First off, Atheism is not a religion.  Although it may seem that way in many cases, it is not.  There are some very distinct differences between Atheism and Religion.  Let’s take a look at the basic definitions of the two words first.

I will use the definitions from Dictionary.com

Religion

1.a 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.
2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.
3. the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices: a world council of religions.
4. the life or state of a monk, nun, etc.: to enter religion.
5. the practice of religious beliefs; ritual observance of faith.
6. something one believes in and follows devotedly; a point or matter of ethics or conscience: to make a religion of fighting prejudice.
7. religions, Archaic . religious rites.
8. Archaic . strict faithfulness; devotion: a religion to one’s vow.
1. the doctrine or belief that there is no god.
2. disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings.

Atheism 

1. the doctrine or belief that there is no god.

2. disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings.

Just by looking at the first defnitions of the two words you can see that religion is the belief in a God and atheism is just the opposite.  Atheism is simply a word used to describe your disbelief in a God or Gods.  Let’s take a look at it a little different way.

Let’s say that you have two people.  They are friends who are about the same age.  They both live on earth, just as we all are now.  They are victims to nature and their senses tell them just how the world around them is.  But, neither of these people have any concept of what religion or atheism is.  Their minds are just left to wonder about how or why they are alive.  Now let’s say that you tell one of the people a story.  You tell them the classic story of the Christian God. 

You tell them that God is the reason they are alive and he is the master of the whole universe.  You tell them that this God also loves them and requires the person to worship the God or else the person will go to a bad place when they die.  You also tell them that they can feel the presence of this God if they pray to him.  If they look deep into their heart and accept him, they will feel him.  Let’s also pretend that the person likes the story and they believe it.  So they run off and tell the other person about the story.

So let’s stop right there.  Do you see what you have now.  You have two people who started off living in the same existence, with the same rules, but now you have one of them that thinks that they know the truth of existence because of a story they were told.  So let’s say now the person tells their friend the story but they don’t believe it.   That person is now an Atheist.  Do you see where this is going?

So when a person rejects your religion or belief in God, they are simply being naturally rational and logical.  There is no reason to believe in something that has no good evidence to support it.  I know that my little story is not the best example in the world, but you get the basic point.  Now back to present day.

Atheism is a not religion.  It is simply the rejection of a God.  It does not explain how or why we got here, it simply is the belief that there is no God.  Now I noticed some people say that they can’t really prove the existence of God, they just have faith that he exists.  They also try to turn it around and say that an Atheist is having “faith” that there is no God.  But think about this. 

You know as well as I do, that the world exists around us. We both can test this claim very easily and have mountains of evidence to see that there is obviously a physical world outside of us that exists.  We also know it was there before us and will probably be there long after we die.  We know this because there is a very large amount of evidence to suggest this.  So faith is really not an issue here.  We don’t believe in a giant birthday cake floating around the moon, do we?  Well, we could have faith that there is, but we wouldn’t be taken very serious, now would we?  So why not apply this same reasoning with God?

Now I know some people say they can feel the presence of God in their hearts, and some claim the God actually talks to them.  We know we have imaginations and there seems to be no limit on what we can imagine.  We know we can feel all sorts of feelings and can be very happy about many things too.  So how come this God never reveals himself beyond that point?  How come there has never been believable evidence of this God proving it’s existence on a physical level?  It is quite clear that this is nothing more than “wishful thinking”.  People often mold the lines together with wishful thinking and what actually exists.

It is important to understand the difference.  So if you are a religious person and you are reading this, I hope I helped you have a better understanding of what Atheism is.  This way when you get into religious discussions you can leave the misconceptions at the door and have a much more meaningful conversation.

Up until recently, I used to go out every weekend and party with my friends.  We would drink, play games, go out to bars or whatever.  Over time I noticed it started to change me.  It was probably changing me all along but I finally noticed what was happening.  It was slowly killing my dreams.  It was holding me back.

Don’t get me wrong, I had a lot of fun, but my thoughts have begin to changed now.  I now spend more time learning about life, and living.  There are so many things in this world that I have forgotten all about.  I have had a revelation.  I remember when I was younger and I used to have so much fun doing the simplest things.  I was living.  I was learning.  I had dreams. I had ideas.  I had inhibitions to go and do them.

Somewhere along the line I lost focus.  Things became distorted and other elements shifted my life in a different direction.  The direction, while enjoyable was not the direction I wanted to go.  I was pushed in that direction by others.  I think about this all the time and the more I think about it the more I am starting to do something about it.  I realized that I have been spending the last 20+ years living my life by someone else’s standards.  I will no longer allow this.  I am breaking free.  It is time for me to start learning thinking and living.  Call it what you want, a quarter life crisis maybe.

When I say learning thinking, I mean learning how to think.  Yes, you can learn how to think differently.  All you need to do is teach yourself.  Start questioning everything.  Step out of your normal circle of events. Realize that most little things are not even worth the energy to worry about.  Instead of worrying, start living.  These are the thoughts I have now, and so far I feel much better.

If you feel the same way I did I recommend you start thinking about your life and what YOU want to do with it.  I know it is scary to think that way and may seem impossible, but it’s not.  You just have to find the way to do it.  Try to realize that you used to be different, but you let some thing or someone else tell you how to live your life.  I know it is scary but you got to find the courage.  Remember, courage is when you are the only one that knows you are scared.

Critical Thinking is the mental process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information to reach an answer or conclusion.

What???

You might be thinking, “Ok….what does THAT mean?”  This is the dictionary.com definition so it is a little dry.  Let’s try to break this down by looking at the definition of each term.

The first term is “mental process”.  It simply means “thinking“.

Next we have “actively and skillfully conceptualizing”.  Conceptualizing basically means coming up with a concept.

Actively means constantly and skillfully means using what you have learned from past experiences.

“Applying” means to put into action.  “Analyzing” simply means to look at.

Synthesizing means combine and evaluating means to judge or determine the significance.

By combining and applying all of these things when making a decision you are practicing critical thinking.  So now we that you understand what each term means, you may be able to mentally grasp the concept.  Read the definition slowly to yourself and try to understand the concept of it.  To put really simple, just think about it

Using this type of logical thinking in everyday life will help you in many ways.  The most significant way it can help you will be from making much more informed decisions in your life.  By applying critical thinking whenever you are presented with information or ideas you begin to learn how to ask the right questions.  You will be less likely to be manipulated or get taken advantage of, like believing in something that does not actually exist..

Very often we see suggestions on what products or services to buy, what to think, who to believe, who to trust or what we should be doing with ours lives.  By constantly asking the right questions, you will be able to see right through the information presented, and see it for what it really is.  Very often you will find that the information is propaganda and you will find the hidden agendas that exist.

After a long time of critical thinking you will see the world much differently.  You will start to notice things that you usually over looked before.  Don’t be afraid to use your thinking skills whenever presented information from entities such as governments, political figures, News media, and commercials.  These entities have a lot of influence on your life, so it is important that you be skeptical and think critically whenever possible.  Remember that critical thinking is a skill and does not come naturally.  It is imperative that we all develop this skill and use it in our everyday lives.

“Critical thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way.  People who think critically consistently attempt to live rationally, reasonably, empathically.   They are keenly aware of the inherently flawed nature of human thinking when left unchecked.  They strive to diminish the power of their egocentric and sociocentric tendencies.” – Dr. Lina Elder