I am agreeing with legacyme and Annette's statments.

On a side note for the removal of "Under God" from the pledge and our money... the argument is because it specifically refers to the Judeo-Christian, it is violating the concept of not promoting one religion over another, and people of other faiths find that offensive. It is usually the Atheists that lodge this complaint because they have the loudest voice, but I have never liked it either. Especially when the defenders of it being there refuse to acknowledge the fact that it was not added until the Cold War in the 50s (because the USSR was a "godless nation").

Elara :
"Under God" refers specifically to the Judeo Christian God? Where did you get this from?

God can and is a general term that can refer to deities of other religions (Well, exception Polytheism). God could be referring to any monotheistic religion, and God was largely put in there because it was general.

However, knowing history/patriots/the entirety of the right wing, you're probably right there.

gamegeek : I did base this statement on that context, yes. Also, the majority of the nation is Christian, and generally when it is god with a "G" and used as a proper noun, that is the one referred to. That and most monotheistic religions actually use the name of their god (Allah [same god, ironically], Vāhigurū[Sikhism], Ahura Mazda [Zoroastrianism], Diana [Dianic Wicca], etc).

atheism is supposed to be a term for no religion because they have no beliefs and since you can't have religion without faith or belief it can't really be considered a religion

a·the·ism
-Noun
1.
the doctrine or belief that there is no god.
2.
disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings.

@Hackerman

Please note the given definitions of Atheism. Now, please note specifically the first one.

A belief doesn't have to be a belief in a person or thing, it can also be a belief in an idea or thought. For example, Atheism is the belief that there is no god.

Rasenganfan2 : i dont see how not believing in god is any more offensive than a jew to a christian,respect is a great thing.

thenumberone : Not to kick a dead horse, but I was going through a rough time where I was adjusting to new anxiety medication, thus my attitude took a turn for the worse.

Atheism, based off the definition of religion, is in fact a religion. The major difference is most religions are cults and atheism isn't a cult. Now I want to stress that when most atheists (like me) talk about religion they are most definitely talking about cults. The word cult generally has a negative appeal to it, which is why it is rarely used when refering to major religions. This is also why I use the word cult a lot .

To me a religion is a group of people that follow some sort of spiritual presence or something like that. Atheism are people who don't believe in God. I classify it as a religion, because they still have some sort of spiritual presence in it.

I agree with legacyme3  and Annette the most.  In fact, I had used that specific definition when I was in Speech 101 a little more than a year ago.  By the definition that you can see on legacyme3's post, every set of beliefs is in and of itself a religion.  I am a born-again Christian.  I know that there are people who say that Christianity is not a religion, but a personal relationship with Jesus.  I concur with this, but I will also say that it is a religion.

The basic difference between atheism and Christianity is this.  Christians believe that God exists.  Atheists believe that God (or any superhuman agency or agencies) do not exists.  They are both their own sets of beliefs.

I also agree with legacy me at the end of the day every opinion or belief is a religion so everyone has their own essential opinions as does everyone so I guess you could extend your point further to say that everyone is part of a religion?

Atheism is not a religion, its like the Jewish term gentiles, it basically means EVERYONE ELSE. Atheists are a very diverse group who just share one thing, that they don't believe in a god.

On top of this there are different types of atheism, there is strong (or positive atheism) which is actively not believing, and then there is weak (or negative) atheism, which is essentially agnosticism, which is not believing actively, and is more similar to simply not being religious.

Also, I'd like to just quote Richard Dawkins here:

We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.

So unless you actually believe in all the gods ever created (or a pantheist), you are an atheist towards most gods, atheists just go a step further.

And yes I am a strong atheist, though that is defining what I am not, not what I am.

demigod17 : that was very well said,and only your 7th post, keep em coming.

Thanks thenumberone, that post really came out sounding a lot more poetic than I though it would

No I don't believe it is a religion, For me religion is just a set of beliefs with rules to abide to for the more passionate.

I know this sounds stupid but I'm not an atheist, but I don't really follow any religion, I just choose my own path basically,

I just don;t understand religion at all, People act like the rules are law and they have to do them, but as far as I'm aware there isn't like a death penalty for not following a religion, Religion also seems to be the thing that brings the most discrimination and Misery to the earth in my opinion

no offence but it's not a religion in my opinion :/

I'm an atheist. A super atheist. And I do not believe that atheism is a religion, because in my opinion, religions are scams. They are exploitation of peoples ignorance. They cause extreme close-mindedness in people. Creationists are the ultimate skeptics, believe it or not, because they will throw away scientific evidence for evolution and shove pseudo-science down your throat to prove their claims. Of course, this is unrelated to the initial topic. So in short, atheism is not a religion. Atheism is simply the rejection of all other religions.

 This discussion is had FAR too often and the answer is so damn clear it isn't even funny.

Atheism is not a religion - it's a complete lack thereof, it's right there in the name. Anyone who cannot accept this because they have to be able to bunch everyone up into convenient groups seriously needs to take a look at their own world view - because it's simply wrong. Atheists are not a group of people who share the same beliefs - there is no tradition, there are few atheists who group together to discuss the issue.

This is just the way it is.

A religion is a belief that there is a greater meaning beyond the life that you are living now, but since atheism doesn't really have much of a belief in anything its just saying you don't believe in anything it doesn't have to be categorized so I don't think it is a religion 

A federal court of appeals ruled yesterday Wisconsin prison officials violated an inmate's rights because they did not treat atheism as a religion.

"Atheism is [the inmate's] religion, and the group that he wanted to start was religious in nature even though it expressly rejects a belief in a supreme being," the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals said.

The court decided the inmate's First Amendment rights were violated because the prison refused to allow him to create a study group for atheists.

Brian Fahling, senior trial attorney for the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, called the court's ruling "a sort of Alice in Wonderland jurisprudence."
"Up is down, and atheism, the antithesis of religion, is religion," said Fahling.
The Supreme Court has said a religion need not be based on a belief in the existence of a supreme being. In the 1961 case of Torcaso v. Watkins, the court described "secular humanism" as a religion.

Fahling said today's ruling was "further evidence of the incoherence of Establishment Clause jurisprudence."

"It is difficult not to be somewhat jaundiced about our courts when they take clauses especially designed to protect religion from the state and turn them on their head by giving protective cover to a belief system, that, by every known definition other than the courts' is not a religion, while simultaneously declaring public expressions of true religious faith to be prohibited," Fahling said.

Read more: Court rules atheism a religion http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=31895#ixzz1RpASsO5d