Atheism = religion

For those of you who might not have noticed, atheism has quite frequently been labelled as a religion or a dogma based on faith. I find this quite frustrating, which is why I posted the quote yesterday: "Atheism is a religion, like not collecting stamps is a hobby".

However, if people insist on calling atheism another religion, then why are atheist values and beliefs not treated with any "respect" by some religious people? Instead atheists are frequently and harshly insulted and distrusted by religious people, who would never dream of saying that about other spiritual/religious people. In fact I find the insinuations quite frightening. I hope that civil liberties and respect of freedom of choice/opinion will be maintained, else we might find atheists behind bars or prevented from having children.

Noting the above inconsistency, in my world, it's good for religious and spiritual people to critisize perceived atheistic principles, and in the same way I hope that that critisizm can be returned and peacefully received. Well-thought out critisisms presented in a non-aggressive and non-derogatory manner help prevent us from taking our belief systems for granted. As soon as we stop thinking about why we believe in what we do and if it still make sense, I believe that progress of the individual (and society)is finished.

Let's never assume we have all the answers... Let's keep searching for them (and the questions) until the day we die. In that way life will always be exciting no matter where we are, what we are doing or how old we are.