Posted on

Why Atheism is Not a Religion

Not long ago, I witnessed an online discussion regarding religion.  Several people commenting were atheists, addressing the issue with a number of theists, mostly Christian.  One of the theists responded to the atheists with the age-old statement that atheism itself is a religion.


I am sure I will discuss my spiritual path in other posts, but suffice it to say I took a path frequented by many former Christians.  I was baptized out of cultural imperative, never really attended church much as a child, started asking questions that resulted in swift retribution from believers, and finally decided that the whole thing was too bizarre to be real.  Without any evidence or reason to believe one religion over another, I came to the logical conclusion that it was all mythology, just like the beliefs of those who rambled the Earth in ancient times.


What I have never understood is why the claim that atheism is a religion bothers me. I guess, in part, it has to do with my general distaste for organized religion and its clearly self-serving motives.  Atheists usually don’t have any motives, we simply do not believe that any form of theism describes reality.  My disdain for the comment led me to wonder…how do I explain to someone that atheism is not a religion?

Most obviously, atheism doesn’t share many or really any of the characteristics of a religion.  We don’t congregate in a holy structure.  We don’t have a text to follow.  We do not have any particular holidays, though I observe the shit out of Christmas because I love that time of year, most Christmas songs are amazing, the lights on the houses are beautiful, and who doesn’t love presents?  So, even when you set aside the fact that not believing in something itself isn’t the same as a belief, there just are not a lot of similarities between atheism and religion.


Of course, those mired by decades of following a single belief system will beg to differ.  Theistic open-mindedness is not something that is common among most religions. Dare to step outside the standard dogma of even the most mild religious organizations and you will likely face some sort of rebuke.  This zealous adherence to a single doctrine generally leads the followers to consider all other belief systems as the opposition, but atheists are a bit more challenging to characterize without lumping them in as well.  I think theists also desire to put atheists in their place by saying “You can’t hate all religion, because you are a member of one.”  I also think categorizing atheism as a religion helps theists to comprehend what they consider zealous reactions to religious intrusions into our lives.
I realized I was unprepared to respond to this comment, so I dwelled on it a while.  How could I convince someone that defining atheism as a religion was incorrect.  Yes, I am someone willing to waste time on the impossible, but this seemed like something that might be achievable.
Now, I realize that construing religion with something mythological lights the fires of theists hotter than the hottest burning bush, but I started to play around with the concept as it related to Santa.  Today, we have people, mostly small children, who believe in Santa Claus.  They believe because they are told he is real and lives at the North Pole.  The rest of us are non-believers, because we know the real purpose of the legend, which is to make parents build bicycles starting at 11:00 pm on December 24.  Imagine if retailers in the early 1800’s had never started to leverage the legend of Sinter Klaas to sell merchandise?  Wouldn’t everyone be non-believers, since it the little known legend would not have taken a place in our modern culture?  


Now imagine if humans did not feel the need to register belief in a higher power to explain the mysteries of the universe.  Very few of us believe the Roman, Greek, or Norse mythology as true.  Does our lack of belief in that mythology create a binding force that would be called religion?  The unwillingness to accept a set of parables as fact is not a belief, it is, in fact, the default status of us all.  If you are born and grow in an environment bereft of any religious influence, you would be an atheist by default. We all don’t automatically fall into a religion simply because we are ignorant, ambivalent, or intentionally unaffected by the wiles of religious doctrine.
In short, lack of belief is how we are meant to exist. It is our natural state, before the drive to instill spirituality and religious obedience is started.  It cannot be a religion.

Posted on

White Privilege – A Way to Understand

The frequent refrain of those offended by the concept of white privilege includes, but is not limited to:

  • I worked hard for everything I have. No one gave me a damn thing.
  • There are rich, privileged (insert white demographic here) people in this world!
  • White privilege doesn’t exist, because if it did, I would:
    • Live in a mansion.
    • Own a fancy car.
    • Have a trophy wife/husband.

Never mind the numerous examples of situations where being white clearly comes with benefits, people will stubbornly refuse to accept that white privilege exists. Maybe if they have a different way of comprehending the concept, they might open their minds?

