I am Ganesh, an Indian atheist and I don’t eat beef. It’s not like that I have a religious reason to do that, but after all those years seeing cows as peaceful animals and playing and growing up with them in a village, I doubt if I ever will be able to eat beef. I wasn’t raised very religious, I didn’t go to temple everyday and read Gita every evening unlike most muslims who are somewhat serious about their religion, my family has this watered down religion (which has it’s advantages).
But yeah, not eating beef is a moral issue I deal with. I mean, I don’t care that I don’t eat beef, but the fact that I eat pork and chicken but not beef seems to me to be weird. So, is there any religious practice that you guys follow to this day?
edit: I like religious music, religious temples (Churches, Gurudwara’s, Temples & Mosques in Iran), religious paintings and art sometimes. I know for a fact that the only art you could produce is those days was indeed religious and the greatest artists needed to make something religious to be funded, that we will never know what those artists would have produced in the absence of religion, but yeah, religious art is good nonetheless.
I say “stop sneezing!”
I say God Damn it when I’m mad.
Same. Just out of courtesy.
In Norway I use either Prosit, or the German word Gesundheit, for that courtesy.
Try “HOLD KJEFT!” instead.
Same, it just feels more polite than ‘fuck you’.
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The idea of an after life. I like the idea of seeing pets and people I love again. But do I stricky believe that? No. I look at it as a vague inconsiquential thought that brings comfort. It doesn’t change how I live my life or my atheist beliefs.
I was a Satanist for a bit. I still use Magick to think about leadership and social manipulation. Its pretty useful for me, and it’s also funny as hell to think of a boardroom meeting as a ritual circle around an altar of PowerPoint.
The High Priests of the Egregore! The High Priests of the Egregore!
No.
I love this answer.
Atheism is not a religion. We don’t fight or argue with religious people since we don’t care. We don’t bring up atheism with other people as a topic to discuss since we simply don’t care.
I am not sure if this is the right comparison, but we don’t really care if the earthworm feels that it wants to take a shit. Or what it feels for a worm when taking a shit. I simply don’t care. Same about the religions.
After reading Flatland and playing The Forgotten City, I feel like any number of human religions could end up being “true” to some degree. But it would involve aliens, or interdimensional interlopers or something.
I actually just adopted knocking on wood. Couldn’t tell ya why.
“After reading Narnia I feel like any closet could contain a world with magic and monsters and curious creatures.”
You might think yourself an atheist but you’re certainly not a sceptic.
Anyone who calls themselves “atheist” is certainly not a skeptic. With the insanity presented to us in this boundless reality, how can anyone say for certain what does and does not exist? Agnosticism seems the more skeptical stance.
How many gods are real? Or is the argument “nuh-UUUUUUHHHH!!! YOU DON’T KNOOOOWW!!!”?
Your hobby is building straw men.
It’s a legitimate question. To say "I don’t know’ is to either accept that at least one of the gods is potentially real and probably more of them. To say ‘you don’t know’ is to be certain that at least one of the gods is real and magic exists.
I find neither position defensible.
Reality is absolutely not boundless. Learn a little bit about engineering and you’ll find out how very bounded it is.
And there’s no reason to expect physics to be randomly different in a different distant galaxy.
Is physics wonky at the quantum level? Apparently. Does that mean Vishnu might exist? No.
Don’t make stupid assumptions about people. I have an advanced degree in physics. “Boundless” was vague and can apply to many things.
Don’t worry mate, there are loads of quacks to keep you company.
Also dumbfucks if this thread is evidence.
I didn’t know that was religious?
Oh fascinating. Never thought twice about it.
I never thought even once about it!
Although wikipedia has that as the origin several other internet sources suggested a pagan pre christian origin
https://www.readersdigest.com.au/culture/fascinating-origins-of-everyday-hand-gestures
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/55702/why-do-we-cross-our-fingers-good-luck
https://www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/why-do-we-cross-our-fingers-for-luck/p06j436j
Noting that these are not proper sources although mental floss links to a text that may be reliable
*Jesus does not approve of this
This seem to work on an assumption that people have a religion before becoming athiest/agnostic. I never did. My birth certificate says Church of England as that’s the default here unless your parents ask for something else. However they never took me to church or raised me in a religious manner, I had an entirely secular upbringing so there’s no elements of Religon to hang onto.
The way I talk to monks. In Theravada buddhism, monks are treated as a class above average humans. We had to special wording when speaking with them to be reverent, kind of like when speaking with nobles, royals and whatnot in Europe.
Still awkwardly doing that around most monks when I’m with my family, just out of respect for them. There are a few close monk friends that I can talk to normally though.
It’s relatively common for people to just spend a few years as a monk, right?
I reckon itd be weird if one day I’m picking on my little brother, then the next I feel obliged to treat him as royalty, then a couple years later I get to noogie him again.
Not years. An average person might spend a few days or weeks as a monk every few years, to sort of cleanse their Karma so to speak.
