NOGO

I don't think that you can say very much about atheism.

Atheism is like creationsim.
After the first sentence you necessarily have to start talking about your opponents and their beliefs.

How about a talk about comparitive religions.

Peregrine

How about Secular Humanism. The courts do recognize it as a religion and it has its own manifesto.

Sephiroth

IIRC, the courts don't recognize Secular Humanism as a religion just as a belief system.

-RRH-

Since it was a geography course, wouldn't the focus be on religion as a cultural phenomenon? But atheism has appeared in every culture in all the world in all time. Sometimes the prevalence of atheism increases in some cultures, but it is always there, as background noise. While religions come and go like the tide, atheism remains, eternal.


Maybe your teach thought you were trying to get out of doing the work.

Amie

yes and it would have been interesting to do a presentation on some non scriptural nature religions due to the indigenous religious traditions involving the shaman or the totem...
some of those african traditions seem pretty groovy...
and some Native American traditions emphasize a personal wholeness...
those would have been interesting for Geography class...

I am absolutely horrible at geography. That and history. blech...

Vorkosigan

I agree with the teacher. Atheism is a feature of some systems of thought, including, but not limited to, religious ones. It's a religious stance, not a religion. Suppose the original poster had asked to do a paper on materialism, or mind-body dualism, also features of some systems of thought, as a religion? The idea is the same, and the teacher was right to reject it. Although I suspect that the teacher rejected it because it was atheism -- -- , and not out of any philosophical or intellectual understanding.

So which religion did you choose? I'd have done Sikhism. Had lots of positive experiences with Sikhs.

Vorkosigan