Are you Religious?

Berkeley's an institution with a reputation for being really modern, progressive, and non-traditional (this is another lie, but I'll deal with it later).With that sort of a profile in mind, it shouldn't be surprising that a lot of people at UC Berkeley choose to actively distance themselves from religious denominations in general. The historical associations brought up involve repression, purges, and all those other things that Berkeley is Just Not About. I'll deal with the negative associations of religion later too (I need to be properly mad for that one).

The question I hear in circulation a lot, when people are getting to know one another here, is "Are you religious?" and a common answer is "No." What this means is that the person in question doesn't practice a particular religious tradition's ritual or espouse its doctrines, and so on. What people use it to mean is "I don't believe in (G)god(s)" or "I am an atheist."

Atheism, like every other belief, is a valid belief to have, and I'm not usually in the business of telling people they're wrong about things that are intensely personal and categorically unprovable. For one, I don't care, and for two, it's not something anyone's going to change their mind about. I have a personal issue with the way a lot of atheists behave (see /r/atheism), but that's distinct.

What does irritate me is the notion that not being religious and being an atheist carry the same label. First of all, not following a particular religious tradition and not believing in any sort of spiritual being are not the same. Non-denominational is a legitimate way to be, and deserves recognition as does any other group.

Secondly, who decided that atheism was not itself a religion?

The word religion has roots in Greek that can be interpreted as "connecting consciousness to the source of consciousness." According to atheists, that source is rooted purely in the material, biological realm, but it is a source nonetheless. So by the very definition of the word, atheism is a religion.

In a more cultural sense, atheism just behaves almost exactly like any other religion, whether it's acknowledged or not. What is it that "religious" people do? They go to a location with like-believing people, and basically discuss some aspect of their idea of divinity. With all the ritual boiled away, that's basically collective religion at its base.

So what do atheists do? They go to a location, material or electronic, with like-believing people, and discuss the idea of how there isn't divinity.

I dunno, guys, sounds sorta like a religion to me.

TL;DR Atheism's a religion.