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Quote by: xJesterx  Okay, lets leave the label of atheist alone for a minute and just think of people with the atheist viewpoint Isherwood mentioned of 'there are no gods' as individuals. Wouldn't they still, by default be following a religion? A buddhist is still a buddhist if he/she isn't part of a community of buddhists so a communal following wouldn't be required.
Although those people would honestly think they believe that there are no gods - is that a viewpoint they can take or is the real belief that they don't believe in the current gods depicted by mainstream religions. It seems that they would be following the same system that qualifies a religion as a religion. So then what makes them not a religion? |
I think the definition you used shows how people who do not believe in gods cannot be seen as having a religion:
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"1 the belief in a superhuman controlling power, esp. in a personal God or gods entitled to obedience and worship.
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Obviously, if one does not believe in a superhuman controlling power, then one is disqualified here.
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2 the expression of this in worship.
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This relies both on the belief that is lacking, and a worship that would almost certainly be lacking, as well.
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3 a particular system of faith and worship."
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This doesn't relate to an individual.
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Non-Theistic definition: "The word religion has many definitions, all of which can embrace sacred lore and wisdom and knowledge of God or gods, souls and spirits. Religion deals with the spirit in relation to itself, the universe and other life. Essentially, religion is belief in spiritual beings.
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If the essence of religion is belief in spiritual beings, then one who does not believe in spiritual beings is not religious.
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As it relates to the world, religion is a system of beliefs and practices by means of which a group of people struggles with the ultimate problems of human life." (Hubbard, 1994). [1: theology ]
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This is the only one which seems problematic when taken by itself: a system of beliefs and practices by means of which people struggle with the ultimate problems of human life could describe religion, or science, or society, politics, philosophy, art -- anything a group of humans use to deal with life.
However, this is a continuation of the first half of the definition; the first clause of that last quote, "As it relates to the world," connects this to the sentence before, in which religion was described as a belief in spiritual beings; religion is used to describe any system of beliefs and practices by which people struggle with the ultimate problems of life through their understandings of spiritual beings.
And that would be my definition of religion: the set of beliefs that a person uses to try to understand the world through their understanding of spiritual beings, of higher powers, of the superhuman power controlling the universe. Without that element, the element of spiritual belief, the word religion does not apply. Thus any person who does not hold a belief in spiritual beings is not religious.
To answer your question about whether or not it is possible for a person to not believe in any gods, yes. I don't believe in any gods.