MAAC requiring vaccinations to compete

Pastafarianism. FSM has bigger balls than the other gods.  Lol

I have found that people without organized religion can be quite spiritual and reach beyond this earthly world. I have seen the same with Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, and who knows what else.

But too often I’ve seen many, many religious people use their religion as a weapon, as a way to separate and divide, even within their own religious community. The rules give them a sense of validation and a sense of the absolute in a world full of chaos. These people are the bread and butter of religions everywhere, and for them, their religion is a soapbox to stand on and yell at the world for not following their rules.

I'm not areligious because there is no perfect religion. I am areligious because I think every religion that I have looked into was made up by humans. My second paragraph describes what I think is the best case scenario for religions. However, I also admit that I could be wrong. I'm sure you've heard the expression, "Reasonable people can disagree."

I agree with everything that you said, but I would posit that agnostics and atheists often seem to turn their belief system into a religion in and of itself and do likewise. 

Just because those people are the loudest voices does not make them the most numerous. Most people know that the loudest voices are trying to compensate, because they are the ones with the least power.

The rules or lack thereof make no one good and make no one bad in and of themselves.  Every organization, be it religious or not, will always have the one person, who will yell at everyone else for not following the rules.  There are both religious and areligious soapboxes out there.

Really? How can you turn a belief of nothing into a religion? 

I think you and I are using terms in different ways.

A belief, as defined by Webster, is "an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists." I emphasize that last part because religion, notably, has a belief in a deity. Atheism does not hold that belief. This is how I have been using the term "belief." 

Now you might want to argue that atheists accept a certain statement, namely that there is no deity, and therefore call it a belief. But I disagree. I wouldn't say that the adult population of the world has a belief that there is no Santa Claus, while the young tikes hold that belief. It doesn't work like that. A belief in nothing requires no faith, no evidence, no outlandish gimmicks.

Now, the term "belief system" can be more problematic. Commonly, a "belief system" is directly connected to religions and their sets of beliefs, such as eating meat, virgin mothers, and burning bushes. But a "belief system" can also be used in a more generic manner to indicate the code that a person chooses to live her life by. The chivalry of old, then, is a belief system as was the Budo of the samurai. Your views on the world or your home country are part of your belief system.

To say that a non-belief is a belief system only makes sense is the larger sense of the term for certainly a lack of belief cannot be a religion with a set of beliefs that distinguishes it from other religions. 

As for proselytizing, I've never been approached by an atheist. But I have been approached by many different kinds of Christians. Why? Well, what does the atheist have to gain by your "conversion"? Now, the Christian believes that his belief system will reward him greatly if he can save that one person. 

(I guess I can't help myself.)

Please explain this.

Rely on gimmicks? Ignore evidence? Are you sure you’re talking about belief in Santa, not some dude whose body you eat at church on Sundays? Had a priest tell me all about this sacred host that bleeds, all the while looking like a child talking about Santa and naming his reindeer. It’s the same sort of belief, though with different intentions.

Question: if a person were to avoid religion her whole life, would she be an atheist in your view, or must one profess themselves to be an atheist to actually be an atheist?

As for me being an atheist, you are wrong. I am not an atheist. I dislike how Christians (including Catholics) think that this is a Christian nation. I dislike how much organized religion there is in politics. I can’t stand the hypocrisy that seems part and parcel with organized religion. But I am not atheist.