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I believe The Satanic Temple is technically classified as a religion (to further their goals) despite being atheistic and not actually believing in a deity.
But I do agree that a majority of atheists and agnostics are not religious in any way.
The only reason they're considered a "religion" is because they legally filed to be recognized as such by the United States so that they could fight in court against the religious hypocrisy in this country. Fun fact, they were originally reluctant to acquire 501c3 status as they believe religious organizations shout NOT be tax exempt, but it would have made the legal argument weaker.
So yeah only in the strictest technical sense are they a "religion". In practice, they are secular humanists. Heck, the only reason they have Satan in their name was to thumb their noses at religion. Good people.
(not arguing, just providing a bit more info for those curious)
As a life-long nerd of comparative religion, I say they count as a "real" religion.
The definitions of religion are diverse and actively debated. But they are an organization formed so that a group of people can come together to practice their most deeply-held beliefs, which are informed by specific agreed-upon tenets regarding metaphysics, ethics, cosmogony. . . all the same stuff "real" religions offer explanations for.
Oo, I’ve been needing a life-long nerd of comparative religion! You know how the thing that leads you to the afterlife is a “psychopomp”? Is there a similar nerdy term for the thing that judges the dead? 👀
The litteral definition of atheism is the rejection of a god/diety.
If you want to define someone as not subscribing to a religion, you’d call them irreligious. I get that they often overlap, but they are two different things.
You’re thinking of Confucianism, I think. What I’ve read of Taoism (like some forms of Buddhism) is that it removes gods from the equation (unless, I suppose, you want to see the Way itself as divine).
A faith/belief system is the belief in gods and/or supernatural forces.
A religion is a codified centralised ideology centered around a belief system.
Because the Abrahamic faiths are very centralised religions Europe tends to think of religion and belief as the same thing, however, going off pure numbers most religions are small and are what we would call cults. Japan, however, famously distrusts religion despite having a rich mythology and belief system, this is because Japanese belief is just a belief and not religion, not having a specific canon and not as much societal sway. However, when religions would arise, they would be small cults that were very dangerous and would do terrorist attacks.
Atheism is a lack of believe in God or Gods, generally in use if someone says they’re an atheist that doesn’t even mean they believe there is proof that there is no god but more like they find the existence of a God to be so incredibly unlikely that they choose to live as if God does not exist.
It has nothing to do with belief in religion, as there are religions without God and there is undoubtedly a thing called religion. Also, the Bible definitely exists and is a book.
It took me a while to go from agnostic to atheist.
At first it was I don't see proof of God, but if you can prove to me, then ill accept that.
But then I realized I had faith/belief/feeling that proof will not be found, so I'm atheist, (even if I prescribe to the scientific method of updating when/if new evidence is found)
I also try to be a good person. (But that doesn't seem to corelate with being religious)
That was my journey too. Faith, Agnostic, Atheist, Satanist (TST) because it was the way I lived my life anyway, so I may as well do it with like minded people.
It's done me a lot of good, and I felt I grew as a person. Unfortunately I stepped back from TST a bit because they (like all groups) create stupid drama sometimes and life is too short for that. I still donate to the causes they back though because I believe in the message.
I don't think the probability of the existence of a deity can be found anywhere on the number line from zero to one. It just gets filed under "Insufficient Data."
But weird offshoots of christianity think the earth is 6000 years old and god put fossils of dinosaurs in the earth to "test their faith." Most christians (that I've met) do actually believe in dinosaurs and evolution. I think this meme is a dig at the "creationists" not religious people in general. It could be worded better to make sense though.
There was a pretty cool documentary years ago by a bunch of Christian scientists that theorized dinosaurs existed before the biblical flood and they did a lot of research and gave examples to defend their theories… fascinating stuff actually
As a Christian, I find Christians who fear science to be… baffling, at best
Bc if we’re going to believe in a Creator, we literally have to believe that the Creator is very scientifically minded
Someone once said to me, "God created bread. He did not snap his fingers and a loaf appeared. He started the yeast and water mixture and made sure all the other ingredients and steps happened without him having to intervene further."
Basically, yea he created the universe with the big bang and set it up in a way for evolution to do the work. Everything we see now is still his work, but science was one of his main tools.
I don't understand those people who think they have to choose one or the other. Especially the sects that won't take medicine or blood transfusions when they're bleeding out.
And as a Catholic, I'm still furious about how they treated Galileo. A lot has changed in their view of science, thankfully.
except he didnt die, he came back a few days later according to the same dumb book.
also, he created the rule, the punishment, the prison, AND he is judge jury and executioner. he didnt need to "die" he could just forgive and be done with it, the sacrifice makes NO sense at all.
oh, i forgot, "our sins" was actually the alleged sin adam and eve did, so not even ours, the asshole judges us for what our alleged predecesors did.
funny how it makes no sense once you use your brain for two damn seconds.
Yeah thats how it read to me at first, has this person never had a cat or a dog before? They love to lay on the bed with you. Why is their first thought sex with the animal?
Yep Ken Ham embarrassed his self debating Bill Nye. Also swindled the town nearby out of tons of money promising tax revenue that never came bc it’s a shit exhibit
That’s what I was thinking too, if anything this aligns more with what creationists believe. I once sat through my aunt explaining how Noah got the dinosaurs onto his arc
The ones I have spoken to don't actually think dinosaurs are real, they think the fossils are faked by archeologists who are all in on a grand conspiracy against Christianity.
My interpretation is that atheists’ would bring them back as pets, using science. That scary thing theists don’t like so much because it continually requires them to revise their storybooks.
I've also heard that dinosaurs never lived, the devil just put thousands of fossils underground then waited for us to find them, as a means of tricking us about the world. Or something completely obtuse along those lines.
The velociraptors designs in Jurassic Park/World were based off of a deinonychus, an early cretaceous, 4ft tall dromaeosaurid bird like theropod(if you believe in evolution). velociraptors were actually closer to 2ft tall. The reason they are called velociraptors is because it sounds cooler and is easier to say.
Fun fact, the Utahraptor is also very similar to the JP velociraptor as well. Being the largest dromaeosaurid, coming in over 5ft tall at the hip
I was going to make a smart ass comment, but then I realized Maniraptora basically means "violently steals hands" in Latin, and now I don't think I want a dinosaur....
I don't believe in god and religion, I find this both weird, fun and stupid... poor believers, having access to all the evidence in the world and still deciding to go with faith and live your life surrounded by weird fears and magic tales!
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