...atheism was the starting point for a NEW RELIGION. The religion of communism - that is, paradise on earth, not in heaven. And then... what is atheism - in translation, it means godlessness. That is, a person BELIEVES that there is no God, just as another person BELIEVES that He exists. And both are faith in principle, because no one can say for sure whether God exists or not (because no one has seen Him). Therefore, just as faith in God is a DENIAL of disbelief in God, so is the opposite. These are self-evident phenomena that accompany any faith, and, in essence, one can say that people believe in "denial," dear Apple:)

I don't care what they wanted to do with atheism in the Soviet Union; I didn't live there much and I don't regret it. But "starting point" is not a religion. If atheism can be called a religion, it is only in a figurative sense, not in a direct one. And communism is not a religion either (unless it's a quasi-religion). And finally, I'll quote myself again: "Faith, like a vector, is directed at its object (and not at nothingness), that is, it carries a positive charge in its essence, because it affirms, not denies. If, for a moment, we agree with you that one can indirectly deny something while affirming it, then this is a secondary phenomenon, like a shadow from an object, and to put them on the same plane is a logical error." To this, unfortunately, I have nothing to add, except that "believing in 'denial'," as you put it, is a conceptual absurdity. I specifically asked my friend: "Do you believe that there is no God?" He was surprised and said: "I don't 'believe that there is no God,' but 'I don't believe that He exists,'" and we dropped it. This, of course, cannot be proof, but it is very telling. How many times did I hear from my relatives (who were also atheists) in my childhood that they did not believe in God, and not once did I hear anyone say that they believed that there was no God. If you, Ganymed, insist on your position, could you please explain your thought with an example? (But please don't talk about faith in a person, because it does not directly follow from atheism.)