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.

all-knight-party,
all-knight-party avatar

I'd say I'm agnostic, but my parents also didn't force religion on me, my dad is Catholic, and my mom is Thai Buddhist, and I view the Buddhist ideology to strive for being satisfied without material as an honorable goal. I feel as if I believe that attaining that mindset really is nirvana, and I don't think you need to be particularly religious to think that's possible.

Subject6051,

do atheists give you slack for being agnostic? I have seen many memes on the internet bashing agnostics (quite funny tbh), so asking

The Imperial Japanese ruined Buddhism for me.

all-knight-party,
all-knight-party avatar

To be honest, after high school it just either doesn't seem like most people I know my age are very religious at all either way, or otherwise it doesn't come up.

I haven't had anyone give me shit for it, personally, I don't take offense to online meme bashing, everybody gets it

PeachMan,
@PeachMan@lemmy.one avatar

One of the perks of being agnostic is that you don’t have to tell people you’re agnostic. When others ask me about my religion, I just shrug and say I was raised Christian but I’m not really religious anymore. I don’t mention that I’m agnostic unless they pry and ask more questions.

shadysus,

atheists give you slack for being agnostic

I find that to be really odd behavior tbh. One of the issues with organized religion is when a group shuns or hates on someone for their religious/ spiritual views. That’s also something that can happen with atheism, even if it’s not really seen as a “religion”.

Just be accepting of other people

TheWoozy,

Off topic: I’m old & out of the loop. Is this a new meaning for “give slack”? It seems opposite of what my understanding. To me it means giving leeway, or latitude, or freedom. To give someone slack was to give some freedom or forgiveness. A metaphor of lengthening a dog’s leash.

Feddyteddy,

You’re not alone, that’s what giving or cutting someone some slack means to me as well. I hadn’t considered that maybe this was a sign of me aging.

shadysus,

I’m not sure if slack has a new meaning, but it might be one of those misspellings where the person really means “flack”

“To give flack” fits the context here

Haus,
@Haus@kbin.social avatar

I don't buy into all the soul mumbo-jumbo, but it makes for good stories. Also, the Catholics made some good music back in the day.

Subject6051,

damn, yes another thing I like is the religious music too. I have heard Richard Dawkins say he likes the bible for it’s old English poems etc.

not only of Hindus but muslims have some nice songs as well. My muslim friend was laughing after I was humming a quite nice muslim prayer song (Hindi), long ago, but that moment was quite funny.

over_clox,

Yeah, about that…

Catholics used to castrate the choir boys so their voices wouldn’t change.

Subject6051,

yeah, they needed a high voice and they didn’t know about Helium back then.

over_clox,

I’m sorry, I hope you’re being sarcastic.

Are you not aware of the extensive history the Catholic Church has of molesting and abusing children?

npr.org/…/graves-found-at-new-site-canadian-indig…

I could look up a thousand articles and still probably wouldn’t scratch the surface.

jack55555,

It’s not just history, ask the current pope. He knew and protected molesters. And gets away with it.

TheWoozy,

Can we discuss atheism without turning every thread into a rehashing of Religions’ Atrocities.

handofdumb,

Sup, Ganesh! I’m HandOfDumb :) This is a neat question you’ve asked and I’m stoked to see more answers.

I was raised in Catholicism, though my family has, largely, stopped following that specific religion so closely (though many are still religious). I don’t follow any specific religion and am unsure what I consider myself - atheist fits well enough!

Somethings that stick for me are many of the kindnesses that live within bible stories. There’s a lot of good stuff in there, of course! And most of (what I consider to be) the good stuff is along the lines of being a good person. But some of it is kinda off-beat.

Like, there’s a bit in there about a proclamation that people should forgive debts after some seemingly arbitrary amount of time (seven years?) and that really jibed with me. Not the time part, but just forgiving pals/family you might have loaned money to. If I spot a friend $5 for something, I’m not going to hold it against them and ask them to repay. If they do repay? Great! But I will never expect it and I will not be offended if they do not.

