Atheism alone is not enough to even be categorized as a belief system because it is based on only one belief- there is no God- or for some that there is no God as described by the popular theistic religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism). The fact that self-described atheists often share other beliefs such as the non-existence of a human soul, the non-existence of "supernatural" entities etc. doesn't mean atheism is a religion or system of beliefs because not all atheists will agree with these things.
However, philosophical Materialism could be defined as a religion because it makes many postulates on the nature of reality (such as: that only matter exists), which are purely speculative and untestable.
In this way, Materialism is a Metaphysical belief system which denies the existence of anything whose existence does not depend on matter. It is, therefore the "religion" that denies spirit, altogether! Interestingly, it shares this feature with certain brands of "Christianity" which also see the human as purely physical and only God, angels, demons and Jesus as consisting of spirit (i.e. non-physical).
Sharka Todd
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