Are atheists allowed to be spiritual?

[Chikombo]

Does anything belong to religion? Morality? Spirituality? Weddings? Funerals?

And if it does, then are atheists like myself cherry picking religious things we like and is this hypocritical?

 

[chopstickchakra]

To your question not the thread title(which are kind of conflicting, if you answer yes to the title it's a no to your question and vise versa.) Spirituality by definition, yes. Weddings and funerals, no. Morality belongs to society which has been influenced/ruled by religions for millennia though. How could you be "spiritual" with a disbelief in spirits? It's an oxymoron.

 

[Guntah]

You're allowed to be whatever you want, but by definition of word, atheism is someone without any theism, which is a belief in a supreme entity like a God or gods. Whether that extends to spirits and an afterlife is debatable, though I guess at that point you're just diving into semantics. In short, be what you want. If a christian man can follow his doctrine without going to church every Sunday, I don't see a lack of belief wouldn't be bendable either.

 

[HowDidIGetPrem]

no to everything. nothing belongs to religions, excluding their gods, because their practices eventually become culture or either derived from it to begin with. you don't have to believe in a god to believe in some vague concept of spirits either.

 

[Edogawa]

People are making things up as usual.

No, atheists cannot be spiritual. Spirituality requires faith in spiritual things and atheism is basically absence of faith in that. Atheists only believe in the physical realm. So atheists cannot take part in marriages, funerals, religious celebrations etc. as all of these are religious. It literally contradict atheist's belief to participate in these ceremonies.

Morality is different, though. There have been moral achievements done by secular philosophy, like the abolition of slavery and child marriage. However, a great deal of morality are still religious obligations.

I want to add one that no person is born an atheist. People become atheists out of their will. So they have been raised in religious households, and even after becoming atheists they still maintain the religious values, like giving money to the poor as an example.

 

[Mori Jin]

Not really. Can't be spiritual if you dont believe in spirits. Guarantee you, if you put an atheist in a position were he/she are about to die, they'll be crying/praying to a deity to help them.

 

[simpleman]

An atheist , or any person can always choose to be what that person wants.

The action and the consequences are for the actor , and no one else.

 

[Uverdore9]

Athiesm should be banned, if possible. The only reason it exists is because some can't accept there's someone behind the sun and moon settings.

 

[Lightbringer]

Athiesm should be banned, if possible. The only reason it exists is because some can't accept there's someone behind the sun and moon settings.

Yeah, it's called gravity.

 

[Uverdore9]

Yeah, it's called gravity.

It's not as simple as that. Gravity is someone's working.

 

[Lightbringer]

It's not as simple as that. Gravity is someone's working.

First say it's not as simple as that, then proceed to give me a simple explanation into the working of the universe. Ok.

 

[Uverdore9]

First say it's not as simple as that, then proceed to give me a simple explanation into the working of the universe. Ok.

You got what I meant right? The core is behind the working of what comes after; the next layer.

Gravity isn't behind the happenings of sun and moon. It's the entity which control's said gravity and put's it in place to do it's work, who's behind it's happenings. Gravity is Gravity, because certain someone gave meaning to it's very existence.

Atheism as a concept doesn't exist; when it's just the reluctance of certain individuals to apply common sense to everyday life.

 

[Lightbringer]

You got what I meant right? The core is behind the working of what comes after; the next layer.

Gravity isn't behind the happenings of sun and moon. It's the entity which control's said gravity and put's it in place to do it's work, who's behind it's happenings. Gravity is Gravity, because certain someone gave meaning to it's very existence.

Atheism as a concept doesn't exist; when it's just the reluctance of certain individuals to apply common sense to everyday life.

Saying someone is in control over every aspect of life without any indication is not common sense; more so when you then proceed to explain the qualities of supposed deity without even having evidence to the existence to one in the first place.

Most people don't know what Atheism means. Atheism is not the belief that there is absolutely no God, it's simply lack of belief in any faith. Agnosticism on the other hand is when a person acknowledges that there isn't any evidence to prove nor disprove God.

