Those believers who weaponize their beliefs tend to be obniouxiously pious.

In their belief structure, they emphasize peace... but also an eye for an eye. My point is: ferocity on their part requires an equal level of aggression on ours. I believe they actually want people to stand up to them... they think their god will validate their faith in him.

This is the difference. You hardly find an atheist botbering religious people, but you often will find the other way around!

Why is anyone talking in that manner even on this site?@Admin's?

If you block the person they will not see your posts and you will not see theirs. I wish you all the best!

Confucius says: Do whatever YOU feel is right in your heart because you will be criticized anyway." Self acceptance/love goes a long way towards taking the sting out of other peoples ignorant comments.

Athiesm is a lack of religion and belief the only thing we need to exercise is skeptism. You should have retorted to the idiot who said such a thing "why do you hate gays, freedom, other religions, science, reading other books but your own, skeptism and critical thinking?" since they clearly love to bat around assumptions.

I consider myself agnostic and while I don't consider agnosticism a religion, (an alternative belief system more like), I do however think (in my humble opinion) that anybody that hates whether they believe it is in humanity, alternative belief system or otherwise, has more going on than they are revealing in the first instance. I think that fundamentalism of any kind, whether it be in religion, agnosticism, or whatever is a dangerous thing.

"but if you are a member of a religion other than agnosticism, atheism, etc."
Philosonazi here
you cannot BE a member of Atheism or Agnosticism
it is by not being a member of other groups, namely Theist and Gnostic groups that one become either Atheist or Agnostic.
Not being in a religion is not another religion.

No shame or issue here, this in an entrenched form of thought folks raised in a culture heavily religious tend to have to struggle with, meself included.

If I leave the Football team because I have grown tired of Football it does not imply I joined another team.
Leave a religion and to Believers inside it does, and it can be reflected in our own use of speech as well. It is an unconscious habit of thought and speech built from a lifetime of being surrounded by religious domination of speech and terms of use of said speech.

Language is a foundational structure in societies, a BASE structure. I think one of the BEST things we can all do is try our level best to watch our speech patterns for how religion has slanted our language, and adopt OTHER terms.

Because I feel the awe and majesty of a morning sunrise on a Mountain
I won't give that to religion by calling it "Spiritual"
Savvy?

May I point out that the path of any logical discussion will get immediately vey slippery once we glibly define atheism/agnosticism as a " religion". As for " faith" that it is possible to "receive kindness and open-mindedness, the primary truth is that humans are capable of kindness and there is a lot of it around. They are also capable of unkindness and cruelty and there is also too much of these around. Faith, like hope, is beyond the scope of reason. Fundamentally, they are prayers, albeit silent ones.

It comes with the territory I guess. Not my experience though. I have been trashed for other reasons though. Political stuff that now a days its changing some people into irrational creatures just like religion does. Nothing bad enough to block nobody. I have been told "fuck you" few times and the remedy always works, if things get uncivil then just ignore, do not engage. That's it. Works for me anyway. After all, I am Nobody anyway

I would not classify atheism or agnosticism as religion. Religion as a term defines as, [ the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.]

Let us look at the commonality between the terms Agnostic and Atheist. Notice the "A". Now let us look at the term Atheist and break it Down. Atheist = A/Theist. Theist is a human who believes in a god or gods. Hmm so what does the "A" mean. What we are dealing with are two morphemes with two concious perceptions that create a compete different conscious thought. The "A", gives the conscious perspective of "not". Atheist = not / Theist.

Ok. Now let us play with the term Agnostic. I spent A large portion of my life in various Christian Religions. The Gnostics go way back and were the First Sect of Christian Philosophy before it became a Religion. They did not believe that the christ figure manifested in the flesh. Gnosticism begins in the first and second century A.D. Catholicism and the Creation of Cristianity as an organized Religion begin around 325 A.D.

The term Gnostic is basically a Greek/Latin term that relates to knowledge, or better yet secret or hidden knowlege. See the Gnostics were a Philosophical peoples that formed into a Religion or better yet a Religious cult with a recognized doctrine or dogma. So the term Gnostic has a deeper Cognizance than just knowledge. Ergo a person who is Agnostic is not against or without "knowledge", Agnostic Humans are those who are without "knowledge" of god/gods and dogmatic principles there of.

A = not
Gnostic = secret or hidden knowledge = not of common social consciousness.

So Atheist peoples are basically those who do not consciously perceive, through the senses, the Judaic/Christian/Islamic deity known as Yahweh, as well as peceiving the acknowledgement of any deity who is, was, or has been whorshipped as the Omnipotent Creator and Progenitor of Earthy Human Beings.

Agnostic peoples are those who do not believe from their knowledg, and or gnosis that any valid evidence exists for the concious perception of the Omnipotent Creator whorshipped by the Judaic/Christian/Islamic Peoples, as well as having a perception for any conscious manifestation beyond the physical realm.

However this textbook definition is somewhat inaccurate from a Historical perspective. The etymological root is Gnostic wich derives from Gnosis. The element of secret and or hidden knowledge exists with the conscious perception of the term. This Secret and or Hidden Knowledge refers to Innate Spiritual/Conscious knowlege with respect to the Manifestation of Spirit/Consciousness in the Physical Realm. In a sense or understanding one could say Magic. But that is an entire different discusion.

The reason I state this is because Agnostic peoples from the textbook definition do not believe evidence exists for any conscious manifestion beyond the physical realm. When infact much evidence exists for phenomenon or manifestations of Consciousness in the nonphysical realm. This is why the branch of Physics exist so named Metaphysics.

Meta = Greek = beyond
Physics = the study of mass and motion in the physical universe

In short physics is the study of all that can be seen.

So Metaphysics is that branch of physics that studies phenomenon that cannot be understood or defined in the Physical Mass of things visible and subatomic.

I hope this helps.

Well said !

I wonder why you call atheism a religion? Can you explain your reason? Just out of curiosity.

Agnosticism/atheism a religion?

Agnostic: One who expresses uncertainty in the issue of whether there is or is not a deity. That does not sound like a religion to me.

Atheist: One who does not believe in a deity. Sorry, no religion here, either.

Now, where it is true that an agnostic may hold beliefs, indeed even be attending religious services, his/her agnosticism merely indicates a lack of knowledge regarding the existence or nonexistence of deity/supernatural. Such a person cannot aver that there is or is not a deity or a supernatural realm.

It is equally true that an atheist may hold beliefs, but he/she lacks a belief in deity. There are atheists who make the error of declaring that there is no deity, but they are placing themselves in the same untenable position as the believer because now the burden of proof rests upon their shoulders. I am an atheist, but I do not profess to know whether there is or is not a deity/supernatural. It is not a dichotomy that I think in this way. Where I do not believe in deity or the supernatural, I do not know with absolute certainty that neither exist. Again, no religion in sight.

As for why those who do believe chase after we who do not, the answer is quite simple. It is their duty to bring as many 'souls' as they can into the bosom of the Dead Jew on a Stick. You could say it is their job. Saving 'souls' is their ... thing. The same is not true for us. I feel no obligation to go door to door selling the good news of non-belief to the world.

So, the premise upon which your post is based, is in error. I agree that it would be nice of the religious to keep their beliefs to themselves, but we also know that they think it is their job to save us from the flaming depths. Because of this, it is our job to kindly, logically, and respectfully put them in their place. Failing any of those three brings shame upon us as a whole and reinforces their notion that we are hateful, evil, sinners who need to be saved.

Religious people think that the meaning of faith and beliefs apply ONLY to religion.

If you havent you should flag/report them. Admin will address it.

Perhaps it's worth reporting them? Sounds like they're on the wrong site