Atheists...

No, but every one who is non-religious is defined by the other religions, notably their rejection of them.

Myself personally, I simply couldn't bring myself to believe, thats all. Anything God related just doesn't make any sense to me at all.. regardless of how I look at it or which way I turn it.

To be honest there were times when I would've much rather believed in a God, but even then it just wasn't happening.

Atheism doesn't require rejection. I'm an atheist because I just don't care.

Well that is neither disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods

Atheism specifically requires the rejection of the concept of God/s.

The only way that atheism cna be distinguished from theism in its basic nature, is if it does not deny existence of god but rather refuses belief without proof.

And what of those who believe that they have proof for the nonexitence of god and hold staunchly to it? It seems that these 'atheists' are of the same camp as theists who believe in a god and hold staunchly to it.

. Atheism specifically requires the rejection of the concept of God/s.

If you're completely nonaligned in your belief, not believing in a God or any other higher deity, its completely within itself, and only that. By that I mean that we are not a religion, therefore we are nothing in the subject. We aren't a catagory because we don't need to be. There is nothing that defines us. You may say our lack of belief does, but that's nothing. It doesn't count. Its like a flat out 0 or infinity, the colors white or black, a baseline. There is no need for throwing a complicated deffinition on it or trying to put it in a catagory, because it has no specific points that define it. More, a lack of specific points. The athiests that reject God, I can see being catagorized. But those that don't give a hoot either way? Why catagorize them?

Yea, no one lies to be pigeonholed, particularly with some of the negative overtones words tend to carry.

The way I look at it is this: Words help us communicate. If someone were to ask (for example) "Hey, how does Bill look at religion?" it's much easier to say "He's agnostic" rather than "Well, he's nothing on the subject. He's not completely non-aligned on the belief, not believing in god or any higher deity. He isn't a category because he doesn't need to be. It's like a 'zero'".

Just has to do with defintions helping us communicate. That's all, but I share your feelings on being categorized per say (especially when a definition doesn't quite fit".

... hoping this helps.

I love it! Simple, honest questions that have simple, honest answers. I hope not to offend any honest believers out there, but my answer is straightforward and from the heart.

For me, there's just no reason to believe something so silly - one would think in the 3rd millennium that we'd be past such dumbness. Humans have such capacity for love, sharing, fellowship and discovery. As long as we hold to ancient myths, the longer we'll stay divided and at arms length to our brothers and sisters. Beliefs in god have the potential for giving great comfort to the individual, but they hurt our species in numerous ways.

Nice question. I hope my response is well-received.

No, it says you're independent of religious beliefs.

atheism is a religion

Hardly... it's a lack of belief that can be arrived at many different ways. In and of itself atheism is not predictive of ANY other affirmative or negative belief; atheism does not have a type of "practice"; atheism does not have a doctrine; and atheism does not have a tradition. Atheism isn't a 'system' of beliefs -- it's a specific lack of belief in a specific concept, and one cannot generalize further based on that alone.

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It takes faith to be a atheist and there is more to it then lack of belief of god. Followers of atheism often try to convert people like other religions it hates other religions like other religions do. It holds many of the same characteristics of a religion "set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs." In the quotes is the definition of religion. Atheism concerns the cause, nature and purpose of the universe. It also has a moral code. It states no god which still falls under the second point of the definition as well. This is because ones disbelief in any god has identical effect on someone that might believe in a number of other "gods". And that effect is that it changes there way of living, thinking and their view on life.