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.

Feathercrown,

I’m agnostic but Amy Grant’s christmas music was a staple from my childhood and that still holds up quite well. Also some Jon Bellion songs, while I’m on the topic of music.

Floey,

That’s interesting because I only became a vegan long after I became an atheist and I think if it happened the other way around there wouldn’t have been such a delay seeing as so many Catholic religious feasts in my culture have an entire roasted animal as a centerpiece. That would have definitely forced me to confront my religion. It’s weird too because we are taught that we are stewards of animals and to take advantage of them in such ways seems contradictory to the faith.

Something that has stuck with me though is religious music, especially the stuff with darker vibes. Music targeted at a religious demographic with religious messaging like Christian rock is not what I’m taking about, just the classics that we used to sing in church and choir. I also enjoy religious precessions, I don’t see them as cultish rituals as I think a lot of atheists do. There is something meditative about processes like the giving and receiving of communion.

MxM111,
@MxM111@kbin.social avatar

I say “bless you” when somebody sneezes.

Cold_Brew_Enema,

Same. Just out of courtesy.

espentan,

In Norway I use either Prosit, or the German word Gesundheit, for that courtesy.

Colour_me_triggered,

Try “HOLD KJEFT!” instead.

ArtVandelay,
@ArtVandelay@lemmy.world avatar

Same, it just feels more polite than ‘fuck you’.

zdrvr,

I say God Damn it when I’m mad.

Colour_me_triggered,

I say “stop sneezing!”

PeWu,

I’m just wondering if souls exist. I hope they doesn’t.

Subject6051,

that’s pretty pessimistic don’t you think? Are you scared of eternal life? (I kinda am)

PeWu,

I’m scared of reincarnation. I don’t want to live a second life no matter how good it would be.

elbowgrease,

many people come back from near death experiences with insight about the whole structure of the universe. one common theme they report is that we all chose the lives we’re living because these lives offered the best opportunity to learn and grow. they say we come back many times until we learn everything we need to.

so, if true, the downside is that you and I will probably be back. but, the upside is that we won’t keep coming back forever and that we can curtail the number of times we will return by being the best people we can and by learning as much as we can.

PeWu,

Then I can assure you, I’ve learned nothing. If all of this is true, then I’ve chosen this life, because there MAY be good opportunities, but I’m lacking knowledge and courage to achieve them. Nevertheless, this is a failure.

Thordros,

I appreciate the Zen Buddhist (with a mild leftist slant) take on reincarnation. Questioning the existence of reincarnation is asking the wrong question.

If it’s real, you have nothing to worry about—you’re living the best life you can given your material conditions. So it’ll work out.

If it isn’t real, you also have nothing to worry about—you’re feeding trees now.

The right question is what you can do better, right here and now. The only life that matters is this one.

Nahvi,

I wouldn’t want to be reincarnated to earth, but reincarnated to a fantasy world with magic might be nice to try out. My biggest hangup with reincarnation is not bringing the wisdom of hard learned lessons with.

PeWu,

I also would wish that, if I had confidence that I could do something useful with it.

Saeculum,

Souls existing would put a very large hole in my materialist worldview, and I don’t want to have been fundamentally wrong for my entire life, especially on something that so greatly impacts my decision making and general outlook.

yukichigai,
@yukichigai@kbin.social avatar

I still act respectful in churches and other "sacred" places, not out of any fear of the Magic Sky Wizard, but simply because other people respect them and it seems like a useful thing to encourage, even if I don't agree with the underlying reasoning. Having a place which most of society agrees should be a quiet, comforting sanctuary is not the worst thing at all, even if the comfort is derived from extreme wishful thinking.

Also, Christmas. Christmas music is great. A Charlie Brown Christmas is one of the best holiday albums ever, though we always skip "Hark the Herald Angel Sings" 'cause it's such a tonal shift compared to the rest of the album.

CustomDark,

This is really great. I too try to give sacred places as much respect as I can, simply because I know that matters a lot to folks and helps keep the peace. Atheists could gain a lot from the concept of sacred ground and regular communing, even if not from the same obligation.

eestileib,

Yeah except that those places are hives of child abuse, homophobia, and science denial.

I don’t care how quiet and serene they are while plotting their next acts of bigotry.

originalucifer,
@originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com avatar

dont forget the ubiquitous misogyny!

fckreddit,

I am vegetarian because I cannot see meat as anything other than a dead animal. I respect the view points of non vegetarians, but I cannot accept it for myself.

Also, I love Sufi music, even if it mostly praises god. Also, I love visiting old temples.

TheCaconym,

But you’re fine with the dead and tortured sentient beings made to produce your dairy ? how does that work morally ?

Dairy is scary (CW: horror)

Go vegan already

xkforce,

Christmas because I have good memories of it and I like the idea of a holiday that by and large, brings my extended family together. And I like buying or creating personalized gifts for those close to me and vice versa.

My ex’s family was ethnically but not religiously jewish and they still did hannukah which was interesting and being included in that meant a lot to me.

Subject6051,

edit, deleted the post, reply from the inbox or else it will throw an error at ya. I have 191 unread notifs and I don’t want more, so deleted the post https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/7f31891b-1afc-448b-bf54-885deeec702b.png

Blake,

I’m atheist and my parents raised me without any religion. The first time I learned anything about religion was at primary school where Christianity was taught as fact. I was really confused as to why I hadn’t heard of this “god” fellow before now, and I asked my parents about it, and they explained the general concept of religious belief to me, and said that I was free to believe whatever I choose, and I remember being frustrated that my mum wouldn’t directly answer me as to whether or not this stuff was real or not real, and kind of just settled on the idea that it was like they read the Chronicles of Narnia and believed Aslan was real, which was like, fine with me, but seemed a little silly. It was kind of funny to learn a bunch of religious stuff in retrospect - it was kind of like, “dang, this Jesus dude really does force himself into everything doesn’t he?” Easter is the funniest one, it’s such a stretch, they clearly had no idea how to make that one about Christianity and just kinda phoned it in.

