Atheists only: have you found any wisdom in religion of any kind?

Question

Not even the teaching that no one human is perfect? <--shared by all main religions.

Id appreciate it if you could mention the one wisdom that has striked you the most influential.

Answer 1

No... wisdom exists in better parables outside of religion, in works that even predate most current religions.

I expecially enjoy many, but not all, of the writings of socratic philosophers.

Answer 2

I think all religions have wisdom in them. My problem with them is that most of them are too administrative, too structured, too busy being right, to be any good.

I'm an atheist, but also a pagan and a Taoist. I find a lot of wisdom in the Tao Te Ching and enjoy studying and contemplating it. The words are simple, but profound, and have deeper meaning than simple face value.

In paganism I find wisdom in the idea of celebrating various aspects of life throughout the year at the appropriate seasons.

Native American paganism has the awesome idea of animal totems. I dig this.

In Buddhism I love the wisdom of moderation in all things, and that disappointment is a result of expectations.

I am not well-versed in Hinduism but what I've read of it I've enjoyed very much. Neither am I an expert on Islam, and I've likewise read some nice writings in the Qu'ran but I can't get past the constant worship thing that would drive me mad.

Christianity has the good ideas of empathy and compassion in Christ's teachings, unfortunately the rest of the religion tends to wipe out this effect.

Judaism has a lot going for it in terms of practicality and everyday spiritualism.

Hari Krishnas are a lot of fun in terms of connecting to each other and the spiritual through chant and dance.

Answer 3

Yes.

As an example look at 5 to 10 of the 10 commandments.

These are good advice on how to live in a society.


My problem is with 1 to 4 (Torah version).


Most religions have advice on how to live in developing societies. Much is still relevant to our societies.


However, you can say the same about the Harry Potter books. And much of all literature.

Answer 4

Many have wisdom. I like a bit of buddhaism, some judism, a little zoroasterism thrown in and a little islam. Christianity is more hate filled than most.

Answer 5

Yes. The Golden Rule is sound psychology. Some of the ten commandments are morally valid. But that's about the limit. The Qur'an is useless, and the Book of Mormon is trash.

Answer 6

Of course, all religions have a small measure of wisdom. Even the worst movies have one good scene. That doesn't mean I want to see it again and again.

Answer 7

This is an excellent question, in my opinion.

I think it is difficult for us to parse out what wisdom is from religion and what is not. Your example does strike me as a good piece of religious-based wisdom.

At the same time, though, notice that in the modern world, it is the religious person who is _least_ likely to believe that particular gem. We atheists recognize that people behave as they do for a variety of reasons having to do with genes, specific environments, possibly free choice, etc. Religious fundamentalists tend to be far more likely to have an "essentialist" notion of morality, seeing people as either "good people" or "bad people". That's a large part of why they excused Bush's behavior for so long - they'd assigned him to the "good people" category and therefore frantically excused his obvious bad behaviors LONG after they'd have condemned someone they'd assigned to the "bad people" category (e.g., President Clinton).

Notice the ridiculous behavior that the essentialist notion produced with respect to President Clinton. As a person capable of recognizing that people have good and bad aspects, I'm perfectly able to reconcile my support for him with my admission that he lied about his affair. The religious right seemed incapable of doing so, and routinely falsely accused President Clinton's supporters of denying or excusing his bad behaviors. We did no such thing. That's why his popularity continued to increase even as the right-winger extremists attacked him.
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In my personal opinion, the best pieces of religious-based wisdom come from the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism. Specifically, we should recognize that life means suffering - that there will always be downsides to our existence - and that suffering is made worse by our attachment to things - to our desire for permanence in a world of impermanence.

Answer 8

The forgiveness and compassion that are talked about in the bible (although not often found in its followers) is something to aspire too.

(I can't define myself as Atheist but I can't find a religion that fits either.)

Answer 9

Bill McGinnis said it well:

Some Atheists, for their own political reasons, assert that Atheism is not a religion but instead is the total absence of religion. This allows them to spread their Atheistic beliefs freely in societies which insist on "separation of church and state."

But this is like saying that "black," (which physicists define as the total absence of color) is not a color. The car I drive is a big, old Chevrolet, whose color is black. In common practice throughout the world, "black" is understood to be a color, despite the technical definition of the physicists. Likewise, "Atheism" is a religion, despite any technical definitions to the contrary.

If black is a color, then Atheism is a religion.

If Atheism is a religion, then it must be subject to the same legal restrictions imposed by governments on all other religions. In particular, in the United States, the teaching of Atheism must be prohibited wherever the teaching of Christianity is prohibited.

But where is Atheism being taught? Atheism is being taught, by default, in all places where other religions cannot be taught, particularly in the public schools.

Answer 10

My spiritual director has pointed out the value in many religious traditions.

Edit: I have recently become much more observant of nature and looking to moments of silence to observe and meditate on nature. It has been very cool.