hinduwoman

Crocodile Deathroller said,
Well the 'theo' part is not there. So that makes Jains atheistic. But they worship their equivalent of prophets and regard themselves as a religion.

Starboy said,
It depends on how you define stable.
If you mean they are unchanging that is certainly not true. Many religions have now completely vanished. Look at the changes christianity itself had undergone from the first century. The Hinduism we see today is vastly different from the original. The Vedic people would not have known what to make of the religion of 4 B.C, and both would have been at sea today at differing customs. There is certainly continuity, but religions evolve in response to change. Even Gita is a late text, composed as a reaction to forces threatening orthodox society.

If you mean why religions go on existing that is because people need the emotional comfort they provide. An impersonal universe that does not care about you is a lonely place. Religions tell you it cares and that you will go on living forever, in one form or another.

doodad

What constitutes a religion? Might belief system be a better term for what you are doing? I think a typical religion has a deity or faith object of some kind. What is the faith object of atheism?
Maybe its form is more like Pantheism or Humanism, but are they religions in the traditional sense of the word?

[ December 03, 2002: Message edited by: doodad ]</p>

Pookmaster

Atheism is not a religion. As many others have already pointed out, atheism is quite simply a lack of belief in or acknowledgement of the existence of a supreme deity or "god".
The origins of the word "religion" are as follows:

RELY + LEGION - in other words, to be bound to an idea. The necessary element is attachment - usually to something which takes the form of a deity or prophet of some kind.
Atheism does not include this element; it is the absence of a particular belief, not an attachment to a belief or lack of belief. Therefore it is not a religion.