I have an idea for a book, I am going to investigate religion in depth. I am going to prove that Atheism is either a religious movement or not. Below is the introduction to this epistle. It's very rough as it's a first draft and every one knows that things will change as I research and write
Introduction.
Atheism and religion have many things in common in the modern world. Back when I became agnostic and then atheistic it was not a popular move. Atheism was and should still be a simple non belief in gods.
There are in excess of 3 000 known gods from Amaterasu to Zeus.
Atheists like most other religions believe in none of the so called mythological gods but go one step further and disbelieve in any of the so called true gods. Thus if you are a Christian Atheists believe in one less God than you do.
Targeting atheism in order to remove non belief is a mainstay of most popular faiths. Some faiths are less pro active at targeting atheists. Prosletysing is one of the central tenets of the New Abrahamic faiths. Judaism is not traditionally aimed at getting you to join, but if you want to marry someone of their faith you too can become a Jew by going to a Rabbi for lessons. This conversion is reactive because you want to join the faith in order to marry a frum individual.
The New Abrahamic faiths of Christianity and Islam are more pro active about getting you to join. These religions have as a central tenet prosletysing.
Matthew 4:19 “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Mark 16:15 “And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”
Qur'an (8:39) - “And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and polytheism: i.e. worshipping others besides Allah) and the religion (worship) will all be for Allah Alone [in the whole of the world ]. But if they cease worshipping others besides Allah, then certainly, Allah is All-Seer of what they do.” Qur'an (9:29) - "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued."
Suras 9 and 5 are the last "revelations" that Muhammad handed down - hence abrogating what came before, which includes the oft-quoted verse 2:256 -"Let there be no compulsion in religion...".
Islam tends to be a tad more assertive in making the point, being as it's join or be slaughtered versus Christianity's Join or spend an eternity in hell.
Atheism on the other hand just suggests that you think. Many religious folk confuse the issues of Science and Belief. Atheists do not automatically accept Science as correct. As many different reasons exist for the non belief in gods as there are atheists, Some will use science as a motive, others will not.
Atheism has of late started acting like a religion. There is a group of militant atheists that are actively prosletysing and teaching Atheism, The sad thing about this is that those Atheists create confusion among the flock by trying to teach science to people of faith, this in turn has people of faith believing that Evolution is a matter of faith.
Some believe that man is a lesser being for not having faith, Some believe that morals originate from a book. This book will look at all the myths and thoughts about religion and Atheism. We will attempt to understand all points of view and will discuss various religious beliefs, their myths, their truths and lies. We will put the deities under a spot light.
We will find out if Atheism is the new religious movement.
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