[ExI] Tolerance

[Lee Corbin]

Emlyn wrote:

> This idea that atheism is just another religion [is] wrong.
> 
> Atheism has no shared culture, ritual, tradition.
> It doesn't even have metaphysical belief, it has a lack of
> metaphysical belief. Unless you think that not believing in Santa
> Claus is a religion, you cannot also call not believing in
> supernatural entities a religion.
> 
> Science is probably rightly called a world view or philosophy.
> Materialism, or a naturalistic world view, similar. But Atheism?

Well, don't spell it with a capital letter, for God's sake.

> There's just not enough to it, to call it a philosophy, let alone a
> religion.

Absolutely. Well said, in all parts.

Now here's a good analogy, one that even won't even dismay
the losing side:

Atheism is like darkness, and religion is like light. Atheism
is not just another color of light, it's the absence of light.
You may ask for the frequencies of light, but not for that of
darkness.

If there is no light---and in this case there just isn't---one
ought to prefer seeing nothing.

Lee