"but what about the attempt by many believers to define atheism as a belief system? ..."
I always suspected that Christians - religious people in general - are prone to call atheism a "belief system" because that is the only frame of reference they are familiar with...
As I stated in another thread, humanity tends to think that everything we see was "CREATED", because humanity itself had to 'create' things - tools, agriculture, animal husbandry, housing, clothing - to adapt quickly and well to an ever-changing environment...
Long before Christianity was a gleam in a fanatic's eye, ancient peoples leant towards a belief system occasionally called "sympathetic" Magic. Also sometimes referred to as "As Above, So Below", it included the following world view:
"As above, so below"
This phrase comes from the beginning of The Emerald Tablet and embraces the entire system of traditional and modern magic which was inscribed upon the tablet in cryptic wording by Hermes Trismegistus. The significance of this phrase is that it is believed to hold the key to all mysteries. All systems of magic are claimed to function by this formula. "'That which is above is the same as that which is below'...Macrocosmos is the same as microcosmos. The universe is the same as God, God is the same as man, man is the same as the cell, the cell is the same as the atom, the atom is the same as...and so on, ad infinitum."
This message theorizes that man is the counterpart of God on earth; as God is man's counterpart in heaven. Therefore, it is a statement of an ancient belief that man's actions on earth parallel the actions of God in heaven.
That is from the following website: http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/a/below_above.html
It's interesting that the underlying belief system - that the earth reflects heavenly principles, structure and arrangement - is strikingly similar to the bible's viewpoint that all things were 'created', because, in the limited experience of the primitive, nomadic Israelite sheepherders, human artifacts had to be 'created'...
"Miracles" ARE a form of 'magic', just as ANYTHING that is not clearly understood [earth's rotation, weather systems, reproduction, electrical phenomena...] would be considered 'magic' - or 'miracles' - to primitive cultures...
As we learn how things work, the veil of mystery is pulled away...
Zid