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→Definition and implications: So is an atheist going to worry that God's watching?
:: The question of disbelief in the supernatural for an atheist does not enter his or her mind when making a choice. There is no WWJD thought that happens to an atheist, and thus that disbelief does not strongly influence his or her thoughts - there is no "because I am an atheist, the right thing to do is this." If the person is a secular humanist, then there is something - but not all atheists are secular humanists. Thus, with this definition, atheism and agnosticism are not religions while Buddhism (being debated elsewhere as a philosophy or not) is. --[[User:Rutm|Rutm]] 15:32, 10 September 2007 (EDT)
:: The question of disbelief in the supernatural for an atheist does not enter his or her mind when making a choice. There is no WWJD thought that happens to an atheist, and thus that disbelief does not strongly influence his or her thoughts - there is no "because I am an atheist, the right thing to do is this." If the person is a secular humanist, then there is something - but not all atheists are secular humanists. Thus, with this definition, atheism and agnosticism are not religions while Buddhism (being debated elsewhere as a philosophy or not) is. --[[User:Rutm|Rutm]] 15:32, 10 September 2007 (EDT)
:::I've been a Christian for over 40 years, and I virtually ''never'' have a "WWJD thought". It's simply not something that I consciously do, but nevertheless, my decisions are based on my worldview that is based on the Bible. Similarly, atheists will not ''consciously'' think, "what is right for an atheist", but nevertheless, just as with a Christian, his decisions are going to be based on his atheistic worldview. Is an atheist going to think, "I better not tell a lie, because God will be know that I've lied"? Of course not—as an atheist he's not going to think that way. He's not going to think that way ''because he is an atheist''. That is, his atheism ''affects his thinking'', just as surely as the Bible will affect a Christian's thinking. Atheism is a "core belief" upon which an Atheist bases his life. Thus Atheism is a religion, by that definition. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 23:33, 10 September 2007 (EDT)