U.S. Supreme Court Ruling: ATHEISM IS RELIGION

words mean things. Atheism by definition is not a religion. Just like not playing baseball isn’t a sport.

Gay marriage isn’t a belief. It’s a legal reality. Nobody is imposing anything on you. You are free to choose to not marry someone of the same sex.

I’m not a secular humanist. I do not have a religion. Sorry.

 

CourtJester:

Whose problem is it that you cannot tell the difference between the words "of" and "from"? Certainly not mine.

In footnote 11 of the Court transcript for the Torcaso v. Watkins case, in which an atheist took his lawsuit all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court because someone did something that he claimed "invades his freedom OF belief and religion," one of the Justices specifically referred to Secular Humanism as Religion.

[ Footnote 11 ] Among religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God are Buddhism, Taoism, Ethical Culture, Secular Humanism and others. See Washington Ethical Society v. District of Columbia, 101 U.S. App. D.C. 371, 249 F.2d 127; Fellowship of Humanity v. County of Alameda, 153 Cal. App. 2d 673, 315 P.2d 394; II Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences 293; 4 Encyclopaedia Britannica (1957 ed.) 325-327; 21 id., at 797; Archer, Faiths Men Live By (2d ed. revised by Purinton), 120-138, 254-313; 1961 World Almanac 695, 712; Year Book of American Churches for 1961, at 29, 47.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=367&invol=488
​

Are you now going to again play semantics by arguing that Secular Humanism is not the same as Atheism? Go ahead and try, and I will debunk you on that by quoting directly from an Atheist website where they acknowledge Atheists are Secular Humanists.

Alter2Ego

 

rahl:

Your above argument is stale. Atheism IS a belief. It is the belief that there is no Jehovah. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines atheism as--get this--a RELIGIOUS POSITION.

Definition of atheism

1a: a lack of belief or a strong disbelief in the existence of a god or any gods
b: a philosophical or religious position characterized by disbelief in the existence of a god or any gods
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atheism​

Collins Dictionary comes right out and calls atheism what it is--a BELIEF.

Definition of 'atheism'
Atheism is the belief that there is no God.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/atheism
​

BTW: Are you suggesting that non-belief in God is not of overwhelming importance to an atheist?

Alter2Ego

 

That is YOUR lousy religion. It was also shared by Stalin and a host of others, You will never be my god .

 

I've said it all along. Marriage is between one man and one women. Boys will be boys and girls will be girls. See, you like to change that to boys will be girls. You don't seem to realize......words mean things.

 

All of us believes in theories making Atheism very similar to Theism.

 

Sure I did. I showed that you lied about what TvW supposedly said. That's not debatable by any honest person. That would be why you fled from that particular issue, tossing out some new irrelevant nonsense to deflect from the issue of how you got busted for lying.

Why did you lie about what TvW said?

Why did you think you could get away with it?

Why are you still pushing the lie? I mean, when you're in a hole, stop digging.

Since you've shown no regrets about lying, why should anyone now trust a word you say on any topic?

You got some 'splainin to do. As it is, all you're doing is just illustrating the shockingly immoral nature of most atheist-haters. The mere existence of atheists triggers you into constant fits of seething hatred. Why do you feel so threatened by atheists?

 

Such a footnote would be a perfect example of a "dictum", which has no legal standing. You seem to be under the bizarre impression that anything in a court decision sets legal precedence. For example, if the justice writes an offhand comment "Bacon is so yummy, everyone should have bacon for breakfast", that does not set a legal precedent about how all must eat bacon. It's just a man's opinion, not legally binding in any way, and nobody cares. Same for your TvW dictum.

So why are you so emotionally invested in believing that atheism is a religion?

 

as your cited definition shows, atheism is by definition, not a religion. The same way not playing baseball is not a sport.

 

and that statement has been proven to be demonstrably false.

strawman. I've never said boys will be girls.

 

Please do and then tell us why you think that website represents the majority of atheists.

Oh and a footnote from another court decision is not a Supreme Court decision.

 

Because somehow that allows them to pretend that belief in god and not believing in god have equal validity.

 

Religious people pretend that all the time.

 

From the American Atheist website

Some groups will use words like Agnostic, Humanist, Secular, Bright, Freethinker, or any number of other terms to self identify. Those words are perfectly fine as a self-identifier, but we strongly advocate using the word that people understand: Atheist. Don’t use those other terms to disguise your atheism or to shy away from a word that some think has a negative connotation. We should be using the terminology that is most accurate and that answers the question that is actually being asked. We should use the term that binds all of us together.