You have no evidence whatsoever to support your statements. You're just masking your lack of evidence by saying it's "common sense." Well it's not.

Your entire philosophy revolves around the watchmaker analogy where a design must require a designer. But that analogy for some reason ends with God. Well if a design must require a designer, then who created God? God is much more complex than anything, but he is able to exist without someone designing him?

 

[Uverdore9]

Saying someone is in control over every aspect of life without any indication is not common sense; more so when you then proceed to explain the qualities of supposed deity without even having evidence to the existence to one in the first place.

Most people don't know what Atheism means. Atheism is not the belief that there is absolutely no God, it's simply lack of belief in any faith. Agnosticism on the other hand is when a person acknowledges that there isn't any evidence to prove nor disprove God.

You have no evidence whatsoever to support your statements. You're just masking your lack of evidence by saying it's "common sense." Well it's not.

Your entire philosophy revolves around the watchmaker analogy where a design must require a designer. But that analogy for some reason ends with God. Well if a design must require a designer, then who created God? God is much more complex than anything, but he is able to exist without someone designing him?

The human brain/intellect cannot comprehend what's limitless and it's not for a shallow reason like 'Because he's god'.

It's because limitlessness bypasses the very meaning of comprehension.

If you've to fully comprehend something, it need's to have a set limit.

God isnt just 'more' complex than any individual; he's infinitely complex. There's absolutely no limit's to his complexity. Limitlessly complex.

I can figure out the workings behind a car; because there's something which's impossible for that car.

The car can't fly. The car can't go at limitless speed. The car's durability depend's on what substance it's made of.

Simulatively, how can You and I possibly comprehend something which doesnt have a set limit?

Can you count up to infinity?

Can you walk infinitely?

Can you grow infinitely?


No. No. No.

You can only sympathize with what's logically possible to you; meaning what's logically possible is 'limited' any in some way, shape/form.


Imagine a person; intangible plus possesses the ability to interact with physical substances.

Can you define how that person's innard's work?

Unless you're a similar entity as the person in hand?

 

[Lightbringer]

The human brain/intellect cannot comprehend what's limitless and it's not for a shallow reason like 'Because he's god'.

It's because limitlessness bypasses the very meaning of comprehension.

If you've to fully comprehend something, it need's to have a set limit.

God isnt just 'more' complex than any individual; he's infinitely complex. There's absolutely no limit's to his complexity. Limitlessly complex.

I can figure out the workings behind a car; because there's something which's impossible for that car.

The car can't fly. The car can't go at limitless speed. The car's durability depend's on what substance it's made of.

Simulatively, how can You and I possibly comprehend something which doesnt have a set limit?

Can you count up to infinity?

Can you walk infinitely?

Can you grow infinitely?


No. No. No.

You can only sympathize with what's logically possible to you; meaning what's logically possible is 'limited' any in some way, shape/form.


Imagine a person; intangible plus possesses the ability to interact with physical substances.

Can you define how that person's innard's work?

Unless you're a similar entity as the person in hand?

How convenient. But it's frightening how you cannot see the logical fallacy behind your words. So something infinitely complex is able to pop into existence without any external force, yet something that is infinitely less complex must have a designer at the helm. You don't question God's complexity, yet you question everything else. It's downright absurd.

You haven't seen God for yourself, so how do you know what he is like? For all we know, he could be like the Lovecraftian entity of Azethoth, dumb and blind, and only by random chance did he create the universe. If God exists, how do you know he is even infinite and not just immensely powerful? Did God tell you this himself that he is infinite or are you just assuming this?

This is nothing but wishful thinking on your part because you cannot live without the idea of there being a God and an afterlife, so you'll rationalize every conceivable way in order to justify your belief.

That's not living in reality, it's just an escape.

 

[wanderingcactus]

People are making things up as usual.

