Atheists, can an atheist have spirituality of some sort? What does it mean to be atheist?

Question

Answers only from atheists, please and thank you.

I really want to know the answer to this question, because I don't want to make generalisations; also to see how atheism correlates to the subject "spirituality and religion".

Because this question is to try and come to a concensus as to what it means to be spiritual and atheist, I would ask that only atheists answer this question. After the three days have elapsed, I'm going to put it to a vote. I ask that only atheists take part in this vote, as it is their definition of their beliefs that I'm looking for.

I accidently posted this twice, sorry. What I will do here is take the top answers from the votes and then repost with just those two answers.

These answers are really great and very enlightening. Awesome!

Answer 1

Personally I don't have any sort of spirituality. There is such a thing as nontheistic religious humanism (see first source link), but if anything, I'd wager that atheists are normally Secular Humanists (see second source link).

Basically to be an atheist, one must be without belief in deities. There are different kinds of atheism, though: strong atheism, weak atheism, implicit atheism, explicit atheism, ignosticism and apatheism.

Strong atheism: the belief that no deity exists. It is a form of explicit atheism, meaning that it consciously rejects theism.

Weak atheism: the absence of belief in the existence of deities, without the belief in the non-existence of deities.

Explicit atheism: refection of a belief in a god. This deliberate rejection of theism presupposes familiarity with theistic belief.

Implicit atheism: absence of a belief in god without explicitly rejecting or denying theism. This form does not require familiarity with the idea of a god.

Ignosticism: the view that the question of the existence of God is meaningless because it has no verifiable (or testable) consequences and should therefore be ignored. It is often considered synonymous with theological noncognitivism (the argument that religious language, and specifically words like "god", are not cognitively meaningful).

An apatheist is someone who has little or no interest in deities to point that he or she does not care whether deities exist and, typically, is not interested in deciding whether he or she believes in deities. In other words, an apatheist is someone who lacks belief in gods and lacks interest in gods to the point that he or she doesn't bother to determine whether he or she actually disbelieves in gods.

Answer 2

Yes you can be spiritual, but it depends on how you define a spirituality. If you define it as the emotion felt, many Atheists experience this at the awe of the universe or through techniques of godless religions like buddhism. You might want to read the book "why god doesn't go away" that speaks about how some people are more deeply connected to this spiritual world and associate it with a god even though they may experience it without religion.

Answer 3

All that is required to be atheist is to believe that there are no gods. Other than that it's wide open. It IS possible to be atheist and spiritual. For example, you could believe in reincarnation but not believe that there is a god. You could believe that everything on earth happens for a reason and not believe there is a god. There are lots of ways to be spiritual without god.

Now, Atheism relates to religion and spirituality even if the atheist isn't spiritual. Atheism is kind of the anti-religion. Not that it is against religion in all cases but it is a negative position on certain religious beliefs.

Answer 4

You are not an Atheist so I, a Spiritualist will tell you the same thing everybody else probably tell you. Spirituality and Atheism are opposites. Why ask an ignorant question to get a "consensus" when there is only one answer.

Answer 5

Atheism means the lack of belief in a god, but that doesn't necessarily mean the lack of spirituality. Buddhism is one of the most spiritual religions in the world, but it's also Atheistic. Buddha is not a god, he was a philosopher that the Buddhists follow and admire.

Answer 6

God is love, that's it, that's all. I am an Atheist for all intents and purposes but I do believe in spiritual lessons.

The universe is guided by forces. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Love is a force, you put love out you get love back. And since love cannot be measured by traditional science measurements I call love a spiritual condition.

You can feel love and it is everywhere, available to all who seek. Which is a spiritual message.

Peace.

Answer 7

I believe the best example of that would be karma and essence. Being an atheist, I do not believe in "spirits" but more of what I consider essence or aura. It is basically the combination of personality and the mental weight of good and bad actions committed through out life. That can be seen by when in a crowed room you just see a person and can feel that you would connect with the person. Karma would be something I follow as while I do good deeds, I do not do them to please a higher being, I do them to improve how I feel about myself and know that by doing good instead of bad, I increase the chances of receiving good instead of bad.

Answer 8

Well I don't know about EVERY atheist out there, but I don't have spirituality of any sort.

And it's hard for me to describe what it means to be an atheist. I imagine a world with nothing out there watching us from above....if you know what I mean; no imaginary places like heaven and hell either.

Answer 9

I don't think spirituality is restricted to the godly the godless can
order their sense of spirit without compromising their beliefs in my opinion is it is more semantics than anything else at this point.http://www.evolutionary-metaphysics.net/replacing_religion.html

Answer 10

I believe in the possibility that there is a god that binds the universe and keeps things moving in order - I do not, however, believe in a personal god that sits in judgment of his creations and rewards them for believing in superstitions or punishes them for their imperfections