I can’t think of anything I do that Jesus would frown upon. Leviticus? Yeah, I eat shellfish and the like, so probably he’d frown, but I think the main complaint from Jesus would be that I haven’t given up all my worldly goods and helped the sick and poor enough – and I don’t think he’d be all that mad, regardless. It’s not like I’m trying to make profits off money-changing in front of the temple.
Doesn’t doing all of the things you want to do still make you a slave, spiritual or otherwise, to a human invention? Your desires are created by yourself or others.
I don’t handle loss well. To religious people it’s temporary because they believe they’ll reconnect in the afterlife. To me it’s permanent and I haven’t found a good way to cope yet.
When I’m feeling sad about the people I’ve lost over the years, I like to ponder the vast gulf of time and possibility that lies ahead. The human mind is probably not as complicated and unique as we like to think, so perhaps someday there’ll be an ancestor simulation of some sort in which we get to meet again.
Your username is quite suited to this mindset so hopefully it helps. :)
A similar thought down that line has helped a little. If space and time are infinite, then who’s to say that anyone is ever truly gone. Their number just needs to come up again.
For me, that’s fine. Never cared much about death. They’re done suffering, at least. It’s the suffering I can’t stand. But I wouldn’t want to believe in anything that would make me be okay with/cope more with/be less mad about people suffering. I want to stay mad about suffering and do something about it.
I put my faith in myself and those who have proven they are worthy of me putting it in them as well… Faith in anyone is a risk, faith in anything is a risk. I don’t believe in a higher power, though I did once.
You can always pretend you have an imaginary friend to talk to and that they will make everything better. The only difference is that everyone claims they have the same imaginary friend. That club is always accepting new members.
I’m a full-blown atheist. My dad died a couple of years ago and I “talk” to him frequently simply because I’m accustomed to doing it and it’s a nice thing to imagine. I know full well that there’s no magical way he’s still around and listening to me, but humans gonna human and there’s nothing wrong with having quirks like that.
I recall reading a study a long time back where researchers put people in fMRI machines to monitor their pattern of brain activity and then asked them to consider some kind of ethical question. Some of the subjects were told to talk to an attendant who was physically present, some were told to talk to themselves about it, and some were told to talk to whatever deity they believed in about it. The brain activity patterns for talking to someone physically present were different from the brain activity patterns for talking to oneself, but the activity patterns for talking to oneself and talking to God were identical. It was a neat result.
I have an intern. Whenever I am confused or angry about something at work, which is often, I just talk to him. Something isn’t working that should be, explain it to him. Demonstrate how I am right and the tech is somehow wrong. In the process I usually find the solution.
He technically doesn’t report to me he reports to the general manager. I have told the general manager on multiple occasions that he is to please do whatever it takes to keep him here because production would grind to a halt.
I miss the sense of belonging and place that comes from rituals. While I don’t want to raise my child in the church, I’m trying to find ways to include ritual and ceremony in our lives. For example, I don’t want to pray before meals, so when we have a family meal I light a ceramic oil lamp to represent our time together.
I have an atheist Jewish friend. Me and him were talking and he mentioned really missing Friday night dinners with his family. As we were talking he came to the conclusion that I wanted him to get to. There was zero reason why he couldn’t still have Friday night dinners with his family. Just like there is zero reason why I can’t have a Christmas tree. He and his wife and children can all dress nice, sing a song or two, and have a big meal once a week.
That’s the great thing. There is no one keeping score. If you miss something about your religious background you can still have it. You aren’t going to lose atheist points. Especially for harmless family community stuff.
I know what you mean. I saved this blessing off years ago. I don’t remember where I got it, otherwise I’d attribute it to its author. It’s a great way to share that moment of reflection that prayer can provide without the actual religious aspect.
A Secular Grace
For what we are about to receive
let us be truly thankful
…to those who planted the crops
…to those who cultivated the fields
…to those who gathered the harvest.
For what we are about to receive
let us be truly thankful
to those who prepared it and those who served it.
In this festivity let us remember too
those who have no festivity
those who cannot share this plenty
those whose lives are more affected than our own
by war, oppression and exploitation
those who are hungry, sick and cold
In sharing in this meal
let us be truly thankful
for the good things we have
for the warm hospitality
and for this good company
I can’t prove it but I bet there is some value of spending a moment before eating being grateful for food. Acknowledge the person who made it and paid for it and the people you are with enjoying it.
