random talk about religion
so, one of the big reasons why "atheist" is not a religion is because religions are far more than a belief system: they're also a culture and a set of traditions. it's why so many people are proudly Jewish despite not really believing in God
but also, the weird thing about this is that the most popular religion in the US and Europe, Christianity, has replaced most of its culture and traditions… with capitalism. every Christian tradition except Christmas and Easter has been removed completely, and those two are still mostly about buying gifts or chocolate eggs
so, in a very real sense, the primary religion of the US and Europe is capitalism, not Christianity. and this openly tracks with basic Christian morals like "love thy neighbour" being completely omitted in favour of capitalist bullshit
the irony, of course, is that Christianity at its core is very anticapitalist, but that's far from what people believe nowadays
random talk about religion
@clarfonthey On the note of 'atheism', I feel like that particular view of religions necessitates a distinction between 'atheism' and 'Atheism(tm)', so to say.
I'm thinking of eg. the 'atheism youtubers', the 'rationality' crowd, etc. which absolutely do have associated culture and traditions (that, ironically, frequently contradicts rational decisionmaking).
re: random talk about religion
@joepie91 @clarfonthey i was thinking of those, and that brand of atheism as well, and wondered how far they have to go before segue-ing into religion territory again.