So, the one “religious” thing I keep, is saying stuff like “oh my god”, “for god’s sake” and stuff like that, but for me, it doesn’t really mean anything to do with god. It’s just like an otherwise meaningless idiom that people say.

FUsername,
@FUsername@feddit.de avatar

I also only need “god” and especially “Jesus Christ” to avoid cursing when my kids go bonkers. To consider it an idiom exactly meets my view of it.

VentraSqwal,

“Jesus Christ” is just a fun expression, whether it’s yelling it while hitting your finger while hammering in a nail or under your breath watching your friend feed his lane opponent in League of Legends.

theshatterstone54,

I also consider it an idiom. Funnily enough, in Christian mythology, one of the “Commandments”, rules to follow, is to not use god’s name in vain. And then christians use the phrases like for gods sake, oh my god, etc, more than anyone else. Quite ironic, to be honest, and quite silly from my perspective.

wewbull,

They justify it as “God isn’t a name. It’s a job title.” Christians have pretty much forgotten the name of their god so they don’t use it in vain. Judaism and Islam still have the name Jehovah, Yahweh and Allah in use, all references to the same god.

IWantToFuckSpez,

Funny that your parents used Chronicles of Narnia as an example since it is literally an Christian allegory and Aslan is Jesus.

Blake,

I don’t think it’s as clear cut as to call it allegory, it’s definitely inspired though - and Aslan certainly is particularly like the holy trinity for sure.

ThatHermanoGuy,

Pretty fucked-up that your parents sent you to a religious school, and then didn’t even prepare you! Glad you made it out okay.

Blake,

I’m from Scotland, and when I was a kid, it was assumed that everyone was Christian. It was extremely uncommon to be raised atheist - all of my friends have Christian parents, pretty much, and every school was a religious school. It wasn’t too hardcore or anything. We had lots of religious lessons in class, the school got together twice a week to pray, read bible stories and sing hymns, and we recited the Lord’s Prayer before lunch each day. I wasn’t really interested in any of it but also I didn’t make a scene or ask to sit out or anything, and we were never forced to read from the bible or anything like that. I have read the bible, out of personal interest, but it was never expected from me.

High school was a bit similar but not as much - we had the school chaplain (priest who partnered with the school) show up once a fortnight (every 2 weeks) to deliver a sermon or religious lesson or whatever, and they were always good for a laugh. My favourite lesson of his was about how text speak (this was before smartphones, so we all typed on the 9-digit phone keypads stuff like “hey hru will u b going 2 skl 2mro” meaning “hey, how are you? Will you be going to school tomorrow?” was common) could be used with God as well - we could say “hf” to mean “Heavenly Father” and lol could mean “lots of love”. We got a kick out of that for a few weeks sending eachother ironic texts that we had meant to send to god but got the wrong number.

Wait, what was I talking about again?

JokeDeity,

Christmas for sure because it’s fun and there’s good food and smells and all kinds of stuff. Beyond that, no not really.

FUsername,
@FUsername@feddit.de avatar

I slowly begin to rename it to winter solstice. Also makes it easier to incorporate the red clothed dude and stuff. Despite he doesn’t make sense in any constellation, but the kids live it the weird way it is.

daddyjones,
@daddyjones@lemmy.world avatar

Christmas isn’t in the winter solstice though…

howrar,

It’s pretty close (Usually Dec 20 or 21), and some versions of the holidays that were merged together to form today’s Christmas were indeed celebrated on the solstice.

daddyjones,
@daddyjones@lemmy.world avatar

It is close (pretty sure it’s 22nd), but I’m not sure there’s evidence that co-opting a pagan festival is what happened. It is a common assertion though.

FUsername,
@FUsername@feddit.de avatar

I don’t need evidence, out just moves the the Christmas in the way we celebrate it and that hasn’t much left of the Christian Christmas away from the Christianity, but towards something I really appreciate: days getting longer again.

luthis,

“Good must prevail even if you suffer directly for it.”

In every day life, this is voting for parties that would increase my taxes but provide benefits for a greater number of people. Giving to charity, supporting the creators I like directly (as much as possible, Patreon still takes their cut). Using FOSS/privacy based software instead of the mainstream data syphons. Encouraging repair instead of replace, doing car maintenance for friends.

Africanprince99,

I used to be deeply religious, I even got tattoos.

Haven’t covered them up because the symbology is pertinent.

Listen to some religious music, I like some classical Christian music.

sculd,

Buddhism’s concept about Karma seems pretty cool and I still view it as the most reasonable religion out of the ones I know of.

the_lone_wolf,
@the_lone_wolf@lemmy.ml avatar

karma is not only Buddhist concept but it is also present in one of the oldest religion Hinduism and i take it as a fact that, if you do bad stuff then you are only increasing the chances of bad things happing to you and the opposite is also true about doing good deeds.

Ilovethebomb,

I’ve always felt the serenity prayer was good life advice.

fckreddit,

Yes, yes it is.

SnokenKeekaGuard,
@SnokenKeekaGuard@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

I’d say monogamy, but that isn’t strictly religious. Sex outside of relationships ig (ik it’s not marriage but still).

crazyminner,
@crazyminner@lemmygrad.ml avatar

This weird irrational fear when I’m reading religious texts, or hearing religious songs that I may go back or something.

Like I know rationally that that will never happen, but for some reason a part of me is afraid if I listen to to much of it I will fall back into it or something.

It almost feels how “sinning” used to feel when I was religious. Like an irrational fear of doing something “bad”.

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