I deny the claim that atheism is a religion. What are the 'versions' of atheism you refer to?
How can rejecting ALL religious beliefs in gods be a religion? I don't have any atheist scripture to adhere to. There are no dogmas associated with being atheist and I have never conformed to any rules or guidance from the 'atheist church'. The ONLY thing that atheists have in common is not believing any of the multitudes of holy books and gods, after that it's an open playing field as to what we have opinions on - and we disagree amongst ourselves more often than not I assure you.
Look, if it makes you feel better to class me as a religious atheist fill your boots, but you're completely mis-informed or your definition of religion is wildly different to mine.
There are different types of atheism, based on people who use the statement "I don't believe in God". Some might best be defined as agnostic atheism, where "I don't believe in God" merely means they have no active belief one way or the other - perhaps they have no reason to believe in God but equally don't have a particularly active belief in the non-existence of God. Others might best be defined as gnostic atheism, where "I don't believe in God" essentially means "I believe God does not exist" - an active belief in the non-existence of God rather than a more passive lack of belief one way or the other.
The people whose viewpoint is essentially "I don't really know" can't be described as being religious because they aren't taking an active position on way or the other. But the active belief "God does not exist" is no less a statement of faith than "God does exist". There might not be a specific atheist equivalent of the Bible, there might not be organised meetings that parallel church on a Sunday morning, but that doesn't chance the fact that "God does not exist" is a statement of faith. Throw in a few people who are essentially atheist evangelists, who attempt to demonstrate that there is no God in the same way as Christian evangelists attempt to show people why they need God (and, by implication, that God does exist) and it starts to show some trappings of a religion. Maybe not a well organised religion but still a group of people who share a common faith in something that can't be scientifically proven one way or the other.
Christians disagree on a lot of stuff too, hence there are so many denominations. Maybe there are just lots of atheist denominations.
How do you see "God does not exist" as any more or or any less of a statement of faith than "God does exist"?
