Originally posted by WhiteEagle
It's really more of a very basic philosophy rather than a religion, because two atheists can have very differing outlooks on everything else regarding life.
Atheism is a disbelief, not a philosophy. One' s disbelief in the Tooth Fairy is not a philosophy of life - is it for anyone else? Furthermore, a philosophy of life is not necessarily a religion and it doesn't necessitate that a religious belief exists in the person with the philosophy.
Perhaps it would help to examine what a religion is. The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, in its article on Religion, lists some characteristics of religions. The more markers that are present in a belief system, the more "religious like" it is. Because it allows for broader grey areas in the concept of religion, I prefer this over more simplistic definitions we can find in basic dictionaries. Read the list and see how atheism fares :
[list]
[*] Belief in supernatural beings (gods).
[*] A distinction between sacred and profane objects.
Ritual acts focused on sacred objects.
[*] A moral code believed to be sanctioned by the gods.
[*] Characteristically religious feelings (awe, sense of mystery, sense of guilt, adoration), which tend to be aroused in the presence of sacred objects and during the practice of ritual, and which are connected in idea with the gods.
[*] Prayer and other forms of communication with gods.
[*] A world view, or a general picture of the world as a whole and the place of the individual therein. This picture contains some specification of an over-all purpose or point of the world and an indication of how the individual fits into it.
[*] A more or less total organization of one's life based on the world view.
[*] A social group bound together by the above.[/list]