one of the words I may have invented and a page relevant to theology

Definition

A whatchamathink is a religion or an alternative to a religion, and particularly and explicitly includes Atheism and Agnosticism.  It avoids any presupposition as to whether or not Atheism and Agnosticism are religions. 

Why we need the term

Many who identify as atheists or agnostics like to deny that they have any religion.

I can see their point of view. But it does make discussion of their beliefs a bit more difficult, and I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that this is not their intention. Rather, we just need to avoid making any presupposition either way, in order have a rational discussion.

And even if they do avoid calling atheism and agnosticism religions in order to evade discussion, they are in good company. Some years ago I was considering candidating for a missionary organisation. Had I done so I would have needed to say what my opinion was of the inerrancy of scripture.

It's just as well I did not candidate, as my honest opinion is that inerrant is a word we use to avoid the issue, as nobody knows what it means including ourselves.

Back to the chase. My whatchamathink is Christianity, which is a religion. The whatchamathink of an atheist is Atheism, and it's not clear to me whether that is a religion but it has a lot in common with a religion. But we can avoid wasting time wondering. By definition, it is a whatchamathink, like Christianity or Buddhism.

Agnosticism is similar. In fact, the term agnostic was invented by Thomas Huxley, and he called agnosticism a religion. There has been some disagreement over whether he invented agnosticism itself or just the term. I tend to the view that he did invent something important and that this is what he called agnosticism. Huxley's formulation of agnosticism was very clever (as was Huxley). It is inconsistent with Christianity and incapable of being logically refuted. Clever indeed.

But again no matter. Whether on not agnosticism is a religion, it is clearly and by definition a whatchamathink.

Baha'i is also a whatchamathink. Most non-Baha'is call Baha'i a religion, but the Baha'is themselves prefer to call it a faith.

So it's not just the Agnostics and the Atheists who want to avoid being called religious. I would even suggest that we all have good reasons for not wanting to be known as religious. 

If you object to this term too

I am happy to use whatever term you choose. Yes, whatchamathink is a bit of fun, but with a serious and rather leading meaning. It is intended to encourage thinking.

It is poking fun at the agnostics and atheists who wish to poke fun at religions and at religiousity. And I agree that religiousity is not good, and I think Jesus would too!

But let us not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Yes, there are some awful Christians, and some awful Agnostics and Atheists too. So? 

To obstruct this discussion by avoiding having a term for the very thing we are discussing is not terribly constructive. So let us have such a term, any term you choose, and move on. Personally I'd prefer to call them all religions. But let us move on.

And I confess my debt to Quine's superb essay On What There Is for this solution to the red-herring question of whether or not Atheism and Agnosticism are religions.

AaA  is another possibility

Or another possibility is to just give them the term religions (just as Quine gave his hypothetical opponent Wyman the term exists) and define a term that explicitly means alternatives to those that are agreed to be religions (noting that we will now use religions to mean just those things that are uncontroversially that). So let us also have a new term for those whatchamathinks whose followers deny that they are religions. At least it's better than always having to say "religions or atheism or agnosticism" (and its various grammatical derivatives) all the time. 

I propose the term AaA. It stands for "agnosticism and atheism" of course. I pronounce it "aha!".

So in those terms a whatchamathink is just either a religion or an AaA that is not a religion, and we can again avoid any presupposition as to whether or not an AaA is a religion, and get down instead to some rational thinking. 

See also

Sanity (one of my favourite pages)