Similarly with larger sums. If I’m okay to loan it to someone, I’m okay to lose it.

Anyhoo, I think it’s awesome that you like cows :) they remind me of big ol’ dogs and I like them very much. They can teach us more than they can fill our bellies, I think!

krayj,

I still celebrate Christmas - though in more of a yule way than anything resembling christianity. What I think of as the spirit of christmas is…friends/family getting together in winter and sharing what they have.

And, of course, my circumcision…still got that.

YoBuckStopsHere,
@YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.world avatar

Christmas is very pagan.

Subject6051,

didn’t the christians get that from a pagan ritual or something? Even muslims are guilty of things like this, I would go on to talk about this if I had someone incharge of my security lol

bob_wiley,
@bob_wiley@lemmy.world avatar

deleted_by_author

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  • anguo,

    I think it’s more that when the church couldn’t stop people from celebrating it, they decided to turn it into a Christian thing instead.

    Dressedlikeapenguin,

    Not the genital mutilation, though, that’s Jewish. I never understood why Christians do it. Didn’t Jesus fulfill the law and the prophets? Plus there was a spat over adults converting, but not getting circumcized that was settled on the side of “not required”. I may be remembering it wrong.

    rockSlayer,

    The religious reason for Christianity is actually more complex than a Jewish holdover. It stems from the belief that circumcision will disincentivize masturbation, which is considered a sin by the Catholic Church.

    Dressedlikeapenguin,

    Very on-brand. I’ll have to look it up.

    scv,

    Uh, what? Most Catholics aren’t circumcised, that’s an American thing.

    rockSlayer,

    Masturbation is the sin from the church. The American thing is to have babies circumcised to prevent masturbation

    Thisfox,

    It’s an American thing. Australians mostly see it as mutilation; It isn’t religion, it is yanks.

    Dressedlikeapenguin,

    Uh oh, my bias is showing again, lol.

    purahna,
    @purahna@lemmygrad.ml avatar

    I was born and raised atheist/agnostic, never set foot in a church before 18 besides weddings. Still am, never doubted it. Maybe I believe in like Spinoza’s god or something but definitely no Abrahamic God.

    Something I’ve learned is that among many other things, a certain holy quality to persecution has definitely permeated the western consciousness and it 100% has me second guessing myself often. The christliness of being persecuted, made a martyr, and suffering for your cause carries a moral quality that I have absolutely not freed myself from, even though there’s nothing automatically morally good or bad in suffering and being made a victim for fighting for a cause.

    Blake,

    The basis of that isn’t Christianity, it is morality that existed before Christianity which Christianity adopted. Nietzsche referred to it as “slave morality” - the idea is that by redefining the behaviours of subjugated people as virtuous rather than compelled, it gives them power and agency

    purahna,
    @purahna@lemmygrad.ml avatar

    You might be right, but regardless of the origin, the belief was popularized in the West because of Christianity. Unless you’re suggesting that Nietzsche is merely pointing out an intrinsic feature of all human morality, but I don’t know his work well enough to decide either way on that.

    Blake,

    It’s a bit like saying that Easter is a Christian holiday, when everyone knows it’s a rebranded general fertility-themed holiday. Christianity didn’t really popularise the morality, they just made it about them.

    Saeculum,

    There are plenty of virtues that are generally seen as good outside of religious sentiment associated with suffering for a cause. Tenacity is usually an appealing quality.

    booty,
    @booty@hexbear.net avatar

    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?

    No more half measures walter

    go vegan

    Subject6051,

    go vegan

    nah I love meat! Can’t live without it. I thought I would eat factory manufactured meat, but that sounds like just a bunch of fucking chemicals bunched into one. I thought they would just grow meat like in the lab, but no. Pretty misleading ads out there.

    booty,
    @booty@hexbear.net avatar

    Can’t live without it

    Yes you can.

