Room for Debate: Is Atheism a Religion?

Updated January 22, 2013 10:35 PM

Debaters

Don't Replace Religion; End It

Penn Jillette, author, "God, No!"

Atheism is the absence of religion. We don't really need atheism. We just need to get rid of religion.
What Atheism Lacks Is Mystery

Phyllis Tickle, author, "Emergence Christianity"

Like a religion, it can offer community and common cause to its adherents. But it lacks mystery, transcendence and beauty.
At Atheist Church, No Faith Required

Pippa Evans and Sanderson Jones, co-founders, The Sunday Assembly

Even nonbelievers can get together to sing songs, hear great speakers and celebrate the incredible gift of life.
Atheism Can Have the Worst Traits of Religion

Cord Jefferson, Gawker

Too many atheists call churchgoers "morons" or "brainless," displaying the same hubristic arrogance they despise when it comes from the other side.
Show Atheism the Respect That Religions Get

Jason Torpy, president, Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers

Atheists are the second-largest demographic in the military. We should affirm their world view, alongside religious ones.
A Rival, but Not a Threat

Diana Bass, author, "Christianity After Religion"

Even Christopher Hitchens said that religious faith was "ineradicable" as long as human beings fear death and each other.

Introduction

In Britain, where the Church of England is a laughing stock lately, the percentage of Britons professing no faith has nearly doubled in the last decade — which might explain the rise of an atheist church.

In the U.S., Susan Jacoby recently wrote, moments of tragedy can be a reminder "of what atheism has to offer." The philosopher Gary Gutting adds that atheists, like religious people, ought to articulate reasons for their beliefs (or lack thereof).