He's wrong.

He’s wrong. I have no religion, never had a religion, and as of the present cannot envisage ever having a religion. What an arrogant twat!

Your religions professor is an idiot. Lack of belief in anything is not a religion. Jeezus fuck.

If he argues 'religious' just means believing stuff then yes, atheists also believe some stuff. But most people mean more than that when they use the word 'religious'.

Ask them when they were an atheist.

My thoughts...

As I see it , one can only be deemed "religious" IF they follow the tenants of a religion.

It makes me want to see your "religions professor's" credentials.

I tend to agree. Anyone who claims to be 100% certain on anything, I usually try and avoid. I feel they live a life with tunnel vision. I have had way too many experiences to make me question everything. Some are over educated to the point, that they really sound rather stupid.

Your religions professor ?. What does he teach you, faith healing ?.

He knows not of what he speaks. I found that true with many of my teachers in college. This is why I tried twice and quit twice. As Woody Allen said, "Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach, teach gym."

This

That comment would be incorrect if that is what she/he said. No belief in a god or gods is not a religion. It has no rituals, rites, clergy, etc.

Your professor is very wrong, and apparently doesn't know any atheists.

It depends on definitions and assumptions.

We are 99.99% alike. Our opinions about religion are of little significance.

I have dealt with the religious and cult mind for almost 40 years. I wrote a post about this topic if you would like to check it out here:

"If I declare that my god is real and that it's scriptures are infallible."

I've used the statement that calling atheism a religion is like calling the color black "white", because what is black but a lack of white? Makes as much sense as calling a non-religion a religion.

A one word thought.

'Bollocks'

He's definitely wrong about that.
A non-theist - means no belief in any god or gods, does not determine it's a religion. There's no Atheist 'bible", with fairy tales and you don't hail or worship anything or anyone. You're just not fooled by the existence of the supernatural. You're not blackmailed by faith and hell.

Really!? Do you think your religions professor can convince the IRS to give us atheists/agnostics a religious tax-exempt status? Seriously, I'll happily accept we are a religion if it means I get to keep my taxs!

Also I don't really care what religious people think atheism is. They already believe in utter nonsense...why respect their opinion on atheism?

It's like flat earthers trying to say the spherical earth is a hypothesis. Im not gonna waste my time convincing them....but they are willing to pay me to fly them to the edge of the world....I'll take their money!

Atheism is as far from religion and fake gods as you can get. Now if you are worshiping some devil you are not an Atheist no matter what they tell you. We don't pray to anything, we don't at least never seen it go somewhere once a week to prove we are that stupid. Yes I am of the mind you have to be pretty stupid to believe with no proof that their is a supreme being or force even exists let alone let it rule your life.

Everyone knows there is a god. We know this because the book told us so.

Maybe that is what the professor is going on. Didn't the movie show that the mean old atheist became atheist because god killed his daddy? Then at the end there was a Catholic priest there to rescue him at his own death. Oh, how touching. He is dead, dammit!

His approach may be that we atheists follow societal rules and norms that mimic religion in our daily lives. If so, then that supports the argument over religion.
I fairly strongly promote reason and the scientific method. As such, that could be seen as missionary work in the name of atheism.

I think George Carlin put it best: "Atheism is as much of a religion as abstinence is a sexual position."

You have professors of religion, in Columbia ! Until you said that I would not have though it possible that any institution would have such a thing, but I am now prepared to admit that I was wrong and alter my position. And that is the difference, between belief and justified sceptisim. (Still don't like the idea, but will have to live with it. )