I'm not here to argue that Atheism is a religion, and I am aware that not all atheists are the same. However, you can't compare organized Atheism to Republicans, Democrats, the NRA or the Mustang club. Those organizations would still exist even if so much as the idea of God did not exist. But if the idea of God did not exist at all, neither would atheists nor organized Atheism. Therefore, Atheism is attached to and dependent on the idea of God. This is why some might think of organized Atheism as a religion.
Sure they would. Atheism is simply the non-belief in a supernatural being. If Christianity, Islam etc never existed, you would have a world populated by people who did not believe in the supernatural. Those would be atheists. It is the word by which we refer to people who don't believe in supernatural beings. Some would argue that atheism came first, man invented the supernatural later on.
Atheism is a label to describe that little part of people that they are not. It doesn't label what they ARE. People who don't believe in the supernatural might wholeheartedly subscribe to existentialism, absolute idealism, romanticism, naturalism, etc... any number of belief systems.
How can atheism be a religion when all it is, is a component of many belief systems.
(this isn't aimed at you in particular loco.)
I'm not here to argue that Atheism is a religion, and I am aware that not all atheists are the same. However, you can't compare organized Atheism to Republicans, Democrats, the NRA or the Mustang club.
The dictionary doesn't, nor do I. The first requirement for a religion is the belief in a deity. I would say that faith, spirituality and giving all of your heart and trust in the God you believe in are the most important aspects of a religion. A couple of doods on this thread basically said "nah, all you need is a group of people with a cause who use the media to get their message out." It's kind of weird for people who claim to have faith to want to align themselves with the godless and say "yeah they're just like me" but considering how consumeristic many religions have become, maybe it isn't that far fetched.