What Atheism Means For Me

Atheism is not a "belief system" in the accepted sense of that phrase. There is no "faith" involved in atheism. Faith is defined as:

faith [feyth] noun
1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.
2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that he would be healed.
3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.
4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.
5. a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.

When atheists speak of "beliefs" or the "faith" of theists, we are referring to definitions 2, 3 and 5. Atheists do not "believe" or have "faith" based on any of those definitions, therefore, atheism is not a religion.

It is NOT "a belief that no god exists". It is a lack of belief in a god or gods. I am an atheist. I would never use the phrase, "I believe no god exists." at least not in the sense that theists believe. That would be a misleading and inaccurate statement. What I would say is that there is no evidence to suggest that a deity exists, therefore I do not believe in god. This means that I, personally, have no "faith" that a deity exists. I do not say, nor can anyone say, that I am absolutely certain that no god exists. What I am saying, is that based on the FACT that no evidence has ever been presented indicating the existence of a deity, it is astronomically unlikely that such a super being exists. I could be wrong, but I truly doubt it.

I have no faith in a magic space daddy or any other mythical being, I do not live my life based on some ancient doctrine, therefore I have no religion.

Atheism is NOT a religion... it's a lack of religion... it is the lack of the belief in a supernatural entity. Atheists don't meet every Sunday and chant, sing and pray to a mythical entity because, frankly, that's just plain idiotic and I have better things to do with my brief life.