Bill Maher has a new rule: Atheism is not a religion. On Friday night’s edition of Real Time Maher told his audience that atheism and religion are not two sides of the same coin, joking - “Atheism is a religion like abstinence is a sex position.”
Maher took issue with those who try to insist that atheism is a religion, saying: “Idiots must stop claiming that atheism is a religion.”
Maher told his cheering audience that religion is defined as the belief in a “superhuman controlling power” (god), and atheism is precisely not that. Indeed, atheism is simply the absence of belief in a god or gods. It is not a world view, a philosophy, or a religion. It is simply the absence of belief. To be without a belief in god, is to be an atheist.
Maher complained that it is intellectually dishonest to label any evidence based belief as a religion. Maher rejects claims that evolution, or anthropogenic climate change, are religious beliefs. Maher told his audience:
“When it comes to religion we’re not two sides of the same coin, and you don’t get to put your unreason up on the same shelf with my reason. Your stuff has to go over there, on the shelf with Zeus and Thor and the Kraken, with the stuff that is not evidence-based, stuff that religious people never change their mind about, no matter what happens.”
Maher pointed out that claiming atheism is a religion is the intellectual equivalent of arguing “I know you are but what am I,” which is no argument at all. Indeed, there is something odd about religious people defending their religion by claiming atheism is a religion. Such claims often come across as an attempt to point out that atheism is just as absurd as religious belief. By drawing the false equivalency, religious believers attempt to relieve themselves of the burden of rationality.
Maher’s point, that there is no intellectual equivalency between religious belief and atheism, is a point well taken.
What do you think? Is atheism a religion? Leave a comment - express yourself.
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