Yes, Atheism Is a Religion
Religion Is What Makes Us Human
Glorious Day My Precious Fellow Traveler -
I love writing these posts. But they require a great deal of time and toil because God demands and deserves my best effort.
My prayer for 2026 is that I’ll be able to stop doing other, less fulfilling things and instead devote myself fulltime to this Substack ministry. That’ll be possible only with the support of Paid Subscribers. But I’m surrendering the entire matter to God.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you to my Paid Subscribers from 48 states and 35 nations for supporting my ministry, which is committed to speaking truth with love … to a world sorely in need of both.
To God alone be the glory!
Amen.
The Atheist Conceit
A few weeks ago I posted this message on Facebook (as well as my other social media pages):
As you can see, it inspired a sizeable reaction. Atheists weren’t happy to hear me say that atheism is a religion, which didn’t surprise me. As a former atheist I know that, for any atheist, being called religious is the worst possible thing in the world.
Why is that?
In my many decades of close interactions with atheists I’ve discovered they generally see themselves in a very superior way, as rising above the low-brow superstitions they claim all religions to be. To the typical atheist - in a minute I’ll address some important differences among atheists - believing in, say, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is as utterly foolish as believing in the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus.
During my graduate studies at Cornell, when I was an atheist, I, too, was filled with that signature conceit. It fit hand-and-glove with my intellectual elitism and scientific monkishness. More about that in a bit.
Defining Religion
As a scientist, I understand the importance of defining one’s terms before diving into any dissertation. So in preparing to write this Op Ed I asked several prominent AI chatbots to define religion. Here are their responses:
ChatGPT 5.2 (professional version)
Religion is a system of beliefs, practices, symbols, and narratives through which individuals and communities understand, relate to, and orient themselves toward what they consider sacred, transcendent, or ultimately meaningful.
Grok
Religion is a system of beliefs, practices, rituals, values, symbols, and institutions that humans use to address fundamental questions about existence, meaning, purpose, morality, and the nature of reality—often involving a sense of the sacred, holy, transcendent, or ultimate concern. In summary, religion broadly refers to organized or personal ways humans engage with what they regard as most profound or sacred in life and the universe.
Gemini 3
Religion is a social and individual system of beliefs, rituals, and ethics typically centered on a worldview that acknowledges a transcendent or sacred order, providing meaning, community, and moral guidance.
I venture to say it’s impossible to find any definition of religion on which everyone will agree. But based on an objective, thoughtful reading of the foregoing candidates - all of which I consider quite reasonable - it’s safe to say there are at least three defining traits that all religions have in common, including, as you’ll see, atheism.
Namely, a religion …