I find it odd that when filling out a form that asked me what my religion is one of the choices is Atheist.

What now? That is the that opposite of religion.

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20 points

Atheism is not a religion or worldview.

Atheism is the lack of a belief in a god or God’s.

Many atheists including myself adhere to the statement of simply being unconvinced that there is a God or having no credible evidence to indicate a God’s existence.

Maybe the form we were filling out legitimately needed that information but typically outside of a very specific set of data. I don’t see why any form would ever ask you what your religion or lack of religion might be.

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3 points

In the medical world plenty of religions forbid certain things… like blood transfusions. I can’t really think of other places but I’m sure there are other legitimate use cases.

But I usually just trike out stuff that is irrelevant. If they seem it relevant they can press the issue and explain why.

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Surely atheism is the belief in the lack of a god. Agnosticism is the lack of belief in a god.

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7 points

Sorta, break down the roots of the words. Atheists activly deny that there is are gods (anti-theism), Agnostics (a-gnostic) are those who dont know, are unconvinced or those who simply dont care. If you really want to be pedantic (annoy your religious friends), point out that most theists are also atheists in a sense as they deny all gods, except for their own.

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3 points

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

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2 points

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”

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-8 points

Atheism is, in point if fact, a world view.

There is a world. You have a perspective on that world. The assumptions you make and the things you believe, rational and irrational, are a world view. The concept that there is (or is not) credible evidence that gods, or planets, or whatever fundamental facets of existence, imaginary or otherwise, are either a world view themselves or are deeply rooted in your world view.

Q: does your world include unicorns? A: i don’t know.

The answer stems from having a world view that does not categorically include nor exclude unicorns. But more to the point, when answering questions like:

Q: what is most likely the source of existence? A: <anything you damned well please>

The answer, if actually responding to the question, is a world view, or deeply tied to a world view.

As to forms: forms are often limiting and don’t include information we consider relevant, or do include information we consider irrelevant. So it goes. In any case, they would ask that information precisely because world views provide broad but effective indicators about an individual. Knowing that a large incoming group of hotel guests is Christian, for example, can be a useful metric, because you’ll know that your hotel will make above-average pay-to-watch porn sales that weekend.

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4 points
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It is NOT a world view for the simple, basic, fundamental fact, that not all atheists believe the same thing.

Much, much less congruent than even “Christian”. 'Not Christian" is also not a world view, for the same fucking reason, numpty.

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0 points
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Then, in conversation regarding atheists, I shall heretofore say “atheistic world view”, rather than calling atheism a world view.

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1 point
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Just using Google ai. Think before you speak.

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.

Atheism is not a worldview in the sense that it is a lack of belief in gods, and does not provide a comprehensive view of the world. However, many atheists tend to have a worldview that includes empiricist, positivist, or materialist beliefs, and a strong belief in science. This worldview is sometimes called “scientism”.

Atheism is the rejection of the idea that gods exist, and is not a belief system that answers other questions about a person’s beliefs. Atheists typically believe that the existence of gods is highly improbable, and that there is no persuasive evidence to support the belief.

Atheism is different from identifying as an atheist. While most atheists hold an atheistic worldview, not all of them do. In fact, only about half of those who hold an atheistic worldview identify as atheists.

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1 point

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.

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