I am having a friendly debate with a fellow atheist on Twitter and it is hard to debate with 140 characters.

I am of the opinion that humanism is not a religion but rather a defined moral and ethical position. There is no dogma, no faith requirement. Dictionary.com defines Religion as:

While I agree that number 2 and 3 could apply to Humanism as humanism is a fundamental set of beliefs agreed upon by a number of persons, we would then need to define beliefs. If we don't define beliefs then we can apply religion to a great many things. For instance; I believe in evolution but it is not a religion.

Another point when considering humanism in the religious sense is the idea of worship. I do not know of a recognized religion that does NOT worship something/someone/a deity or deities. There is no worship performed in humanism, though.

Granted, this post and my previous one do not necessarily conform to the dictionary definitions posted in the original one, but it seems pretty widely accepted that worship and the afterlife in various forms are widely accepted as vital parts of religion.

Depending on the definition we use, whether humanism is a religion or not could be determined. Here is a good opinion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanism

I think the better question is how do you define religion and then see if humanism applies to that. This post began as a result of a twitter debate (argument) i had with someone. I think the key here is beleif in a supernatural. Humanism does not require this.