Why it's important to tell people atheism is NOT a religion

In reply to comment on FB questioning the need to challenge the claim that atheism ... etc., ... etc.,  


It's important to correct this error when it crops up because the it's often used by the God bothering fraternity to cloud the debate around intrusion of their own belief systems into public life. If they can get away with representing atheism as being comparable to their own position -that it's just another belief/opinion, then they can get away with claiming that neither side has a demonstrably greater claim to authority. Most people who don't hold strong opinions tend to simply absorb information without subjecting it to much in the way of critical analysis - if they keep hearing the same piece of misinformation, they will come to believe it, without even knowing that they have - until they happen to hear the subject come up in the media somewhere, at which point they will think "Yeah, why shouldn't Bishops and other religious people have their views heard in Parliament etc. - science is just another belief after all, atheism is just another form of religion" These same people vote and reply to opinion polls which influence policy making, therefore it's important what they think. So, if every time the God bothering view gets aired, somebody else says no, that's wrong, atheism is NOT a religion, it will at least make it less of an easy victory for the GBs :)




In summary "It still needs doing - it shouldn't, but it does"