Is Atheism a Religion?

B. Dehler By B. Dehler The Oregonian
on December 01, 2013 at 5:13 PM, updated December 02, 2013 at 7:42 AM
Sunday AssemblyAtheists gather as a community. 

The Sunday Assembly is coming to Portland on Tue. Dec. 10. It has been called “an atheist church.” This recalls a traditional argument: Is Atheism a Religion? This is a claim made by some Christian evangelists, and vigorously opposed by some vocal atheists. So how would we decide? Take a poll? But what if the masses are wrong or just plain confused. Can we ask God? No, he doesn’t exist. Can we take it to court? Surprisingly, the answer might be ‘yes,’ as there are various court cases brought to the attention of the Supreme Court to answer related questions.

The Supreme Court has never ruled on whether atheism is a religion or not (yet), but it did mention this in a footnote:

Many atheists contend that to be a religion one must believe in the god(s) and the supernatural. As we’ve seen from the Supreme Court footnote, that is not in-line with mainstream judicial judgment, as it listed “religions” that have no deity nor belief in the supernatural.

Ken Ham is a young earth creationist ministry leader that wrote this at his “Answers in Genesis” website:
“Really, there’s no reason for atheists to have a “church,” unless it is a religion. (And I teach clearly in my book The Lie: Evolution/Millions of Years that atheism and evolution are a religion.) What’s more, atheists teach that life is purposeless and meaningless? Why set up a church in the midst of a purposeless, meaningless existence anyway?”
“Atheist Churches: Even Secularists See the Problems!”

So then, what is the reason for “The Sunday Assembly?” As the organizers put it, to “celebrate life” by singing along with pop songs and hearing a motivational speaker, without appeal to the god(s) nor the supernatural. Another primary goal is to encourage others to “live better, help often, and wonder more.” So apparently, there are positive reasons to gather together, with no need to invoke the god(s) or the supernatural.

Creationist Ken Ham says that atheists teach that life is meaningless. Yes, it is ultimately meaningless in the sense that when you die, you die… there is no afterlife where one can live forevermore in some paradise. However, since we find ourselves alive, we can find much meaning in our temporary lives. Indeed, contemplating death can enrich one’s life as it causes them to focus on what is really important. This is an important and elementary concept in existential philosophy, for example. Ken Ham can’t imagine having a meaningful life if he can’t live forever in an afterlife, but if he were to become an atheist like many other Christians have done, he would find that it is not as bleak as he had imagined. So contrary to his assertion that life is meaningless for atheists; that idea can be turned on its very head: Life is even more precious and special for an atheist because it is recognized as being temporary as it really is. The Christian, contrariwise, tends to see this mortal life as insignificant compared to their imagined eternal afterlife.

Some atheists counter that “Atheism is a religion like bald is a hair color,” or “like ‘off’ is a TV channel.” But if atheism were not a religion, why would it be listed in religious polls as one of the options? And by the way, bald people can have hair color… you can see it on some that have stubble. Is ‘off’ a TV channel? It could be a viable answer if you ask “What channel are you watching?” So context has a lot to do with this issue.

Another complaint is that “atheism can’t be a religion because it doesn’t positively assert anything.” This is partially true, as some atheists would say they don’t believe in God because God doesn’t exist (they can prove it to beyond a reasonable doubt), whereas others might say they don’t believe because there’s no compelling evidence for the existence of God. But for both cases, there could be a subset of beliefs contained in such ideologies as Secular Humanism, which has published “We believe…” statements (positive assertions which demonstrate a naturalistic belief system).

Bottom line, is atheism a religion? My view is that it ultimately depends on definitions, and it really doesn’t matter.

To get free tickets to the first-ever Sunday Assembly (godless congregation) in Portland on Tue. Dec. 10, click here:

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To see other Portland-area secular groups that discuss religion and philosophy, check out . For example, the Center for Philosophical Naturalism can be found here: