When is it atheism?

[_harmony]

I am not qualified to enter this discussion and Dart is holding his own against some formidable debaters, but I'm wondering if the juxtapositioning should be religion vs atheism or spirituality vs atheism. It seems to me that the latter would be more accurate, that atheism would relate more directly to spirituality than it does to religion. Religion being a group activity complete with rules/laws, culture, ordinances, etc., which atheism is not, while spirituality is an individual thing just as atheism is.

[_EAllusion]

Atheism no more provides advice on how to raise children to behave in a healhy, moral way than it provides good recipes for Japanese food. Of course, the same is true of not believing in alien abductions or unicorns. Atheism, after all, is just not believing in God. That mere fact cannot tell you much about how to raise children beyond not making it logically dependent on the existence of a diety. However, atheists have access to the whole plethera of ideas not dependent on God. All secular ideas are open to the atheist, to be judged on their merits. And there are secular ideas about proper child rearing. There are secular ideas, the only ones worth taken seriously actually, on the nature and content of morality. Looking to atheism for parenting advice is inane. You need to look to secular sources, which abound, that the atheist and theist alike have acess to.

[_asbestosman]

Actually it doesn't say anything by itself. We need to first normalize the data by percentages of Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Atheists/Agnostics in the population before any semi-meaningful conclusions can me made.

Well, there are more atheists in Ameirca than Muslims and Jews. Does that help?

Not quite, because there are other conflating factors like race that are often correlated with Judaism or Islam. I'd be more interested in the atheist / Christian comparison since, so far as I can tell, most atheists / agnostics tend to come from Christian backgrounds.

[_Some Schmo]

Atheism no more provides advice on how to raise children to behave in a healhy, moral way than it provides good recipes for Japanese food. Of course, the same is true of not believing in alien abductions or unicorns. Atheism, after all, is just not believing in God. That mere fact cannot tell you much about how to raise children beyond not making it logically dependent on the existence of a diety. However, atheists have access to the whole plethera of ideas not dependent on God. All secular ideas are open to the atheist, to be judged on their merits. And there are secular ideas about proper child rearing. There are secular ideas, the only ones worth taken seriously actually, on the nature and content of morality. Looking to atheism for parenting advice is inane. You need to look to secular sources, which abound, that the atheist and theist alike have acess to.

Beautifully put.

[_John Larsen]

Actually it doesn't say anything by itself. We need to first normalize the data by percentages of Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Atheists/Agnostics in the population before any semi-meaningful conclusions can me made.

Well, there are more atheists in Ameirca than Muslims and Jews. Does that help?

Not quite, because there are other conflating factors like race that are often correlated with Judaism or Islam. I'd be more interested in the atheist / Christian comparison since, so far as I can tell, most atheists / agnostics tend to come from Christian backgrounds.

Probably only the ones you are familiar with. There is a 2500 year tradition of atheism among some Buddhists.