My brother just decided to be a monk for life though. It’s quite rare that people become monks for life though, especially someone as young as him. A Theravada buddhist monk’s life is more restricted than those of Mahayana traditions like in China, Japan, Korea, etc.
Biblical wisdom mostly. Certain parts definitely don’t hold up to modern morality, but there is a lot well-thought-out advice buried in it that has helped people in Judeo-Christian areas for thousands of years.
One of the Proverbs in particular comes to mind: “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.” Hard to argue against the inherent wisdom in such a statement.
Also, like you, I have an appreciation for old churches and some religious art.
Same. I particularly love those. Matthew is a bop:
Matthew 26: 52
“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”
and similarly
Matthew 7:1-2
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
Matthew 5:27-29 - Adultery in the Heart
27 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
Word by word: It doesn’t matter what women wear, if you can’t restrain yourself then take your eye out.
Matthew 9:12
When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. […]"
I was raised in a Buddhist family and we all celebrate christmas til this day. Just the part with the tree and the gifts, none of the other religious stuff that comes with Christmas.
Christmas is largely a pagan tradition that was turned into a christian tradition to make it easier to convert them to christianity.
The christmas tree is not a christian tradition. Santa is not a christian tradition. Nothing really is, except for Jesus allegedly being born on the exact date when the pagans celebrated “Jolablot” or the midwinter fest.
Or Saturnalia, or any other holiday that was around the winter solstice.
That’s the best part of Christmas, anyway. Food and family, and free shit.
I’m an anti-theist and I still enjoy a lot of religious literature like Pilgrim’s Progress
i like hanging the bit about jesus telling people to respect gender divergence over people’s heads
I wasn’t raised very religious.
I do think some of the stuff from the Christian Bible would be great if people followed it.
- pray in private, not where people can see you
- help other people. Like, go read the good Samaritan again. It’s not long. That dude goes way the fuck out of his way to help someone he’s never met. And some people do some fucking intense mental backflips to justify "no it’s a metaphor man you don’t have to like actually go near a poor person
- you’ll be judged by how you treat the least among you. Yeah, anyone can be nice to their friends, or suck up to wealthy. But how you treat the poor and vulnerable? That’s telling.
Part of what makes the religious right in the US so infuriating is they spend so much time being mad about gay people and comparably no time on poverty.
Every mega church should be condemned as heretical and repurposed as housing or something for the needy.
I am religious now, but I always swore I’d never walk into a church after growing up in a very Roman Catholic area for exactly this reason. That was the only Christianity that I knew - hating on LGBTQ people, refusing women bodily autonomy, just general hypocrisy with the whole “love your neighbor” thing. Spent some time as a Zen Buddhist, but then felt the call to go to church, so I did some reading and found the Episcopal Church. Went once, got invited to chat by the priest and took him up on it during the week after my second Sunday. Straight-up told him that I’m a bisexual woman who values my rights to leave an abusive marriage and to choose what goes on with my body. His response blew me away: “I don’t have a problem with any of that - and I don’t think Jesus does either.”
That was back in 2012. They’ll get rid of me when they put me I the ground (after a requiem mass, of course). The love and care I’ve witnessed in this denomination just wasn’t possible under the RCC teachings that I always saw as a kid. The more I go along, the more I’m convinced that you can’t honestly be on the political right and truly follow the teachings of Jesus.
Sorry if this is a little rambly. It’s 3:30 and I’m trying to stay awake while I feed my baby.
The more I go along, the more I’m convinced that you can’t honestly be on the political right and truly follow the teachings of Jesus.
As someone that was raised in a religious right wing home and is now a moderate left atheist, I have a feeling it’s because a lot of these people choose their beliefs first, political or otherwise, and then attempt to twist and interpret the Bible in any way they can to reduce the cognitive dissonance that occurs when you inevitably run into contradictory information between the teachings of Jesus and the reality of right wing politics.
Without a doubt, much to the detriment of them, us, and all of you. Best thing we can do is work across faith and non-faith lines to combat their seemingly-endless stream of bullshit
I hope it’s not too late, but their propaganda and mental hoop jumping seems almost infinite.
I was going to say nothing, but based on other answers here, it seems Christmas is being held as religious. I personally feel all religious connotations have been thoroughly washed away from xmas over the years, and it’s simply a holiday like any other now. I still love the lights and decorations it brings out, the whole family coming together, and the food.
Your wrong. It’s literally the Christ Mass, come on now. People don’t put fucking mangers up all over the place for nothing.
Uhm historically speaking its yule… a whole week spent eating, drinking, celebrating and toasting to the departure of last year, and wellcoming the new
The way I view religious holidays is, if it provides an excuse for feasting, drinking or fucking, then let’s celebrate. I don’t care that someone else believes that were feasting for Jesus hanging out or Ostara bringing us a bountiful harvest. I’m just here for the food.
As for other religions left overs, I would say that a lot of my core morals were originally taught to me as part of Christianity. While “thou shalt not kill” is pretty universal and is defensible outside the framework of religion, it it’s where I originally was taught that.
… Keep Yule in Yuletide Keep Saturn in Saturnalia …