    Subject6051,

    don’t worry, we indians eat the lower meat per capita in the world. I don’t eat meat once a week, it’s more like, once every month

    Iraglassceiling,
    @Iraglassceiling@hexbear.net avatar

    Fyi the Hexbear code says if you don’t want to have this debate you just need to say “disengage” and the person is supposed to respect your boundary.

    I don’t know if people know that or not.

    Saeculum,

    Not the person you were replying to, but thanks for the tip. Is this code collated together somewhere?

    kristina,

    i think hammurabi wrote it

    RTRedreovic,

    Highlighting this just because I happened to scroll down and came across this. Everything that constitutes matter is considered Chemical. The “X has lots of Chemicals while our product Y is chemical free” is a pseudo-scientific marketting tactic that Naturopaths and Ayurveds commonly use, at least from the Indian Context as I live here. Other than that, have whatever you desire. A person only has one life after all.

    shockwave,

    Its true eating meat is nice, but it's terrible for the environment. At least consider eating less meet. You are lucky - there are many very tasty vegetarian Hindu meals.

    Subject6051,

    slurrp.com/…/why-india-has-the-worlds-lowest-meat…

    Amen to very tasty vegetarian Indian meals! We have a shit ton of those and they make life worth living. Also, as I mentioned, I eat meat once/twice every month so it’s not that big of a dent on the environment. Also, I live a life devoid of luxuries which westerners take for granted, pretty sure my carbon footprint is comparitively low

    jack55555,

    Respect to you.

    And yes Indian vegetarian food is awesome, and so diverse, because all of the regions all have their unique cuisine.

    Subject6051,

    thank you very much!

    Africanprince99,

    I think you mean farming is terrible for the environment.

    Blake,

    I love meat! Can’t live without it.

    Sure you can! Everyone who goes vegan or vegetarian manages to do it, and so can you!

    And nobody goes vegan or vegetarian does it because they dislike the taste of meat - it’s because of the same reasons you wrote about the cows - it’s because we see animals as creatures which do not deserve to suffer just for our pleasure.

    Everything you mentioned about why you don’t want to eat cows is just as true for all the other animals. Chickens are really friendly, playful and affectionate little guys! Pigs are smart and sweet, and have their own personalities.

    Saeculum,

    All food is just a bunch of chemicals bunched into one.

    I know what you mean though, and while, as far as I know, some manufactured meat is actually just grown in a lab, there’s a lot of stuff needed to keep cell cultures alive outside of a body that I wouldn’t really want to eat or have around my food, so it’ll be something to watch out for when it’s widely available.

    Still morally and environmentally better though, in most cases.

    funkajunk,
    @funkajunk@lemm.ee avatar

    Put your cock away, Waltuh.

    Subject6051,

    slurrp.com/…/why-india-has-the-worlds-lowest-meat…

    Also, I am not having as much effect on the environment by eating meat. I eat once or max twice every month. Not every day like some americans (soap opera americans)

    machiabelly,
    @machiabelly@hexbear.net avatar

    The american expectation is to have meat with every meal. Bacon/sausage with breakfast, ham sandwich with lunch, then a roast or steaks for dinner.

    Americans will literally view a plate of food without meat as a snack. Like, its not a meal unless there is meat. Meat is very inexpensive here because soy and corn are heavily subsidized. All animal products are roughly half the price of what they would be without the subsidies.

    nocturne213,

    I am a non-theist Norse pagan and have been a Norse pagan since I was single digits in age. I was raised by a Catholic mother (her mother was Irish Catholic and her father was Roman Catholic), my father’s mother was a Mennonite. I was not raised religiously, but i still have Catholic guilt, and use religious curses.

    booty,
    @booty@hexbear.net avatar

    Longshot, initials SR?

