Knight of Albion
Well-Known Member
'It (belief in an afterlife) is not a teaching of the Atheist Society nor The Humanist Association'. That is what I said.
https://humanism.org.uk/humanism/
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Can atheists be spiritual?
- Thread starter satori8
- Start date
'It (belief in an afterlife) is not a teaching of the Atheist Society nor The Humanist Association'. That is what I said.
https://humanism.org.uk/humanism/
Of course it isn't, but that has hardly any consequences.
Not a direct response, but the direction this thread has gone leads me to want to point out that in early July a doctoral student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (Christopher Silver) released the results of a study he has conducted on "Nonbelief in America."
Maybe I missed it, but I haven't seen it mentioned on these threads. But I think it's relevant and will help inform the discussion.
His findings are that there are six types of nonbelievers, I'll leave it to you to look up his study and figure out which groups might be spiritual or not.
the six types:
Intellectual Atheist/Agnostic
Activist
Seeker-Agnostic
Anti-theist
Non-theist
Ritual Atheist/Agnostic
DreadFish
Cosmic Vagabond
Taking into account your past reference to these organizations as well; the beliefs of these organizations don't define the beliefs of all atheists. That would be akin to saying that the Church of England doesn't believe in A, so Christians dont believe in A.
OP. Many spiritual types identify themselves as Athiest because they believe their practice is unorthodox and outside formalities of institutionalized religions.
So yea.... totally possible...
Knight of Albion
Well-Known Member
Yes and I said as much in post 36.
Where are you going with all this?
Maybe you'd like to post some links to atheist groups or atheist individuals who believe in an afterlife.
I havent understood the concept of the spiritual atheist. Doesnt atheism mean rejecting belief in these things? Atheists can be vegetarians and teetotallers, but they may just be looking out for their health or not wanting animal cruelty. You can follow a spiritual lifestyle without believing in its spirituality, like a non christian can follow some of jesus's teachings.
Only if by these things you mean God.
And not wanting animal cruelty is not a sign of what people usually mean by spirituality?
So?
What is your understanding of spirituality?
Caladan
Agnostic Pantheist
Many people (especially on line) who go out of their way to label themselves atheist might reject the notion of a spiritual experience, or path. In fact they may cringe from words such as 'spiritual', 'soul', etc.
However, on an individual level things look different.
I'm a naturalist, so technically an atheist. Although it doesn't have to be a label I wear as a membership badge in 'real life'.
Personally, I have pantheistic sentiments, I have passion for various elements of the world's folklore, and for the world of religious symbolism and group psychology. Spirituality is more than simple and inane dogmatic beliefs about the afterlife, specific theological claims, or other superstitions of the supernatural kind. Spirituality can also include elements from world religion which inspire you and motivate you, which resonate with your psych, with who you are as a person, and with your ideals.
psychoslice
Veteran Member
For me personally i see myself being more than just the mind body organism, I see myself as life itself, or pure Essence, this to me can be called being spiritual, but that's just a word, so it doesn't matter what you call it.
I understand it as one level removed from organized religion. It is following practices because of it's sacredness according to me. Since atheism has no such concept, atheist reason for spiritual behaviour may be health related(no alcohol) or compassion( no animal cruelty,vegeterianism).
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Gjallarhorn
N'yog-Sothep
Why not ? after all, atheists are also human beings
If they can be theists, than why not spiritual ? Atheists are spiritual, and as well as theists, because they have good interest in God and God topics.
God is not all there is to spiritual life, despite rumors to the contrary.
chinu
chinu
Rumors to the contrary... of what ? tell me
Gjallarhorn
N'yog-Sothep
Rumors to the contrary... of what ? tell me
To rephrase, people think that to be spiritual, you must deal with deities. They are wrong.
chinu
chinu
Why people need to be spiritual ?
Cephus
Relentlessly Rational
That's exactly it, I don't see why being "spiritual" is beneficial at all.
Spiritual means honouring sacredness (see here).
The concept of sacredness comes from religious beliefs. These beliefs need not be ingrained in the religion (like christianity and alcohol).
This is what i think it means:
A religious muslim prays five times a day, doesnt eat pork, etc.
A spiritual but not religious muslim wouldn't eat pork, but doesnt pray five times a day.
Atheists have no such qualms about spirituality. They may follow a lifestyle percieved as spiritual, but the reasons behind them are certainly not.
I hope this helps.
The concept of sacredness comes from religious beliefs. These beliefs need not be ingrained in the religion (like christianity and alcohol).
This is what i think it means:
A religious muslim prays five times a day, doesnt eat pork, etc.
A spiritual but not religious muslim wouldn't eat pork, but doesnt pray five times a day.
Atheists have no such qualms about spirituality. They may follow a lifestyle percieved as spiritual, but the reasons behind them are certainly not.
I hope this helps.
Can't see your link, sorry. That's one way of looking at it, but there are others.
From my copy of Webster's:
spiritual..."1 of the spirit or the soul as distinguished from the body or material matters 2 of, from, or concerned with the intellect; intellectual...4 characterized by the ascendancy of the spirit; showing much refinement of thought and feeling..."
From 2 and 4, I can easily see that atheists could be concerned with the intellect, and show refinement of thought and feeling. Not all do, I'm sure, but the same can be said about theists as well--there's no guarantee that they will be spiritual.