 

You have faith He doesn't exist. I have faith He does. Nothing new here.

 

I agree with you atheism is a good general term for the Godless (or maybe "lost")

 

Go on then. Atheism is not the same as secular humanism. Buddhism is (in some of its forms) atheistic, but not secular humanist. The same can be said for some Satanists, arguably about communists etc.

But of course, the trick isn't to find someone who says that atheism is secular humanism, the trick will be to justify believing them when they say so.

 

First of all of course that quote wasn’t from me and of course your interpretation wasn’t accurate.

 

mamooth:

Insisting that you did something (you claim you cleared things up)--that you in fact did not do--merely demonstrates you cannot accept reality.

You cannot change the fact that even the U.S. Supreme Court agrees that Atheism is Religion.

Alter2Ego

 

CourtJester:

Footnote 11, which I quoted above, is from the exact same Supreme Court decision in Torcaso v. Watkins. I also quoted more of the Court transcript at Post 140. Here is the weblink to that post:
http://www.politicalforum.com/index...ism-is-religion.564760/page-6#post-1071256560

 

Nowhere did the Supreme Court, at any tome, ever say atheism is a religion.

 

Nowhere in any Supreme Court ruling is it states that atheism is a religion. Thats because atheism, by definition, is not a religion.

 

That footnote is from an appellate court decision not from a Supreme Court decision. It is exactly what it says- a footnote in a Supreme Court decision.It also only references secular humanism not atheism.

Keep trying!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Ethical_Society_v._District_of_Columbia

 

CourtJester:

Wikipedia can't get you out of this. Footnote 11, is part and parcel of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Torcaso v. Watkins. That is the reason why it is placed within the U.S. Supreme Court's 1961 transcript, thereby rendering it part of the Torcaso decision.

FYI: Secular Humanism is an offshoot of Atheism. Below are two atheist sources--independent of each other--that confirm the fact that secular humanists DO NOT incorporate theism and the supernatural. In fact, the first source includes the word "atheism" as part of its weblink.

"Humanism: A Brief Overview
Our definition. Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity."
https://americanhumanist.org/paths/atheism/​

Notice that the American Humanists confirm that humanism is "without theism and other supernatural beliefs" aka non-belief in a supernatural god aka ATHEISM. Now, notice the next atheist source, quoted below.

"Secular humanism is a nonreligious worldview rooted in science, philosophical naturalism, and humanist ethics. Instead of relying on faith, doctrine, or mysticism, secular humanists use compassion, critical thinking, and human experience to find solutions to human problems."
https://centerforinquiry.org/definitions/what-is-secular-humanism/
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Notice that the atheist website calling itself Center for Inquiry confirms that Secular Humanism is a "nonreligious worldview" that rejects "mysticism." Mysticism involves belief in a God of gods.

Now, go back to your pointless denials that Secular Humanism is not, in fact, a branch of the Religion of Atheism--just as Buddhism, Taoism, and Ethical Culture are branches of the Religion of Atheism. And guess what? They are all listed in Footnote 11 of the Torcaso v. Watkins case that you are trying so hard to wriggle yourself out of, in which the U.S. Supreme Court in 1961 ruled that Atheism (Secular Humanism) is RELIGION.

[ Footnote 11 ] Among religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God are Buddhism, Taoism, Ethical Culture, Secular Humanism and others. See Washington Ethical Society v. District of Columbia, 101 U.S. App. D.C. 371, 249 F.2d 127; Fellowship of Humanity v. County of Alameda, 153 Cal. App. 2d 673, 315 P.2d 394; II Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences 293; 4 Encyclopaedia Britannica (1957 ed.) 325-327; 21 id., at 797; Archer, Faiths Men Live By (2d ed. revised by Purinton), 120-138, 254-313; 1961 World Almanac 695, 712; Year Book of American Churches for 1961, at 29, 47.[/COLOR]

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=367&invol=488​

Alter2Ego

 

Give it up. It isn’t anything the Supreme Court said or claimed. And a branch of Athiesm isn’t all Athiesm or even close to the majority. You are standing on a weak branch and sawing behind your perch

The need that theists need to take one statement of an atheist organization that might represent five percent of atheists and then combine it with a statement with another group that maybe represents 3% of atheists and then somehow pretend the combination represents all or even most atheists is an act of intellectual dishonesty that only a theists could pretend has validity.

In fact one of the significant differences between theists and atheists is that theists are beholden to their organizations while atheists are independent thinkers.