The only requirement to be an atheist, is this simple statement: “A lack of belief in or the denial of the existence of any and/or all God/Gods.” Atheism is not “a system of beliefs.” There is no system required, though one is usually used to come to the realization that one is in fact an atheist.
A system requires a methodology and an ideological way of living or thinking. Many atheists do actually ascribe to the methodology of Science. As do I, for the most part, but not all atheists do. Some just don’t think there is a god of any kind and don’t think anymore about it than that. They don’t give it anymore thought than this and go on about their lives.
Everyone has a system of thought processes to which they use to find their morals and their beliefs, but there are none that are required of anyone in order to be an atheist. An atheist is free to believe anything they so choose, with the exception of a belief in one or more deities. Thus atheism is not “a system of beliefs” unto itself.
Religion is in fact a “system of beliefs” as it has an entire list of things one must supposedly fall into line with in order to be a part of said religion. What that list is and the merits of the items on those lists is open to interpretation. But there is a definite ideology behind each of them to which they are based upon. As well as methodologies to enforce or enhance the experience of any and all religions. Such as indoctrination, prayer or worship, even sin or blasphemy can be methods used for these purposes.
Many atheists are known to believe in spiritual things. I personally believe that their is a communal experience to be had with the cosmos. Neil DeGrasse Tyson once said, “We are all connected, to each other biologically, to the earth chemically and to the rest of the universe atomically.” This is the communal experience to which I believe is true. But again, it is a scientific premise, and so, is a part of the scientific methodology. It is the “communal experience” that is my belief. Not the system to which that belief is based upon. I believe that if everyone understood this statement, it would be a communal experience for the whole of humanity. But this belief is not a system in itself, it is only based on one.
None of which can be defined as a part of atheism, it is a personal belief. Some few atheists do not hold any beliefs to be true at all. (see nihilism or anarchy) Others have beliefs of their own, some are of their own making. But none can be attributed to atheism itself. Because atheism is a statement, based on a belief or lack thereof. It is not, in fact, a belief in and of itself.
Most atheists do believe there is no god. But this is not the same as not believing in one. Although one should fit into one of these categories to be an atheist. Some atheist choose to believe they do not know one way or the other, they simply choose to doubt the existence of a God/deity (not believing in one). I count my self among this party, as I am skeptical, to say the least, of such a beings existence. Others proclaim boldly that there simply isn’t one, as if it were a proven fact. Though there are days when I feel I fit into this category as well.
There are three camps of this type: Agnostic, Atheist/Agnostic and Atheist. The first of which (agnostic) say they do not know, but tend to lean in the direction of the existence of a divine entity. The second (atheist/agnostic) choose to play the middle ground completely, and do not lean either towards or away from the belief, they are wholly undecided. Where as atheists tend to lean towards the non-existence theory. But there are extremes of all three. I do not attribute extremism to this analogy, as they tend to incite riotous hatred towards the other spectrum's and are un-conducive to the concepts held by each of the three mainstays listed above.
