# Atheism is now legally a religion. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 5, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-now-legally-a-religion/703811 "2014-11-05T22:45:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-now-legally-a-religion/703811/341 "2014-11-10T13:47:05Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Yes. The confusion arrives from something I learned on these boards, they there are two flavors of atheism: strong atheism and weak atheism. Personally, I don’t think we need the “weak” flavor, as “agnosticism” takes care of that pretty well. But where you come out makes the most sense. Because, apparently, some strong atheists aren’t aware of the words antitheist and antitheism (hell, my spell-checker doesn’t know them either). We would then have; Theism: Someone who has an active belief in _god_ Atheism: Someone who has no belief in _god_ - so called “weak atheists”', coffee cups, and babies Antitheism: Someone who has an active disbelief in _god_ - so called “strong atheism” Apathiesm: Someone who is not interested in any claims about _god_. (And we still haven’t run out of “theisms” there’s Misotheism, Dystheism, Maltheism, Nontheism, and any number of other "_X_theisms we may need too!) Their are folks who think that root beer, ginger ale, and orange are types of “Coke” . . . it’s not just a regionalism, they are WRONG and misusing a word! If agnostic means atheist then what word do we use for someone that doesn’t think we can know if a “god” exists? (Whether they believe in “god” - _theistic agnosticism_ or not _atheistic agnosticism_.) and If agnostic means atheist then what word do we use for the strong agnostics who believe that it is impossible for humans to know whether or not any deities exist? and If agnostic means atheist then what word do we use for the weak agnostics who believe that the existence or nonexistence of any deities is unknown but not necessarily unknowable? Agnosticism is not atheism light (or lite)! CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-now-legally-a-religion/703811/342 "2014-11-10T14:52:06Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Because, apparently, some strong atheists aren’t aware of the words antitheist and antitheism (hell, my spell-checker doesn’t know them either). > > Antitheism: Someone who has an active disbelief in _god_ - so called “strong atheism” I have rarely heard this term, and never have I encountered it used in this sense. Generally antitheism refers to someone who **opposes** god. Googling it, it can also refer to someone who opposes organized religion, and it can also be used for strong atheism. Given the fact that the word “agnostic” is available for someone who neither believes in God nor believes in an absence of God, I’m not sure it makes sense to commandeer “atheist” for this purpose. Apatheism is a very useful word in this context. If we really need to describe the religious stance of babies and coffee mugs, that’s the word to use. If folks had answered my question about how many gods there are with “who gives a shit?” I had that word in my back pocket to show them :). And that bit about people misusing the word Coke just earned you a penance of reading **The Language Instinct**. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-now-legally-a-religion/703811/343 "2014-11-10T14:59:16Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > **Their** are folks who think that root beer, ginger ale, and orange are types of “Coke” . . . it’s not just a regionalism, they are WRONG and misusing a word! There is a law about this, I think. Is it Wally’s Law? I can’t remember… :p:D ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-now-legally-a-religion/703811/344 "2014-11-10T15:33:19Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > There is a law about this, I think. Is it Wally’s Law? I can’t remember… > > :p:D No God damn it, I fixed that and it got unfixed when I fixed something else. _Undo_ button I hate you!!!11! CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-now-legally-a-religion/703811/345 "2015-01-05T03:41:35Z")
I was in the best bookstore of anywhere a while back – a city block in size, 3 stories high. In the Purple room, they had 4 full aisles on religious topics. There was a section of one side of an aisle devoted to comparative religion. So, if atheism is a religion, where is its aisle? Where even is its section of an aisle? In Portland Freaking Oregon, where religion is viewed largely as meh, if atheism was a religion, you would expect their monster of a bookstore to have a decent showing of books on it. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-now-legally-a-religion/703811/346 "2015-01-05T11:35:43Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I was in the best bookstore of anywhere a while back – a city block in size, 3 stories high. In the Purple room, they had 4 full aisles on religious topics. There was a section of one side of an aisle devoted to comparative religion. > > So, if atheism is a religion, where is its aisle? Where even is its section of an aisle? In Portland Freaking Oregon, where religion is viewed largely as meh, if atheism was a religion, you would expect their monster of a bookstore to have a decent showing of books on it. You revived this thread to post that bit? It has already been demonstrated that the court’s opinion was simply invoked to guarantee that atheists enjoy all the same rights and freedoms as religious people and the OP has long since been shown to be in error. So for that you offer as a counter-example that some retailer did not lump atheist works with religious ones? Fail. (For that matter, you should really name the bookstore so that someone can verify that your observation was correct. When I was managing a B. Dalton Bookseller some 30+ years ago, I always put the “atheist” books in the same set of shelves as the religious works–and that was following the guidelines that B. Dalton set to identify product placement. You might just have missed them; it is not as though Dawkins, Hitchens, and a few other authors have pumped out quite as many titles as the far more numerous religious and spirituality authors.) ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-now-legally-a-religion/703811/347 "2015-01-05T11:53:37Z")
Heh, _Lobohan’s Baby._ ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-now-legally-a-religion/703811/348 "2015-01-05T11:57:45Z")
Is Rosemary’s Baby an atheist? Need answer fast. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-now-legally-a-religion/703811/349 "2015-01-05T15:23:41Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > (For that matter, you should really name the bookstore so that someone can verify that your observation was correct. Only one bookstore in Portland fits that description-Powell’s. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-now-legally-a-religion/703811/350 "2015-01-05T16:06:49Z")
Yup, it’s [Powell’s City of Books](http://www.powells.com/). A quick online search on the term “atheism” pulls up 513 hits, largely in the Philosophy section, while the term “christianity” hits over 200,000 times. For what that’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-now-legally-a-religion/703811/351 "2015-01-05T16:57:18Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Yup, it’s [Powell’s City of Books](http://www.powells.com/). A quick online search on the term “atheism” pulls up 513 hits, largely in the Philosophy section, while the term “christianity” hits over 200,000 times. For what that’s worth. One would think putting a book on atheism (a serious book, not a ‘athiest turned christian’ title) in the religous studies section would be problematic - its a fine line - almost as bad as trying to seperate science fiction from fantasy! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-now-legally-a-religion/703811/352 "2015-01-05T17:00:27Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Is Rosemary’s Baby an atheist? Need answer fast. No- he’s the son of Satan, and Satan knows perfectly well that God exists. He doesn’t deny God’s existence, just His authority [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-now-legally-a-religion/703811.md?page=17)