I have heard the argument “not collecting stamps is not a hobby” example before and after reading your second paragraph I was happy to see that you came to the same conclusion that I did: it’s a faulty example because the reality of having a hobby and having at least SOME kind of belief system aren’t analogous: you don’t HAVE to collect stamps.

A more appropriate comparison, I think, would be the decision to get out of bed every day. Whether you do or not is irrelevant because both reflect a mental state of decision. How you feel about what lies beyond your covers, and the futility or utility of what is out there doesn’t change the fact that you reveal and act upon your system of belief in regards to the world. If you’re defining roles in this example, you can say that staying in bed is the equivalent of believing something (read: having a religion), or that deciding to reject or ignore the world outside your bed is empty and all that matters are the thoughts and choices you make within your bed (read: being atheist). It works both ways. But I think that decision, to get up or not because of one’s view of the world is one everyone, as a simple course of face, has to make.

So, like you, I also believe that, whatever it may be, every honest person has to or will have to decide what they think the nature of our existence and the perception of our reality is. And when they do that, again, whatever it may be, it constitutes a belief.

Should I call you Stokes here? Lemme know.