Why? If you worship a god but don’t subscribe to any dogma, accept any scripture or listen to any religious authority, you have no religion. You’re just a theist.

Except atheism is literally a lack of belief in a god or deity. If you believe in some type of deity, you're not an atheist. by default. Edit: I missread that. Sorry. Too much coffee and not enough sleep can cause halicuinations

I guess it depends on your definition of religion. To me, it sounds like a personal religion, even if just one person believes in it. There are any number of religions too small to be included in their list, probably, so they should have an "Other" option, and that seems like the best fit for someone who has a personal set of religious beliefs that do not align with a listed religion.

I suspect Satanists and others on the left hand path would disagree but I agree you're functionally correct

Humans are so complicated

If you asked me what my religion is, I would answer that you have already pre-supposed that I have one. Even though I would know what you're actually asking, I would answer that way to bring more popularity to the idea that not having a religion is normal. Yeah I know, I'm fun at parties.

You can really go down a pretty deep rabbit hole here.

Strictly speaking, atheism is the lack of a belief in a god or gods. A-without, theism-belief in god(s)

There are religions out there that don't have a figure you can easily identify as a god, certain types of Buddhism for example, and so you wouldn't necessarily be wrong in calling followers of those religions "atheists"

But that's of course somewhat at odds with how we normally use the term atheism, and them prevent confusion we'd normally refer to these as "non-theistic religions" instead of "atheistic religions"

You can also get into the weeds about what even counts as a god, for example, certain types of taoism/daoism don't really have any particular god-like figures, but they do have the tao/dao (roughly translating to "path" sort of a natural order the the universe that you should try to be in sync with.) Is the dao a god? It's certainly not a personal god, something you can pray to and expect to get an answer back from, or that can/will intervene in the universe, it just sort of is and you're either on the path or you're not. You could certainly argue that it is a god, if an impersonal one, but it's definitely not what most people would think of as a god.

You can also have religions that don't really have anything they'd identify as a "god" but might have other lesser supernatural entities, things like spirits, demons, angels, ghosts, fairies, djinn, etc.

There's also UFO religions, where aliens are the primary figures and often a lot of their supernatural abilities might be explained away as just very advanced science is centuries beyond our own capabilities.

Going the other direction, you could theoretically have someone who believes that there is some sort of god out there, but makes no attempt to pray to them, worship them, doesn't take part in any sort of ritual or culture having to do with that belief, and pretty much just acknowledges that the god exists but that its existence has no particular impact on that person's life or the universe in general. You could very well call that person a non-religious theist. Many deists would fall into this sort of category.

Something I wish got a little more attention in these sorts of discussions is ignosticism/igtheism/theological noncognitivism, which is the camp I put myself into when I'm feeling really nitpicky, and I like to sum up as:

Theism: I believe that there is a god or gods

Atheism: I do not believe that there are any gods

Agnosticism: I'm not sure if there is a god, and maybe we can't ever know for sure

Ignosticism: What the fuck do you people even mean by "god." No one has come up with a clear definition yet so this argument is pointless.

Whenever I've been asked I always say no religion

I would say I don't have one. Atheism is not a religion it is a description of a single attribute, lack of belief in any gods. People seem to think it means a lot more than it does.

I strongly disagree. Atheism is explicit lack of faith.

For all practical purposes, an atheist thinks that without evidence, it's safe to assume that there's no god or gods.

Would you say that you're genuinely completely agnostic in relation to every single religion that has ever existed, even the joke religions (like the flying spaghetti monster, etc)?

This is a misunderstanding of atheism.

This is my view on religion:

I don’t believe in your imaginary friend; but don’t feel special, I don’t believe in anyone else’s imaginary friend either.

You're using the modified definition of "agnostic" that believers favor. We have no reason to accept that.

"Agnostic" literally means "I don't know." "Atheist" means "I don't believe." I don't know that gods are real, and I have no reason to believe they do.

No faith required.

Exactly. Lack of belief in gods is not the same as actively denying that there are gods.

Atheists activly deny that there is are gods (anti-theism), Agnostics (a-gnostic)

Wild to me that you would put these so close. A-theist, as in "not a theist", you got it right with gnosticism

The etymology of the word through French, Latin, and to Greek all mean that, too, "godless", not "against god"

Then, in conversation regarding atheists, I shall heretofore say "atheistic world view", rather than calling atheism a world view.

I did say "or are deeply rooted on a world view."

world view: a particular philosophy of life or conception of the world. "I have broadened my worldview by experiencing a whole new culture"

Atheism: disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods.

Disbelief is a conception. By nature of the topic, it's a conception of the world. If someone were to say "I don't believe in black holes," that is by nature a conception of the world. One might reference it as merely an aspect of the world view, but it's still an atheistic (or theistic, or black-holist or anti blackholist) world view.

An atheistic world view doesn't mean atheism is what the world view is about, it means that by nature, the view excludes gods. Most people, for example, adhere to a non-unicornist world view.

I don't think there is anything "militant atheist" in the post you replied to.

I also consider myself a secular humanist, but would never describe myself as religious.

I think that normalising not having a religion would help to bring tolerance for people who have differing opinions, while calling secular humanist a religious view may reinforce a bias in some people that "you can't be good without religion".

• Thanks.
• The differentiation I used wasn't my own words, I got it from here, I figured I shouldn't go off just my own take. I suppose I should have specified that from the beginning.
• I suppose there's a case to be made for that.
• I don't see how you've got that I have an extreme position from 'Religions are faith-based while philosophies are based in some logical argumentation.'
• Noted. I suppose I could try to find something not abhorrent about faith. I've long since stopped being angry about it but I'm still very much an Antitheist.

That experiment made my brain hurt

We do have spooky action at a distance

We have quantum entanglement, basically magic

It could be that atheiests are lumped in with people who aren't members of an organized religion where you live.

It's interesting.

Does the word literally mean "confessionless"?

Could it literally mean either a person that doesn't take part in the Christian tradition of Confession? Or maybe a person that doesn't profess any beliefs?

You're just wrong, as I explained

It's amazing how often Jesus freaks will assert they know about other groups and then get their information 110% wrong because they only learned what their in group says about them

Nope agnosticism is the lack of knowledge.

It's two different and somewhat independent axes.

Hail pasta!