I've always thought of Atheism as a religion.
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It, like any other religion, requires a faith in something that cannot be definitively proven.
I realize that nonbelief, in theory, doesn't require proof by its very nature.
However, many atheists do precisely what they accuse believers of doing: ignore evidence to the contrary.
Christians are often accused of being closed-minded, but it often the atheist who avoids discussion on the very nature of human existence.
I came to an extremely EXTREMELY tentative belief, one step removed from hope, because I asked myself some very difficult questions that apologists were willing to discuss. The atheist's answers essentially boiled down to "Don't ask."