Atheism IS a Religion

 I fell into an interesting rabbit hole on Twitter last night.  

It all started here: I replied to a tweet by an atheist which I thought was judgmental and deliberately provocative.

The worst thing about belief in a god is the creation of "religion." Humans--competitive, acquisitive, suspicious, fearful beings that they are, who nevertheless seem to crave "community"--tend to turn belief in their version of "god" into a club with members and enemies; with a hierarchy and a serfdom, where the serfs are cajoled, threatened, bullied and murdered into doing the bidding of those in power, so that those in power RETAIN power, and luxury, and the right to commit any atrocity without fear of repercussion.  Additionally, they use their “club” as a literal CLUB, with which to beat the snot out of members of any other club that does not believe exactly the same as they do.  Because THEIR club must be the right, the one, the chosen, The Only True Club. Anyone not belonging to THE Club is worthy of death in this life, and doomed to perdition in the next.

It always seemed to me that the concept of atheism was a rejection of and rebellion against the horrors of religion, rather than the pure, intellectual rejection of the existence of a higher power.  One would think that the “Only True Club” aspect of organized religion would be enough to send any thinking human being running away screaming from organized faith and the Being who supposedly inspired it.  So much evil has been written into human history through religion in the name of “god.” 

However, at some point, I came to understand that the atheist "community" has become a religion in itself.  An anti-religion religion.  Ten years ago, I wrote about that here: Losing Religion, Choosing the Alternative.  The piece discussed a trend of evangelical pastors losing faith and turning to atheism.  I don’t know if this was the beginning of the trend, but it was when I became aware of “the atheist movement.” Which is basically non-believers banding into a community where they support one another (good), discuss and define their non-belief (okay), and bash other belief systems for being anti-intellectual, brainwashed, misguided, worthy of scorn, and all in all just not as fine and enlightened as those who have seen the light of atheism (oh, JFC!!).     

How do they not get that they have adopted one of the worst aspects of belief in a god(s)?  Don’t they see they’ve turned into exactly what they reject about theists?

Obviously, the problem is not with God(s), or a Higher Power, or the Spirit of Creation, or whatever name you give it.

The problem is with humankind.  

We are a species given, for whatever reason (or perhaps no reason at all), amazing powers of thought, language, deduction, emotion, creativity.  It’s easy to see that we could very well be tiny representations of the Spirit of Creation in our world.

But all we seem able to do with those amazing gifts is, ultimately, use them as weapons—of hatred, of greed, of anger, of war. We refuse to entertain the notion that these gifts could be the glue that binds our species together; the conduit through which we are connected to the Almighty…the Universe…the eternal.

We SO want to anthropomorphize the Creator of the Universe.  We can only see through the filter of what we understand, because we’re the highest form of life with which we are familiar.  Atheists indulge in this every bit as much as theists.  An atheist on Twitter spat:

 “‘The creator of the universe cares about me.’ Is it possible to have a more arrogant belief than this?”

Okay.  DON’T  believe the Creator of the Universe “cares” about individual humans. Fine. But, then again, “caring” is a human emotion.  Why should the Creator of All Things function on that level?  My ten-years-ago self put it succinctly:

WHY are we so determined to place limits upon the Almighty that when the Almighty proves itself to be outside those limits, we can no longer believe? Why do we strive to paint God in terms a human can grasp, then walk away in disgust when we get an inkling that God is NOT that? The Creator of the Universe—of stars and solar systems and galaxies far beyond our capacity to comprehend—must be so much more. Why can’t we let God be God?

And if “care” is not the correct word, how about “connection?”  “I believe I am connected to the Creator of the Universe.”  I don’t understand the nature of the connection; my understanding is limited by my humanity.  But I’m not prepared to discount something just because I don’t/can’t understand it.  I’m willing to open myself to the possibility of connection with the infinite, to learn whatever it teaches me.  Rather than spitting in its direction and declaring, “You don’t exist because I don’t understand you.”   And then turning around and declaring to the rest of mankind, “You are idiots because you believe in something I personally have rejected (because I don’t understand it.)”    

I have no problem with people who embrace atheism.  I’ve commented to many whom I’ve encountered on social media: “If atheism works for you, that’s great. Be atheist!”

But I won’t be silent when any person disrespects the beliefs of groups who do not share their views.  I’ve repeatedly commented that no one has a right to bash the beliefs of others, if those beliefs help them to be better human beings and harm no one.  Let’s just say, my admonishment doesn’t usually set that well…

The problem with this is that most of the times this belief system makes people ignore science, pray for a cure that will never come unless you see a doctor and occasionally, fly planes into buildings.

…because so many atheists are no less judgmental, prejudiced, fearful and xenophobic than your average religious zealot.

And so it goes…