Atheism is an Organized Religion

A Note on Terminology:  When I refer to Atheism I am referring to the beliefs of “strong” Atheists, who are individuals who have made the assertion that there are no gods.  This contrasts with “weak” atheism, sometimes called Agnostic belief, or the simple lack of belief in either divinity or non divinity.

 

Atheism is an Organized Religion

One of the most common arguments that religious people make is that it is an equally large leap of faith to deny the existence of God or Gods as it is to believe in God or Gods.  If divinity can’t be proven, it also cannot be disproved, and so, than Atheists are on equally shaky logical ground as those who believe in divinity.  This is not to say that Atheism is wrong, only that it is not provable, and therefore must be taken on the same sort of faith as any other religious belief.

This is why it has always struck me as particularly puzzling when some particularly virulent Atheists claim that religion is the root of all evil.  Even the ones who say more mildly that organized religion is the root of all evil are being hypocritical.  Atheism is extremely organized, as organized as any global church.  There are numerous websites, books, school groups, and other organizations for Atheism.  There is a unified belief system, moral codes, and other trappings of organized religious belief.

Furthermore, Atheism’s own underpinnings make it illogical to state that religion is the root of all or even any evil.  If there is no god, then man must have created religion.  If man created religion, and religion, as an idea, is still malleable to man’s control, then religion creates nothing.  Man creates, and man does evil in the name of religion, false or otherwise.  Great evil has been done in the name of every religion.  Great evil has been done in the name of secular ideologies as well.  Simply because great evil has been done in the name of something does not mean the something caused it.  Anything can be twisted to evil ends.  Religion is often the cover for other human emotions, greed, fear, hate, and other similar dark emotions as well as love, compassion, and hope.  Religion also can give voice to sociological concerns.  Desperation, oppression, misery, and other troubles express themselves through the religious beliefs of their sufferers.

Religion has to speak to those who believe it.  Even the darkest most hateful belief comes from somewhere.  Much of the fanaticism we see in the religious beliefs of those willing to kill or go to war in the name of those beliefs does not come from religion.  It comes from the feelings of oppression and hopelessness they feel.  When a person feels that he or she is under attack, the religious beliefs he or she expresses reflect that.  This becomes all the more intense if people feel they are under attack for their religious beliefs.

The Spanish Inquisition began at the end of the Reconquista of Spain.  It was less a form of religious expression and more a way for the king and queen of Spain to solidify their power and to root out those they felt were loyal to their recently expelled enemies.  The rank and file citizen used it to settle old scores, grab land and money, and advance themselves.

The Crusades were a response to Europe’s sudden modest prosperity and rigid social structure.  Younger sons of the nobility went off to the holy land to win lands for themselves.

So, if religion is simply a mask for human impulses, then it can’t be the root of evil.

I’m sure I’m managing to offend nearly everyone with this, the Atheists, and those who call themselves religious.  That isn’t my intent.  Atheists have every right to believe what they believe, the same right every believer of every religion has.  I simply wish that Atheists realize that they have fanatics in their ranks, just as every other religion has.  What happens when an Atheist, searching for the cause of their misery decides as others have decided that religion is the root of all evil and that individual becomes a fanatic?  Depending on the individual, he or she may decide to express their religious views in murder, the murder of the religious, or the murder of the teachers of religion, who in this individual’s mind are spreading poison.  This person I have described is not a normal Atheist any more than a normal Muslim believes in blowing up women and children or a normal Christian believes in murdering family planning doctors.  This hypothetical individual is a fanatic.  Fanatics arise in every belief system from every group.  Atheists simply should not take the moral high ground.  There have been murdering Atheists too.

I am not a rabid religious zealot.  I believe that religion is a private thing, a deeply personal thing.  Just as I do not inflict my beliefs on others, I do not wish others to inflict their beliefs on me.  I find it equally annoying when a Fundamentalist Christian tells me I will go to hell because I have not excepted Jesus as my savior and when a radical Atheist tells me I am deluded because I believe in God.  It is my business.

This isn’t to say that most Atheists or most Christians force their personal beliefs down the throats of others.  Most of my close friends and several close relatives of mine are Atheists, and they are all as sensitive to my religious beliefs as I am to theirs.  I simply object to the small minority of Atheists who take the moral high ground and say that since theirs is the only right belief, then they have the right to force everyone to see things their way, especially because it’s dangerous to see things any differently.  Sound familiar?

No Difference: Chapter Eighteen

This is in response to a challenge up at thematic_hp         

Disclaimer: Do I have to say it? I'm not making any money off this, because I own none of it.

Prompt: #17 (round 8) Through time travel, Harry is Snape's biological father. Severus really isn't happy to find that out. (Must be drama - not comedy.)
Summary: After Harry talks to Dumbledore in Deathly Hallows, he takes a little detour to Spinner’s End, back before it was Snape’s house, back when it belonged to a woman named Eileen Prince. Snape couldn’t be angrier.

 

( Chapter Eighteen: Balls and Broomsticks )