    “Norse pagan since I was single digits in age” can’t be very many people, is all

    nocturne213,

    My initials? No, sorry.

    booty,
    @booty@hexbear.net avatar

    Huh. Well then, you’re certainly not the only one.

    Big_Bob,
    @Big_Bob@hexbear.net avatar

    How do you get into norse paganism?

    nocturne213,

    I started with reading books on Norse mythology, then realized the gods in it were no more or less valid than any other god. There is a Norse paganism community on lemmy (I still have not yet figured out how to link communities)

    zkfcfbzr,

    I wasn’t really raised into religion - my mom was a believer (Honestly not sure if she still is, I’ve picked up hints that may have changed), but she never once went to or brought me to church, we never talked about religion, etc. I think she got enough of that stuff when she was a kid.

    I do like to go all-out on decorating for Christmas - just last year I spent a whole lot of time setting up and coding my own tree full of individually addressable RGB LEDs, in addition to all the other decorating on the interior of the place.

    Despite that I still love saying “Happy Holidays” to anyone who gets bothered by that phrase. 😁

    bunkyprewster,

    I went to Catholic catechism as a child and one of the few things I remember was Jesus washing other people’s feet. I like the humility of that and it inspires me to want to do acts of service

    the_itsb,
    @the_itsb@hexbear.net avatar

    Me too, this is one of the main things that stuck with me. Honestly, idk how to think of myself except in relation to my service to community, it has really shaped my entire experience of the world.

    sloppy_diffuser,

    Similar upbringing in Catholic school. Acts of humility like a poor person giving what little they have holds more weight than a king giving their weight in gold, the golden rule, and showing general compassion has stuck with me decades later. Education was pretty good too. None of that dinosaurs lived 6000 years ago or whatever crap. I attribute the education to giving me the critical thinking skills to not fall for the indoctrination. I could tell the poor giving message was a lead in for tithing. Taking a message of helping someone in real need no matter your status to support this church that was the best looking building in town didn’t pass the logic test.

    Blake,

    Was chatting with a young (17-ish) atheist guy recently who misremembered this as “isn’t there a bit in the bible where Christian licks a prostitute’s feet?” which truly left me with so many things I wanted to say that I could bareky say anything without laughing so much, but I managed to get out “did you think Jesus was called Christian??”

    somethingsnappy,

    I was raised without religion, but read religious texts. I have always wanted to touch my closest peoples feet or wash them. It seems so humble and real.

    The_Jewish_Cuban,
    @The_Jewish_Cuban@hexbear.net avatar

    We washed a person’s feet before doing a special religious service project. Essentially like you said, to humble the self and focus on the act and God. Of course the project was really bad in terms of morality but I do think ritual aspects of religion feel nice. As someone said, people are cultural and engaging in acts and symbolism feels good.

    RTRedreovic,

    Greetings from an Ex-Hindu Atheist. I was never really into Religious Banter that much even as a small kid. But I would say the major propelling force that made me become an Atheist would be my curiosity and eagerness to study science. Science answered all those questions Religion could not and my treatment by my super religious parents helped me not to retain any religious superstitions. Their berating only gave me more strength to continue my study of science and legitimized my standings.

    rouxdoo,
    @rouxdoo@kbin.social avatar

    @Subject6051

    My family put us to the church as kids as little as needed to prove that they exposed us to it. I thank them for that minimal exposure because I've always felt agnostic (of course, that was verbalized as atheism as a kid). My mom was raised German christian, my dad was raised Quaker.

    I think that the most meaningful lessons I learned about religion were from my father (who never once mentioned god, Jesus or the church).

    My father's religion was one of acceptance of all others, refusal of indoctrination to any structured religion and an absolute knowledge that men (and women) make their faith and their covenant to each other, not to a church. Thanks, dad!

    zloubida,
    @zloubida@lemmy.world avatar

    My mom was raised German christian

    I hope not

    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”.

    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).

    Ilovethebomb,

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

    fckreddit,

    Yes, yes it is.

    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.

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