Is anarchy a form of government?
Is silence music?
Is your Religion Professor a preacher in disguise?

Atheism is a religion like abstinence is a sex position.

Ask your professor if anyone is not religious. If he says no, then ask why the word ‘religous’ was invented. If he says yes, enjoy the comical explanation.

its fucking bullshit. its like telling a vegan salad is made of meat.

your religious professor is an idiot?

I’d ask him which mythical entity do we believe in?

Invite him to post his thoughts on this site and we can engage with him directly.

So many times I come across "The elephant and the Polish problem." * Where people (especially religious ones) view everything else from their own perspective and cannot conceive a view outside of it. They have faith and it is part of their world. The fact that all their bs is about as much concern to us as the 27 Eskimo words for snow, does not compute. They think that faith in fantasy is the default position and "One must believe in something"
We atheists look at all the conflicting views and see that our position is the factory setting and all the rest is simply the imprint of culture.

• I have told the elephant and the Polish problem joke so often before, that I will only type it out again if requested.

I'd like to debate your religions professor.

Definitions!

“If you wish to converse with me, define your terms.”

― Voltaire

If someone watches Dr. Who and absolutely loves it and goes to all the conventions and dresses up as a doctor, we say they are part of the Dr. Who Fandom.
If someone watches Supernatural and loves it! and they go to the conventions and pays into the system to meet the cast, has pentagram jewelry and so forth, we say they are part of the Supernatural Fandom.

Any show or movie (or set there of) can have a fandom of it's own; Marvel, Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, WWE, even sports... Of course someone who watches the show or sport has a few items related to the show/sport, but doesn't rush home to see it, is also a fan, but just not as passionate.

Someone can be a part of one fandom, or many, or none.

The person who isn't a part of any fandom isn't a fan.

Seems to me, the same logic can be applied to religion.

Edit - The difference, of course, being that typical fans don't believe the show is real, where as the same can't be said about religion.

Ask him or her if they know what an Atheist is. Then explain that all an Atheist is, is a person with a lack of belief in any gods.

My thought is first to define what does the word “religious” means for your professor.
Taken from the Merriam-Webster on line dictionary:
Religious - adjective re·​li·​gious | \ ri-ˈli-jəs \ Definición of religious (Entry 1 of 2)
1 : relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity
a religious person
religious attitudes
2 : of, relating to, or devoted to religious beliefs or observances
joined a religious order
3a : scrupulously and conscientiously faithful
b : FERVENT, ZEALOUS
religious noun
plural religious
Definition of religious (Entry 2 of 2)
: a member of a religious order under monastic vows

My hunch is that your professor is referring to te “fervent zealous” part. In that sense, yes, us atheists can be fervorous about our dismissal of magical thinking. The problem with your professor’s assertion is that, in ignoring or skipping the true essence of the word, he is being dishonest, to say the least, because he is purposely using the least important meaning of the word to mount a petty description of atheism. Standing on a higher ethical ground, it can be said that atheists hold their belief as strongly and seriously as a religious person can hold hers or his. So, your professor, by using an assertion that is lexicographically correct, but ethically inappropriate, is asserting that us atheists are religious, which in the true sense of the word, we are not.

A religion assumes an unshakeable belief. As an atheist, I don’t believe, I think of, presume, guess, wonder, accept or question phenomena/things. When I find out more about them, I revise my thoughts/attitudes. I don’t think a religion implies that?

I spent six years in a university, and took to calling academia "macadamia", like the nut. Because you meet a lot of nuts there. Just 'play along' with your profs, even if you think they are 'mentally challenged'.

Atheism is just a lack of belief in gods. There are no dogmas, rituals, holy books, beliefs (supernatural or otherwise), doctrines, etc. Theists will often try to argue that "lacking a belief" is a belief. It is not. That's what the word "lack" means.

There is a legal sense of "atheism" being a stance on religion that is still protected under the constitution, but that still doesn't make atheism a religion.

Some subsets of atheists have some similar beliefs, such as humanism, skepticism, etc., but none of those are required to be an atheist. Still other groups of atheists may have extremely wacky beliefs, such as the Raelians, members of a UFO religion who believe aliens scientifically created humans, yada yada yada, without any aid (or the existence of) a god (Raelians are atheists also).

Generally theists try to convince atheists that they are just as religious as theists as both an arguing technique, and because it is psychologically comforting to them.

There is a really old episode of "The Atheist Experience" where a caller tries to tell Matt that Matt "believes in no god on faith", and Matt says the caller is saying something like, "I believe in god on faith and you believe in no god on faith, so ha-ha-ha, we're equally stupid." Matt goes on to say, "One is a faith-based claim and one is the rejection of a faith-based claim". Moreover, "rejection" doesn't mean a counter-claim. It means the faith-based claim hasn't met its burden of proof, and thus cannot be accepted as true until such time as it does. I'll look for that clip and post it here if I can find it. Edit: Here is the entire episode, but I embedded the time stamp at the beginning of the call. The part in question is at 1:04:30. (I had forgotten the caller was Muslim)

Your PROFESSOR doesn't know the difference????! I would be demanding a refund from the school!

that he's an idiot

As evidence by this website the overwhelming majority of atheist have replaced their lack of belief in god for a desire for big powerful socialist government to take care of them from cradle to grave so your professor may be right as most atheist seem to worship big government. It’s just us very few conservative atheist who don’t have that problem. @bigpawbullets, @Captain_Feelgood, @veteran229

My daughter's freshman religious prof, at a "good" Jesuit college knew nothing about Unitarians and thought everyone in the class was Christian - until my daughter raised her hand and said not her. My daughter got an A.

I think a few atheists, mostly those who have been harmed by religious upbringings, may practice their atheism in a way that resembles religious belief and that for religious persons, it may appear to be religious, as religion has trained or "conditioned" them to not examine details too closely, but no atheism is defined by a lack of belief in teh supernatural, so no, it is not religion.

Interesting take on religion but not necessarily true. If atheists do not congregate, do not agree on definition, and do not seek others for conformity and solace, it is not a religion.

Bullshit. I kneel before no one. We are our own gods. We decide our own fate.

Sure let me just get out my atheist prayer book and read a few verses, or go to my atheist church, or follow my atheist tenets, oh wait... Those don't exist because we aren't a religion. Atheists have no set of core beliefs or rules to follow beyond the non belief in God.

Atheism is as much of a religion as not collecting stamps is. You just don't do it because ya think it's dumb. Lol.

Atheists can be adamant about their belief that belief in a god is silliness, and some mistakenly see this as indication of a religious fervency. A religion is an organized entity, and atheism has no such organization. The various atheist and Humanist groups do not translate into an organization.