No, atheists cannot be spiritual. Spirituality requires faith in spiritual things and atheism is basically absence of faith in that. Atheists only believe in the physical realm. So atheists cannot take part in marriages, funerals, religious celebrations etc. as all of these are religious. It literally contradict atheist's belief to participate in these ceremonies.

Morality is different, though. There have been moral achievements done by secular philosophy, like the abolition of slavery and child marriage. However, a great deal of morality are still religious obligations.

I want to add one that no person is born an atheist. People become atheists out of their will. So they have been raised in religious households, and even after becoming atheists they still maintain the religious values, like giving money to the poor as an example.

Actually we are all born atheists. We learn things as we grow up and that is how we start to take in more and more religious background. May it be the explanation on how the world works or simply celebrating its traditions. Such as praying for strength in times of hardship, or marriage, or doing things such as holiday. Religion is a culture. It is not something inherit that is passed on through our genetics. Now there may be some discussions about "Souls" that is still unexplained to this day. As far as we are aware of, this soul is consciousness. This outlook may change as we learn more about our world both physical and nonphysical.

There are many scientific theories that are also in line with religion, may it be one of the mythologies or the ibrahimic series (monotheistic).

I think it is ironic to be atheist. Atheistic thinking is to deny a higher power is involved. However, they think of this as if it were a fact without having enough data. Its "data" is derived from its counter arguments of religion. "There is no higher power as I do not see an entity residing above us" which brings us to the notion of "faith"

Believing that there is or no higher power without any confirmation with data being gathered is to have faith. Faith in the unknown. Which kind of breaks the whole "atheism" concept that there is no higher power. As children we are unaware of this "higher power" argument. To us, adults are the higher power. They are the ruler. They dictate and are basically become our first concept of godlike beings. However, before all of that, we are not already thinking of higher power and the inner workings of the world. Thereby making us all start off as atheists. We act and react. If I can sense it, therefore it is. If not, it does not exist. We can see this logic with children when you place an object infront of them and they would acknowledge it but put something infront of that object, they think it no longer exists.

Much like how computers render. If it is out of sight of the viewer, it is no longer existing (removes it from being rendered to focus more power in other functions). That is how an atheist should act.

 

[Lightbringer]

Actually we are all born atheists. We learn things as we grow up and that is how we start to take in more and more religious background. May it be the explanation on how the world works or simply celebrating its traditions. Such as praying for strength in times of hardship, or marriage, or doing things such as holiday. Religion is a culture. It is not something inherit that is passed on through our genetics. Now there may be some discussions about "Souls" that is still unexplained to this day. As far as we are aware of, this soul is consciousness. This outlook may change as we learn more about our world both physical and nonphysical.

There are many scientific theories that are also in line with religion, may it be one of the mythologies or the ibrahimic series (monotheistic).

I think it is ironic to be atheist. Atheistic thinking is to deny a higher power is involved. However, they think of this as if it were a fact without having enough data. Its "data" is derived from its counter arguments of religion. "There is no higher power as I do not see an entity residing above us" which brings us to the notion of "faith"

Believing that there is or no higher power without any confirmation with data being gathered is to have faith. Faith in the unknown. Which kind of breaks the whole "atheism" concept that there is no higher power. As children we are unaware of this "higher power" argument. To us, adults are the higher power. They are the ruler. They dictate and are basically become our first concept of godlike beings. However, before all of that, we are not already thinking of higher power and the inner workings of the world. Thereby making us all start off as atheists. We act and react. If I can sense it, therefore it is. If not, it does not exist. We can see this logic with children when you place an object infront of them and they would acknowledge it but put something infront of that object, they think it no longer exists.

Much like how computers render. If it is out of sight of the viewer, it is no longer existing (removes it from being rendered to focus more power in other functions). That is how an atheist should act.

I don't think you know what an atheist is. You're misrepresenting what an atheist is based on a colloquial definition and your own understanding of it, and not the accurate definition of atheism.