I really like this! Coming up with your own family traditions probably means they’ll feel even more comfortable passing them on in the future without worry of traumatizing their own future families.
The biggest thing I’ve noticed is not having a large community to feel a part of. Those I know who are active in church communities tend to have a more active social life. I have close friends for sure, but I do miss that sense of greater community and cause.
The only other thing I feel acutely is the sense of being all on my own and the decider of my own destiny. There’s no leaning on faith as a crutch during tough times.
This is literally the only thing I miss, having gone from very religious to very not. There just aren’t really comparable alternatives that make socializing so easy.
I feel like, at their core, most religions boil down to two things, for most people:
Giving you purpose/security/scapegoats (“I’m living a good life so I can go to heaven,” “the Lord has a plan/is watching over me,” “Satan/sinners/demons tempted me”)
Dissuading you from inquisitive, critical thought (out of self-preservation, I’d imagine)
Personally, I prefer to define my own purpose, live a more “dynamic” lifestyle than is traditional, think critically, and question authority. Doesn’t make me “better” than religious folks, in fact they’re probably overall happier than I am. But I can’t imagine living that way, regardless of whether or not I believe in a magical sky Santa who can’t decide whether he loves us unconditionally or whether or not he’s actually omnipotent.
There’s that, but also along with it comes an enormous sense of community. It’s a lot easier to find friendship and companionship when you’re in a group dedicated to a purpose that meets regularly, and it’s a very attractive concept and feeling, even if people don’t realize it.
I can relate to this. I’m a full blown atheist, someone who just doesn’t have any doubt on their beliefs for religion.
Even then, when I visit my besties Eastern Orthodox Church once in a blue moon (probably for a significant personal occassion or learning a new Holiday I never celebrated), I still feel an overall sense of community at her Church, and it helps that everyone i’ve met there is so nice.
I don’t believe being a Christian (especially a conservative Christian) is the lifestyle for me, and I just can not bring myself to believe for a moment in it, but even with that, the vague sense of community is still there. Makes for a pleasant trip at least.
For sure, there’s no community as large and passionate as religion. BUT there are other communities that are centered around goodwill to others, living a better life…some of them even have chanting, if you feel like you’d be missing that part lol.
Those communities usually involve doing work though (volunteering, performing, teaching, etc.) while you can just show up to church and kinda pay attention, and you’re in.
IDGAF. Seriously, the only time I even talk about religion is when I’m super high and one of my christian friends wants to annoy me. But it’s all in good spirits, we have friendly arguments. I never really feel like I lack anything just because I don’t have a faith. It might be because I never really had it in the first place. I grew up in a household where no one really cared about these things. My parents are Hindu, but when I told them (around the age 9-10) that I can’t believe in this stuff, they were fine with it. Unlike many in the comments, I’ve never really met anyone who was directly hostile/weird towards me just because I’m an atheist.
This is a very open-ended question. I think most people view faith as a spiritual thing. Having faith in a god or gods, but if you believe in something strongly enough, it’s possible you have faith in that.
Gravity is kind of a stupid example, I’m going to use it anyway. If you have faith in the laws of gravity that means you genuinely believe and respect the laws of gravity.
Occasionally find myself envying people with faith and wonder how my life is different than theirs.
The thing is, there’s nothing stopping you from having faith. But do keep in mind that you want to have faith in something that is not shitty.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gongthis one seems nice. Promotes meditation, physical exercise, as well as peaceful civil involvement in society helping others and doing good, which will help you reach spiritual enlightenment.
So while I personally like and prefer having a yawning void where some other people have faith, I generally recommend this religion to people who prefer having faith. If this one isn’t to your liking, perhaps research what other non-shitty options are there.
And as a general pro tip when going with the faith option: please, no fanaticism.
Edit: I’ve read some more on this, and this religion has some shitty postulations too. Well, keep looking out.
Well, it has been outlawed by China’s government since they didn’t like that the religion actively promoted civil political engagement and simply doing good.
The main difference between a cult and a religion is that the cult’s founder isn’t dead yet. Falun Gong’s founder is Li Hongzhi, who is alive but is around 72 years old so it’ll probably make the transition to religion relatively soon.
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Freedom of thought freedom of self and a set of morals that place the well-being and happiness of others as a top priority.
How does not having three butts effect your life?
What do you mean? Faith in a better future? My friends? The christian god?
