Religion has played a huge part in the development of human society. Religion helps organize human society into supportive communities bounded by the same set of moral codes enforced by rituals and promises about afterlife. For centuries, religion has been the center of human society, guiding our explorations of the natural world, setting social expectations, and providing us a sense of control and hope among life’s uncertainties and sufferings. Yet, as a result of the Scientific Revolution and the acceptance of the scientific method by the general public, many traditional religious teachings about the nature world, like heliocentric worldview, have been replaced by empirically proven scientific theories. With this changing understanding of our universe comes an atheist worldview that is becoming more and more popular especially among educated young people. Since its origin, atheism has been extremely controversial. Many religious people criticizes atheists of disrespecting tradition and authority, being immoral and jeopardizing personal and communal well-being. Yet, I would argue that the relationship between atheism, religion, morality, rituals, and health is more complexed than the anti-atheists claim and it is best to regard atheism as a faith system with its own merits and defects like any other religion. Defining Terms Discussions about atheism and religion are especially challenging because when we talk about either God or atheism, drastically different definitions
