Can atheists "pray" and have a spiritual life?

Question

I can across this website by a writer named D. Midbar that suggests you can have a spiritual life and pray without believing in any god or anything supernatural? Possible? http://atheistprayer.blogspot.com/

Answer 1

There's quite a few people ( including your answerers ) who have no idea about the scope of atheism, and think prayer would be useless to an atheist on the grounds that all atheists think God does not exist.

Atheists can be spiritual people also they are often far more moral than the religious as trust in God can make the religious less willing to act when moral fortitude is required.

Deists accept a higher power but cannot accept a God described in any system requiring belief or faith, Buddhists accept the the existence of 'the One' or 'Oneness' but 'the One' is not a god and not prayed directly to.

Deists pray to a universal power and Buddhists pray to improve and cleanse their personal karma, (some pray extensively) both religions can be considered atheist.

Atheists can depending on their atheism benefit from prayer although the source you cite has quotations from holy books and that's one thing all atheists unanimously agree on - they have no need of a holy book containing a prescriptive belief in a god or pantheon of gods.

Buff.
spiritual moral atheist

Answer 2

Well I suppose that's an oxymoron. I don't know if the word 'praying' is really necessary, nor the word 'spiritual'. Introspection, meditation, tai chi, and qi gong could all fit into a lifestyle of higher exsistence and allow someone to become more intune with their body and their surroundings... but since atheists believe in NO spiritual beings, that defaults them from having a spiritual life.

Answer 3

That site is either a spoof, or was written by a theist who has no idea what an atheist is.

Atheists don't pray. There are no gods.

I still have no idea what most people mean when they use the word "spiritual." It just sounds like more mythological mumbo jumbo to me.

Answer 4

I don't see how you could pray without thinking there is a "higher power".... what would you be praying to???

As far as a spiritual life, I mean I guess you could believe in the power of meditation, which has been known to soothe the soul and spirt.

Answer 5

I cannot follow this one. I am an atheist and I would see no point in praying. I am also not a spiritual person, but other atheists may be, it's up to them.

Answer 6

That is a oxymoron, when you pray it's to God so how can a person be a atheists...these people are very confused, and the site you suggested is sad....they are messed up

Answer 7

Pagan is many times defined as any faith different than the three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam. non secular is analogous to non secular yet usually refers back to the flaws in faith and not the religion in itself, basically faith without a shape. an atheist is a loss of perception in non secular beings; gods, goddesses, ghosts, spirits, etc. so technically an atheist cant be non secular, yet could be Pagan as there are particular pagan religions that have not got that non secular element

Answer 8

yes, a lot of atheists have a spiritual life but praying? maybe meditating?

Answer 9

Prayer is communication with God. How can an atheist pray when he or she does not believe in anything greater than themselves? You must first believe that God is in order to talk to Him. Atheists have no concept or capacity for anything greater than themselves so how can they pray?

Answer 10

Many people pray, but even the christian can have hinderances in his or her life that will restrict that prayer. Sometimes, because of something that we are doing or not doing in our life will cause our prayers to just hit the ceiling. I can't remember if it is in 1Peter or Galatians, but it talks about this happening if you do not treat your spouse properly.