The link between agnosticism and atheism is strong, but it seems what sets atheism apart is a certain belief, though only distinguished because so many others belief the opposite

The Universal Life Church prides itself on allowing people regardless of their faith or background to be ordained, including members of atheism. Because it allows a member of a group that does not believe in God to be ordained, many have wondered whether atheism is a religion of no religion or the “odd one out.” Agnosticism, the belief that “there is no evidence for God,” is so intrinsically linked with atheism that it is hard to determine where the similarities begin and end.

The Universal Life Church sees the atheism belief that there is absolutely no such thing as God to require a leap of faith, just as much as it requires one to absolutely say there is such a thing as God. Though this argument seems to be more a debate of semantics than reason, as not doing something (not collecting stamps, for instance) usually doesn’t count as a hobby. In the case of atheists, they are no more using faith to say that God doesn’t exist as they are saying fairies and unicorns don’t. To them, there is no point in categorizing them as a religion because they are essentially a religion that believes that everything that does not exist, in fact, does not exist.

Atheists do not need a God to do that which is right, and thus their belief (or lack of a belief) should not affect their ability to be ordained by the Universal Life Church. Agnosticism draws much of their own viewpoints from atheism, in fact. By assuming that God has no viewpoint on matters, as he may or may not exist, agnostics go through life developing a set of their own morals much in the same way as atheists. The two belief sets have come to view the world with its own defined sets of good and evil, regardless of whether an omnipotent being created them.

So is atheism a religion? This is a difficult question as there are so many ways of analyzing what precisely religion is. If the accepted definition of a religion is “a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe” then it would seem atheists do form a religion. But when observed closer, it would appear this definition does not adequately define them. Atheists don’t know what created the universe or its purpose, but they agree that it wasn’t any being generally agreed upon to be called God. Going back to the analogy with stamp collecting, it would seem more accurate to describe atheists as “people that don’t collect stamps” than an organization of “non-stamp collectors.”