It probably doesn’t. You can still believe in things, just maybe not those kinds of things.
Pretty well, it lets me do things Jesus frowns upon and actually enjoy my life instead of being a spiritual slave to a human invention.
I can’t think of anything I do that Jesus would frown upon. Leviticus? Yeah, I eat shellfish and the like, so probably he’d frown, but I think the main complaint from Jesus would be that I haven’t given up all my worldly goods and helped the sick and poor enough – and I don’t think he’d be all that mad, regardless. It’s not like I’m trying to make profits off money-changing in front of the temple.
I agree, I don’t need some 2000 year old book to dictate how I live my life.
I will live my life on my own terms and if someone has a problem, they can respectfully leave my life.
Doesn’t doing all of the things you want to do still make you a slave, spiritual or otherwise, to a human invention? Your desires are created by yourself or others.
That’s not what being a slave means, at all, so no.
I don’t handle loss well. To religious people it’s temporary because they believe they’ll reconnect in the afterlife. To me it’s permanent and I haven’t found a good way to cope yet.
When I’m feeling sad about the people I’ve lost over the years, I like to ponder the vast gulf of time and possibility that lies ahead. The human mind is probably not as complicated and unique as we like to think, so perhaps someday there’ll be an ancestor simulation of some sort in which we get to meet again.
Your username is quite suited to this mindset so hopefully it helps. :)
A similar thought down that line has helped a little. If space and time are infinite, then who’s to say that anyone is ever truly gone. Their number just needs to come up again.
To put it in mathematical terms, people are subject to Poincaré recurrence given enough time and space.
For me, that’s fine. Never cared much about death. They’re done suffering, at least. It’s the suffering I can’t stand. But I wouldn’t want to believe in anything that would make me be okay with/cope more with/be less mad about people suffering. I want to stay mad about suffering and do something about it.
I put my faith in myself and those who have proven they are worthy of me putting it in them as well… Faith in anyone is a risk, faith in anything is a risk. I don’t believe in a higher power, though I did once.
I have a lot more free time than I otherwise would.
You can always pretend you have an imaginary friend to talk to and that they will make everything better. The only difference is that everyone claims they have the same imaginary friend. That club is always accepting new members.
And their imaginary friend demands money and hatred of others.
To be fair, most peoples’ imaginary friends happen to hate all the same people that they do.
I’m a full-blown atheist. My dad died a couple of years ago and I “talk” to him frequently simply because I’m accustomed to doing it and it’s a nice thing to imagine. I know full well that there’s no magical way he’s still around and listening to me, but humans gonna human and there’s nothing wrong with having quirks like that.
I recall reading a study a long time back where researchers put people in fMRI machines to monitor their pattern of brain activity and then asked them to consider some kind of ethical question. Some of the subjects were told to talk to an attendant who was physically present, some were told to talk to themselves about it, and some were told to talk to whatever deity they believed in about it. The brain activity patterns for talking to someone physically present were different from the brain activity patterns for talking to oneself, but the activity patterns for talking to oneself and talking to God were identical. It was a neat result.
Edit: It’s not exactly as I remembered it, but given how human memory works I bet this is the article I was thinking of.
I just talk to my animals. Good enough.
I have an intern. Whenever I am confused or angry about something at work, which is often, I just talk to him. Something isn’t working that should be, explain it to him. Demonstrate how I am right and the tech is somehow wrong. In the process I usually find the solution.
He technically doesn’t report to me he reports to the general manager. I have told the general manager on multiple occasions that he is to please do whatever it takes to keep him here because production would grind to a halt.
Get an intern.
I miss the sense of belonging and place that comes from rituals. While I don’t want to raise my child in the church, I’m trying to find ways to include ritual and ceremony in our lives. For example, I don’t want to pray before meals, so when we have a family meal I light a ceramic oil lamp to represent our time together.
I have an atheist Jewish friend. Me and him were talking and he mentioned really missing Friday night dinners with his family. As we were talking he came to the conclusion that I wanted him to get to. There was zero reason why he couldn’t still have Friday night dinners with his family. Just like there is zero reason why I can’t have a Christmas tree. He and his wife and children can all dress nice, sing a song or two, and have a big meal once a week.
That’s the great thing. There is no one keeping score. If you miss something about your religious background you can still have it. You aren’t going to lose atheist points. Especially for harmless family community stuff.
