Introduction
Some people of a religious persuasion have asserted that atheism is a religion. Hearing this, Monthly bill Maher mentioned, If atheism is a faith, then abstinence is a sexual placement. Comparable analogies rebutting the jejune idea that non-belief could be a faith are out there, this kind of as, if atheism is a faith, then ‘bald’ is a hair colour and ‘off is a Tv set channel. You get the notion.
By definition, people who comply with a faith share a set of typical beliefs. The only thread atheists have in widespread is disbelief – in a god or gods. Which is not a lot of a religion.
Wikipedia implies there are about 4200 religions on planet earth. How are religions commonly comprehended? For starters, they are associated with organized, defined sets of beliefs or worldviews. Religions have narratives, symbols and anticipations that users are predicted to satisfy. almostheretical.com/woman have supernatural characteristics, with belief in the existence of items for which there is no proof or naturalistic rationalization. Examples contain beliefs in heaven and hell, an afterlife, miracles, peace in the Center East or in the efficacy of prayers – or other ritual (e.g., rain dances, voodoo) developed to modify the thoughts of an imagined Infinite or alter the course of mother nature.
Atheists by any name (e.g., freethinkers, secular humanists, infidels, agnostics and so on) hold no such religious perspectives. On this foundation, it would seem that Actual wellness, a philosophy that embraces and extolls cause and all that science entails, would hardly qualify as a faith.
A Stunning Statement
Effectively, that’s what I thought. Then I noticed the artwork and include designed for Wellness Orgasms: The Exciting Way to Dwell Well and Die Healthful, my newest perform co-authored with Dr. Grant Donovan, the enigmatic philosopher from Perth, Australia. In a final edit, Grant experienced composed an odd sentence in the go over blurb that I proposed we rework. The sentence read through as follows:
Orgasms, wellness orgasms, that is, have in no way sounded so wholesome, so desirable or so functional as the authors existing Genuine wellness as the only religion.
OMG.
Donovan’s Considering in Labeling Real Wellness A Religion
Given that atheism by any title is not a faith, until the definition of religion is so stretched as to be meaningless, the sentence appeared in need to have of repair. Surely we would not want to represent Genuine wellness as a faith. I wrote to Grant and made my case.
The excellent polymath explained the rationale for this unsettling rationalization:
Au contraire, great Tzar of WO. The final sentence personifies irony, satire, sarcasm and hyperbole all in one particular little, tiny corner of infinite place. It will be the sentence they study at WO universities and seminaries a hundred several years from now, and ponder in amazement.
I can also see a Fox reporter interviewing you when the ebook is introduced.
Fox Reporter: ‘Dr Ardell, you denounce religion in your book but then you assert Actual wellness and WOs are the only faith. Is that not a tad hypocritical?’
Don: ‘Not in the minimum, Mr. Peabrain. It has been proven all through the whole heritage of human meaninglessness that most people need to have thoughts-altering medications and virgins in the clouds to make their miserable life experiences even mildly bearable. WOs and the pursuit of Actual wellness provides which means to wretched life in a quasi-secular, religious-sort way. Besides, ISUS (irony and satire in the U.S.) is a far exceptional religious motion to ISIS. We just need to carve out a WO-dependent caliphate from Tampa to New York.’
Well, I do really like irony, satire, sarcasm and hyperbole, even far more when it truly is bound in a very small, little corner of infinite space. And, if this sentence will spark an interview at Fox Television and supply a bit of fodder for undergraduates in the twenty second century, why stand in the way?
Even if Genuine wellness is somewhat connected with religion in this playful tongue-in-cheek fashion, few readers of WO will mistake possibly of us as fanatics for religion. After all, we equally believe, along with Pat Condell, that religion (other than Genuine wellness) disapproves of first believed the way Dracula does daylight.
Be effectively and appear as considerably as you can on the vibrant facet of existence-and cause.
Postscript
A federal district court in Oregon declared Secular Humanism a faith! Holy horrors, what was that about?
Not theology, philosophy or deference to regular use of English, it turns out. The decision by Senior District Decide Ancer Haggerty was rendered to find the money for the non-theistic local community the very same lawful rights as spiritual teams. The Plaintiffs in the case, the American Humanist Association (AHA) and Jason Holden, a federal prisoner, sought recognition of humanism in buy that Mr. Holden could have the identical rights as prisoners of a religious persuasion. Humanism, a lot more or considerably less like atheism and other kinds of affiliation like Genuine wellness, is outlined by AHA as an ethical and existence-affirming philosophy free of charge of perception in any gods and other supernatural forces.
The choose cited present legal precedent and mentioned that that denying humanists the very same legal rights as teams this sort of as Christianity would violate the Establishment Clause in the U.S. Structure (i.e., Congress shall make no legislation respecting an establishment of faith).
The court docket finds that Secular Humanism is a religion for Institution Clause reasons, the ruling read through.
While most humanists and other godless kinds never want to be affiliated with any form of faith, in this occasion, at minimum, the bigger pursuit of equivalent rights trumped such common and authorized classifications.
Greg Epstein, the chaplain at Harvard, was quoted as follows with regards to this abnormal verdict:
I truly do not care if Humanism is called a religion or not. But if you are heading to give unique legal rights to religions, then you have to give them to Humanism as effectively, and I feel that is what this case was about.