Atheism is the lack of belief/faith. It is not the denial of the existence of a higher power, but merely lacking any sort of faith that there is one.

Agnosticism is when you acknowledge that there is no evidence that proves nor disproves the existence of the supernatural.

There is nothing wrong with having faith. The problem arises when you treat faith as fact, when you pretend to know the innate qualities of God, and use fallacious reasoning in order to compare faith and lack of evidence to science, which is based on tangible/observable evidence. And that is what many on this thread and in general are doing.

 

[Fountain]

With all the shit they get i think it would make more sense if the question was "Are theists allowed to be spiritual?". Nothing is stopping an atheist from being spiritual, and no it isn't something exclusive to religion.

 

[Fountain]

Actually we are all born atheists. We learn things as we grow up and that is how we start to take in more and more religious background. May it be the explanation on how the world works or simply celebrating its traditions. Such as praying for strength in times of hardship, or marriage, or doing things such as holiday. Religion is a culture. It is not something inherit that is passed on through our genetics. Now there may be some discussions about "Souls" that is still unexplained to this day. As far as we are aware of, this soul is consciousness. This outlook may change as we learn more about our world both physical and nonphysical.

There are many scientific theories that are also in line with religion, may it be one of the mythologies or the ibrahimic series (monotheistic).

I think it is ironic to be atheist. Atheistic thinking is to deny a higher power is involved. However, they think of this as if it were a fact without having enough data. Its "data" is derived from its counter arguments of religion. "There is no higher power as I do not see an entity residing above us" which brings us to the notion of "faith"

Believing that there is or no higher power without any confirmation with data being gathered is to have faith. Faith in the unknown. Which kind of breaks the whole "atheism" concept that there is no higher power. As children we are unaware of this "higher power" argument. To us, adults are the higher power. They are the ruler. They dictate and are basically become our first concept of godlike beings. However, before all of that, we are not already thinking of higher power and the inner workings of the world. Thereby making us all start off as atheists. We act and react. If I can sense it, therefore it is. If not, it does not exist. We can see this logic with children when you place an object infront of them and they would acknowledge it but put something infront of that object, they think it no longer exists.

Much like how computers render. If it is out of sight of the viewer, it is no longer existing (removes it from being rendered to focus more power in other functions). That is how an atheist should act.

Nobody is born atheist or theist. You even said it yourself with your following statement "We learn things as we grow up", that includes the concept of atheism.

How convenient. But it's frightening how you cannot see the logical fallacy behind your words. So something infinitely complex is able to pop into existence without any external force, yet something that is infinitely less complex must have a designer at the helm. You don't question God's complexity, yet you question everything else. It's downright absurd.

You haven't seen God for yourself, so how do you know what he is like? For all we know, he could be like the Lovecraftian entity of Azethoth, dumb and blind, and only by random chance did he create the universe. If God exists, how do you know he is even infinite and not just immensely powerful? Did God tell you this himself that he is infinite or are you just assuming this?

This is nothing but wishful thinking on your part because you cannot live without the idea of there being a God and an afterlife, so you'll rationalize every conceivable way in order to justify your belief.

That's not living in reality, it's just an escape.

You haven't seen god either, so how do you know he isn't real? And furthermore why would you assume that's he's a being? You're just being ignorant like always, and you can't accept the fact that not everyone is an atheist like you so that's why you always gotta make stupid comments like "because you cannot live without the idea of there being a God and an afterlife, so you'll rationalize every conceivable way in order to justify your belief.". Let me repeat, not everyone is like you. Nobody gives a damn if you're atheist, accept the fact that not everyone is like you and let people be, you have your reason to be an atheist, they have the reason to not be or belive whatever the hell they want.

 

[Lightbringer]

Nobody is born atheist or theist. You even said it yourself with your following statement "We learn things as we grow up", that includes the concept of atheism.

Wow you're so oppressed, even though 75% of the country identify as Christians.