This resonated with me. Community and ritual without the religion
I know what you mean. I saved this blessing off years ago. I don’t remember where I got it, otherwise I’d attribute it to its author. It’s a great way to share that moment of reflection that prayer can provide without the actual religious aspect.
Love it! May have to embroider this for the dining room wall.
I can’t prove it but I bet there is some value of spending a moment before eating being grateful for food. Acknowledge the person who made it and paid for it and the people you are with enjoying it.
I really like this! Coming up with your own family traditions probably means they’ll feel even more comfortable passing them on in the future without worry of traumatizing their own future families.
That’s the hope! The trick is inventing the ritual and getting it to stick.
The biggest thing I’ve noticed is not having a large community to feel a part of. Those I know who are active in church communities tend to have a more active social life. I have close friends for sure, but I do miss that sense of greater community and cause.
The only other thing I feel acutely is the sense of being all on my own and the decider of my own destiny. There’s no leaning on faith as a crutch during tough times.
This is literally the only thing I miss, having gone from very religious to very not. There just aren’t really comparable alternatives that make socializing so easy.
I feel like, at their core, most religions boil down to two things, for most people:
Personally, I prefer to define my own purpose, live a more “dynamic” lifestyle than is traditional, think critically, and question authority. Doesn’t make me “better” than religious folks, in fact they’re probably overall happier than I am. But I can’t imagine living that way, regardless of whether or not I believe in a magical sky Santa who can’t decide whether he loves us unconditionally or whether or not he’s actually omnipotent.
There’s that, but also along with it comes an enormous sense of community. It’s a lot easier to find friendship and companionship when you’re in a group dedicated to a purpose that meets regularly, and it’s a very attractive concept and feeling, even if people don’t realize it.
I can relate to this. I’m a full blown atheist, someone who just doesn’t have any doubt on their beliefs for religion.
Even then, when I visit my besties Eastern Orthodox Church once in a blue moon (probably for a significant personal occassion or learning a new Holiday I never celebrated), I still feel an overall sense of community at her Church, and it helps that everyone i’ve met there is so nice.
I don’t believe being a Christian (especially a conservative Christian) is the lifestyle for me, and I just can not bring myself to believe for a moment in it, but even with that, the vague sense of community is still there. Makes for a pleasant trip at least.
For sure, there’s no community as large and passionate as religion. BUT there are other communities that are centered around goodwill to others, living a better life…some of them even have chanting, if you feel like you’d be missing that part lol.
Those communities usually involve doing work though (volunteering, performing, teaching, etc.) while you can just show up to church and kinda pay attention, and you’re in.
IDGAF. Seriously, the only time I even talk about religion is when I’m super high and one of my christian friends wants to annoy me. But it’s all in good spirits, we have friendly arguments. I never really feel like I lack anything just because I don’t have a faith. It might be because I never really had it in the first place. I grew up in a household where no one really cared about these things. My parents are Hindu, but when I told them (around the age 9-10) that I can’t believe in this stuff, they were fine with it. Unlike many in the comments, I’ve never really met anyone who was directly hostile/weird towards me just because I’m an atheist.
This is a very open-ended question. I think most people view faith as a spiritual thing. Having faith in a god or gods, but if you believe in something strongly enough, it’s possible you have faith in that.
Gravity is kind of a stupid example, I’m going to use it anyway. If you have faith in the laws of gravity that means you genuinely believe and respect the laws of gravity.
The thing is, there’s nothing stopping you from having faith. But do keep in mind that you want to have faith in something that is not shitty.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
this one seems nice. Promotes meditation, physical exercise, as well as peaceful civil involvement in society helping others and doing good, which will help you reach spiritual enlightenment.So while I personally like and prefer having a yawning void where some other people have faith,
I generally recommend this religion to people who prefer having faith. If this one isn’t to your liking,perhaps research what other non-shitty options are there.And as a general pro tip when going with the faith option: please, no fanaticism.
Edit: I’ve read some more on this, and this religion has some shitty postulations too. Well, keep looking out.
Pretty sure Falun Gong is a cult last I remember.
Well, it has been outlawed by China’s government since they didn’t like that the religion actively promoted civil political engagement and simply doing good.
The main difference between a cult and a religion is that the cult’s founder isn’t dead yet. Falun Gong’s founder is Li Hongzhi, who is alive but is around 72 years old so it’ll probably make the transition to religion relatively soon.
I mean I have very negative views towards both concepts sooo ;p