ThePlayDrive
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Re: Is atheism a religion
If atheism is defined as "belief that there is no God" in the dictionary, then someone who tells me that it can't be defined as such wouldn't be "correcting me." They would be denying reality. Now, if they want to make the argument that "lack of belief in God" should be the only definition, then that's fine and that's as far as it goes.I'm not surprised, after decades of this kind of falsification. But you go into philosophy, which is what atheism belongs to, and you find that not only is "atheist" never used that way, but there are different terms for people who believe there is no god.
There are lots of words that are used incorrectly so often that some dictionaries now include originally erroneous definitions of words. That's how dictionaries work: they follow the trends of language, even when they make no sense, or when it completely contradicts the other definitions of the word.
But if you want to talk about philosophy, which if you're talking about atheism, you do, equating atheism with a positive belief is not only nonsensical, given the root of the word itself, but will get you immediately corrected by anyone who knows anything about the subject.