Efforts have been made to develop concepts that can explain white privilege, but I think they frequently miss the target. For example, one that I am familiar with demonstrates the concept by suggesting life is a race. While this is a pretty good metaphor for life, the wrinkle they offer is that certain people begin the race ahead of others. This immediately conjures the idea that where people begin their lives indicates how well they will finish. While this is very true in many cases – our president is a prime example – it leads people who are white and poor or otherwise have a less than spectacular experience in the world to complain that they had it hard and can’t be considered “privileged.”

The other issue, as I see it, has to do with the term itself. It focuses on the white experience, rather than the struggles that people of color face in a society dominated by whites, particularly one where whites possess most of the power. It implies things about white people, causing a natural recoiling at the issue. Maybe there is another way to think about the issue.

Many moons ago, I was a competitive swimmer. As I started in the sport, where I swam didn’t matter, because I sucked. I worked hard, got stronger and sleeker, and eventually my times began to drop. When it takes you a minute and a half to swim 50 meters, your inefficient stroke, lack of stamina, and inability to dive, flipturn, and finish properly are the self-inflicted impediments to success. When you are able to actually compete with the best, you learn that there are outside influences that can impact the times of every swimmer.

If you have ever seen an Olympic swimming event, you will notice that swimmers with the best times earn a position in the center lanes, whereas those with slower times are relegated to the outer lanes. Even with specially designed lane ropes and gutters along the edges of the pool meant to minimize the waves that reverberate from the sides during the race, there is a single, inevitable truth…the outer lanes are slower than the center lanes, due to this minute drag. If you are a middle-of -the-pool elite swimmer swimming against Michael Phelps, no center lane of any pool is going to help you beat him. If, however, your times are within a few hundredths of a second of others swimmers, the outer lanes can mean the difference between a medal and swimming home undecorated.

So, now that I have meandered into the minutiae of competitive swimming, you are probably asking if you have wasted your time with this nonsense. I don’t blame you, because the only thing more boring than reading about swimming is swimming. Let me get to the point – rather than thinking of life as starting out at different points on the privilege scale, consider it as starting at the same point as everyone else, but the people of color compete in the outer lanes while whites enjoy the center lanes. Assuming everyone has the same talent, they will all start at the same time. The differences will be imperceptible at first, but as the race progresses, the impediments that people of color face will become evident. They will struggle to keep up, and likely will fall behind. The other parallel of this metaphor is that the whites, just like the most elite swimmers, are oblivious to the struggles of those they are competing against, because they don’t feel the drag, and everyone fighting the drag is likely behind them.

Some of you may think that the impediments to progress for people of color amount to things that we believe have disappeared. Cross-burnings, lynchings, segregation, blatant demonstrations of hate, and other iconic acts of violence still occur, but most would agree that they are much less common than in the past. What hasn’t changed are the infuriating little things that drag on people of color. The fear that a loan will be denied, the challenge of buying a home, the likelihood that a new car will be a bit harder to get, and possibly more expensive, the extra effort to get hired for a job, the side-eye at the jewelry counter, people crossing the street to avoid any contact, the taxi flipping on their out of service light, the inconvenient seating at a popular restaurant, the dread when a cop approaches, the sudden implementation of a dress code at a bar…all of these are only a small part of the daily experiences people of color face. None of these, taken individually, would warrant a second thought, but collectively, over an extended period of time, they impede the progress even the strongest person can make.

Of course, people can excel, even in the outer lanes. That isn’t the point though. Their ascension to fame, fortune, adulation, or success is inevitably hindered compared to those who don’t suffer that drag. They may lead a company, write a best-seller, develop a cure, invent a product, sing a grammy hit, and achieve fame, fortune, and wealth many of us cannot imagine. All of that was done in spite of the drag they faced since they started their journey in a society where, on balance, white people enjoy the fresh air free of bias.

Why does this matter? Aside from the reinvigoration of hate fueled by the current president and his millions of supporters, it matters because it exists. It matters because people think they have checked some sort of existential box indicating they are not biased simply because they have a black friend, loved Crazy Rich Asians, or voted for the first black president. They think they have met the bar for being an ally. I certainly cannot speak for anyone else, but, in my view, that is all meaningless when it comes to confronting what people of color face on a daily basis. To be a true ally, you have to be willing to be shaken from your comfort zone, to step in and support someone, and to scrutinize your beliefs and actions. Maybe a good first step is to consider the issue without being defensive about it.