.

2. The doctrine that there is no God or gods.

The key aspect here is that an atheist does not believe in the existence of a supernatural God or gods within the universe. Some may present an alternative view on how the world came into existence and how our world has developed but, to be an atheist, it is enough that you don’t believe in the existence of deities.

The second listed definition mentions the word “doctrine” and is more controversial. Doctrine is a word that is associated with a codification of beliefs and is commonly used with regards to religious doctrines. Within the atheist perspective, the closest we can get to an atheist doctrine is probably to link to the scientific explanations that have been given to how the universe was created (The Big Bang theory) and how life developed on our planet (The theory of Evolution).

I dare say that a majority of atheists believe in these scientific theories but belief in them is not a perquisite of being an atheist. It is enough that I simply don’t believe in the presence of a God or gods, even if I have no alternative explanation for the world that

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