Atheists, is there anything religious that sticks with you to this day?

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.

PenPalMoment,

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.

Nevoic,

Yeah choosing to abstain from eating certain animals for moral reasons (dogs/cats/cows/horses) and not others (pigs/chickens/fish) is definitely weird. Though the majority of people in western society fall into this category, you just moved one more animal across the boundary due to normalization. If you were brought up with pigs, chickens, and fish you’d probably abstain from those too.

The real question to ask though is despite normalization, what’s actually the right thing to do? Is it actually okay that some people eat dogs, cats, and cows? Or is it wrong to do this?

People should put more effort into reconciling this dissonance, because slaughter and oppression is not a matter we should leave up to the normalization of society to decide. Society has countless times normalized immoral things.

beteljuice,

This absolutely. Rather than think it strange that you don’t eat cows, you should think it strange that you eat any sentient being at all. If something feels pain and runs away, it’s a strong sign that we should not use and abuse them, especially when our needs can be met without doing so.

JGrffn,

I still use common colloquialisms without paying much mind to them. “thank God, oh my god, Jesus christ” etc. Kinda hard to get rid of those, but it’s no biggie, really.

What I will say, is that while I do identify as an atheist in the sense of not believing in established religions or cults, I do consider that I am able to believe in more than what reality presents. I’ve always said I’m an agnostic atheist, but as of late, I’ve been feeling like it’s rather OK and even necessary to wonder about reality and existence a lot more than what science allows itself to. For example, if you take even a moment to ponder about what physics and the quantum realm means about reality, you’ll feel like something else is definitely going on, like we’re obviously not seeing the full picture and there’s a good chance we never will, and that the picture were missing is unparalleled in its majesty. To just think that we seem to be just a combination of countless fields fluctuating together to form reality, but at the end of the day you could just say we’re the expression of different waves going through different mediums juxtaposed on each other. A combination of planes crashing in on each other in a multidimensional membrane, a universe that could be just one possibility out of a mostly dead multiverse, where even our universe seems to be mostly dead, yet here we stand. It’s hard to wrap your mind around it, or even begin to grasp it all. Definitely makes you feel like there’s more to it than just chance, hell, chance sounds like an implausible explanation for all of this.

I think I mostly take issue with “matter of fact” stances, where people will claim things are a specific way because their faith or textbook says so. No. Just, experience life, question it, question your beliefs, but also question life itself, don’t settle for just “big bang and chance and meaninglessness” as science is just a tool, don’t settle for just “God willed it all and demands these things of us”, we’re not here for that long, let’s ponder on it all while we can, and enjoy the life that were lucky (or unlucky) to be able to experience for one moment in eternity of nothingness, or an eternity of eternities of different existences. Who knows what were doing here, where we go from here, where do we come from? It’s ok to acknowledge that the answer to those questions is “nobody on this earth knows, and maybe we’ll never know”. Let’s cope together, let’s smile together, let’s live and ponder together.

librechad,

I’m atheist, but until my last breath I will say “It’s all a joke, send me down.”

MeanEYE,
@MeanEYE@lemmy.world avatar

That’s because you didn’t tried good quality dry aged steak.

WindowsEnjoyer,

Dried beef is gooooood ♥️♥️♥️🥩🐄🐮🤠

rubpoll,
@rubpoll@hexbear.net avatar

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.

rubpoll,
@rubpoll@hexbear.net avatar

I actually just adopted knocking on wood. Couldn’t tell ya why.

Comment105,

“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.

beteljuice,

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.

Comment105,

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.

beteljuice,

Don’t make stupid assumptions about people. I have an advanced degree in physics. “Boundless” was vague and can apply to many things.

Comment105,

Don’t worry mate, there are loads of quacks to keep you company.

beteljuice,

Also dumbfucks if this thread is evidence.

IHaveTwoCows,

How many gods are real? Or is the argument “nuh-UUUUUUHHHH!!! YOU DON’T KNOOOOWW!!!”?

beteljuice,

Your hobby is building straw men.

IHaveTwoCows,

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.

Leate_Wonceslace,
@Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Constantly behaving as if I am being judged if I ever do anything immoral, the main difference being that I follow my own morality based on a decent functional understanding of modern ethics.

Zacryon,

No.

WindowsEnjoyer,

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.

shiveyarbles,

I went to a Methodist boarding school, but I was never religious. I was well read at a young age, and I had a pretty good idea about my belief system.

charonn0,
@charonn0@startrek.website avatar

I still cross my fingers for luck.

Subject6051,

I didn’t know that was religious?

charonn0,
@charonn0@startrek.website avatar

Supposedly, it invokes the Christian symbol of the cross.

pomodoro_longbreak,
@pomodoro_longbreak@sh.itjust.works avatar

Oh fascinating. Never thought twice about it.

TheGreenGolem,

I never thought even once about it!

Subject6051,

*Jesus does not approve of this

abrasiveteapot,

Although wikipedia has that as the origin several other internet sources suggested a pagan pre christian origin

…com.au/…/fascinating-origins-of-everyday-hand-ge…

mentalfloss.com/…/why-do-we-cross-our-fingers-goo…

www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/…/p06j436j

Noting that these are not proper sources although mental floss links to a text that may be reliable

Kahlenar,

Catholic guilt. My parents were atheists when they had me, but still instilled guilt in me so hard it hurts to this day.

Comment105,

How? Did they send you to Catholic school and/or convert to Catholicism after they had you?

rfaelens,

The Belgian minister of Justice (Koen Geens, Christian party) wrote a column about Christianity, where he nicely summed up what it means to be a good Christian:

Try to align every decision and action with your system of morality, and be consistent in this.

Even as an atheïst/humanitarian, this is a constant struggle. It nicely sums up how we need to weigh our options and consciously try to do the right thing. To me, it was a profound observation.

eestileib,

That just means being a moral person, being a good ------ian requires a whole set of things to be believed as well.

Typically, the ------ian asserts that only they are capable of having a conscience.

stewie3128,

Hundreds of years ago, Christianity inspired some truly incredible music. Bach’s BWV 63 (especially the Gardiner recording) is a miracle.

Contemporary Christian music, though, is probably the falling domino that ultimately led to the realization that my Christianity was just tribalism. Modern American Christian “culture” has no redeeming value, other than its lucrative redemption for fiat currency.

I do love visiting cathedrals, though.

NuPNuA,

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.

nayminlwin,

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.

gazter,

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.

nayminlwin,

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.

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