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Atheism Is Not A Religion

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I frequently hear, people calling atheism a religion.  *sigh*  No.  It isn't.  Here is why:

Definition of "religion":  a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

Definition of "atheism": disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods.

Atheism, even by its simple etymology "a - (lack of), theism - (belief in the existence of a god or gods)", it is simply the rejection of the theistic claim.  Theism makes the claim that a god exists.  Atheism is simply not accepting the claim.  That simple.  Someone who golfs, takes part in a sport.  Golf Is a sport.  Someone who does not golf simply does not take part in this particular sport.  They are not taking part in their own "non-golfing sport".  That's absurd.  This idea tends to arise from people who only know religion and the structures therein, which is sort of like the combo meal mentality when it comes to their world view.  They will turn to religion for their morality, their views on sex, politics, right and wrong, what holidays to celebrate, what happens when you die, whether or not to cut the foreskin off of a child, etc.  These are all different areas of discourse, yet religion offers you a one stop shop for them.  You don't have to think about each individual one because all of this has already been dictated to you from your creator.  So just take what they tell you and move along.

All of these areas are important and intricate domains of discourse.  As an atheist, these are not pre-decided for you.  You have no template to just pick up and apply and call it good.  Rather you have to research each area, learn the facts, dig and dig and apply a logical straight edge to come up with the right conclusion.  It is not a one stop shop, but rather an "a la carte" situation.  Being an atheist tells you absolutely NOTHING about a person's beliefs other than that they don't believe in a god or gods.  There are many atheists who believe completely different things in these areas.  Why?  Because there is no dogma, there are no tenants, there are no authorities telling us the answers.  Because atheism is not a belief system in and of itself.
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