Originally Posted by
Mario92
Oh, sure, you have aggressive atheists. Still doesn't mean atheism is a religion. Not even close. Religion is defined as "a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny." Atheism still doesn't fit the bill even remotely. Also, unlike many religions, it isn't organized.
Religion is also defined as "a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects" . Seems like atheism could fall under that. Just from personal experience, and from this thread no doubt, when a religious person and/or zealot begins talking about their said religion, atheists do seem to band together and oppose him/her. I've also seemed to notice that atheists seem to talk about their "beliefs" more or just as often as religious people do, usually much more aggressively - but maybe that's just because I hang around with a lot of atheists :P
To take a page from standard debate, the burden of proof rests with the person making the claim of incredulity, which would be the religious. Until this claim is proven, there is no reason why the opposite party should believe it. In many ways, atheism is less a leap of faith and more a null position.