Legally is atheism a religion?

discuss.

references appreciated

 

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No..

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Unless you think atheists worship the letter "A"..

 

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Yeah. It has adherents who practise [sometimes quite dogmatically] the belief that there is no God

 

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Even if so.. does that make it legally a religion ?

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Besides, what would atheists be worshiping then ?

 

Themselves, mostly

 

I think any non-profit organization can call itself a religion here in the US. But hell, Scientologists do it and they are all about profit.

 

The American Atheist Association is registered. Is it non-profit? Is it considered a religious organization for tax purposes?

 

Aren't we negative today.. :bugeye:

I think you know me better than that.

 

Tax exemptions in the US are not (and, according to the Constitution, cannot be) allocated on the basis of religious status. The justification for them is that the organization in question provides some kind of social benefit that the government recognizes, but does not wish to provide directly itself. This is not related to whether the organization is religious or not, and is not a right provided to all religions or non-profit groups or charities, but a privilege extended by the legislature on a per-case basis.

Where government recognition of religion is important, in the US, is not tax exemptions, but cases where the government might otherwise compell someone to violate their freedom of conscience. I.e., stuff relating to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Requiring court witnesses to swear on a Bible would be an example, but people have also successfully avoided military conscription/assignments, gotten permission to possess otherwise-illegal drugs, and other things like that. AFAIK, however, these things are not decided on the basis of whether a given religion is "recognized" by the government, but whether the individual(s) in question harbor a genuine religious belief that conflicts with some law. I do not believe there is any list of "officially recognized religions" maintained by the US government.

 

What about anti-religiious hate speech?

Are atheists covered by that?

 

Why do you hate atheists ? :shrug:

 

There are no hate speech laws in the US. I can't comment on what the situation is in countries that do have such laws.

 

I don't - I'm just thinking of ways of determining the legal status of atheists. From what quad has said I would assume that they might be prevented from taking oath of office in governmental insuitutions or serving on a jury, which is basically discrimination; just wondering if they were covered by laws against antireligion hate speech

 

Probably not. But I can't imagine many atheists mind.
Discrimination against atheists takes place a lot in the US though, if I have to believe the stories.

 

Ha! Yes I forgot, you have laws against libel and slander but not against antireligion hate speech

 

I would not think it could ever be classified a "religion" because it denounces religion as a whole.

 

Indeed: you do not have a right not to be offended by the opinions of others. You DO have a right not to have people spread lies about you, and so mess up your career/personal life/whatever, though.

 

When u swear on the bible in court, what if you tell them you are an atheist? Will they still let u testify?

 

If an atheist refuses to swear an oath then he/she is either guilty, untrustworthy, a hostile witness or just a good old fashioned liar. Not to be left out, theists who refuse to swear on the bible will be treated much the same way.

 

First, it would be helpful to agree on what is defined as a religion. I've always found the definition used by philosopher Daniel Dennett to be the most utilitarian, which goes something like "religions are social systems whose participants avow belief in a supernatural agent or agents whose approval is to be sought."

This, of course, would exclude Theravada Buddhism but perhaps include Mahayana since the former is more philosophy whereas the latter includes supernatural agents and cosmological salvation different than that of the former.

While this becomes problematic for those that teach religious sociology and anthropology, the utility of the definition makes a clear delineation between what is truly a religion and what has religious-like qualities (i.e. baseball fans, political junkies, and devotees of internet forums).

What qualities, then, can we agree on for a definition of "religion?" Care should be taken to consider what human activities would we like to exclude in order to arrive at what is considered "religion." While we all know sports fans who are "religiously devoted" to their favorite teams/sport, we can also agree that there are differences between a Packers fan and an adherent of the Assembly of God. One religion is a trope; the other is true to the term.

The Girl Scouts and the World Wildlife Federation are non-profit. They are not considered religious organizations for tax purposes.