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.

some_guy,

Not a goddamn thing. If I needed religion to tell me how to live, I’d be completely amoral and depraved. I simply treat others as I wish to be treated and live life trying not to negatively impact anyone else.

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.

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.

Ilovethebomb,

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

fckreddit,

Yes, yes it is.

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”.

AceFuzzLord,

Not 100% sure this answers the question, but here goes.

Closest I can say that stuck with me, as someone born in a Christian household would be the original Veggietales and how some of the messages have stuck with me. You take away the Christian aspect from some of the messages and you get messages that I think could still apply to a general audience.

  • Small people can do big things (Dave and the Giant Pickle)
  • Despite your differences, you can still be friendly with others (Are You My Neighbor)
  • You should forgive others (God Wants Me To Forgive Them!?!)

I may not follow them to a tee but I am at least somewhat trying.

Anonymoose,
@Anonymoose@infosec.pub avatar

If you like to talk to tomatoes…

Abel,
@Abel@lemmy.nerdcore.social avatar

Ye. There aren’t people who believe you can’t be moral without being religious (christian) for nothing. Christianity has actually a lot of good messages.

Colour_me_triggered,

Was raised atheist.

Iraglassceiling,
@Iraglassceiling@hexbear.net avatar

What an interesting question!

I was raised Protestant by an exmo and a lapsed catholic. I still like some of the music, and I think a lot of Christian mythology is really interesting. Jesus occupies a “cool dude” role in my belief system, but he’s not the main focus.

I was a pretty devout practicing pagan for a while after leaving Christianity.

Now I just kinda do my own thing, loosely cribbed from the parts of Christianity that I like and some chaos magic stuff and some kemeticism and whatever else seems cool. I kinda focus on nonduality and go from there.

I really enjoy the idea of ritualistic worship, but that attraction feels like the kind of chemical attraction in my brain that would have taken place whether I was raised in a church or not.

Zuzak,

I was raised Catholic and left it at a young age and spent a lot of time uprooting the brainworms so I don’t think there’s much left. However, whenever I can’t find something I really need and start getting stressed, I’ll still recite, “Dear St. Anthony, please come around, my X has been lost and cannot be found.” It’s a useful way to calm down and focus instead of freaking out and panicking.

Other than that, I still retain a lot of the theology I learned in high school, and I can still sometimes get a little opinionated about various things even though I have no dog in the fight.

Cloudygrey,

Fellow Indian here. I’m agnostic. I wasn’t raised very religious either. I am ok with eating beef and have tried it a few times. My main thing is that I sometimes do a token prayer when I pass a temple. I also feel icky if my feet touch books.

ThisIsAManWhoKnowsHowToGling,

I think everyone should feel icky if they stepped on a Book

Subject6051,

we can’t even touch it with our feet. Same goes for our elders (or any human), I can’t even chill with my dog massage with my feet and play and etc, and my parents won’t approve.

Subject6051,

I also feel icky if my feet touch books.

same dude! I mean, I feel like that’s one thing we can keep. Respecting knowledge! It’s a… https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/c7be9c76-f2dc-4927-8fc2-1f250d18d3d7.png

TheAnonymouseJoker,
@TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml avatar

The book thing… damn, as an Indian, I share that trait. Books must be respected regardless of if you follow no or any religion.

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.

pineapplelover,

I was raised in a Buddhist family and we all celebrate christmas til this day. Just the part with the tree and the gifts, none of the other religious stuff that comes with Christmas.

gazter,

That’s the best part of Christmas, anyway. Food and family, and free shit.

StThicket,

Christmas is largely a pagan tradition that was turned into a christian tradition to make it easier to convert them to christianity.

The christmas tree is not a christian tradition. Santa is not a christian tradition. Nothing really is, except for Jesus allegedly being born on the exact date when the pagans celebrated “Jolablot” or the midwinter fest.

c0mbatbag3l,
@c0mbatbag3l@lemmy.world avatar

Or Saturnalia, or any other holiday that was around the winter solstice.

kristina,

i like hanging the bit about jesus telling people to respect gender divergence over people’s heads

Abel,
@Abel@lemmy.nerdcore.social avatar

o where

the_lone_wolf,
@the_lone_wolf@lemmy.ml avatar

I was born in a Hindu family, i don’t believe in God but i really like and keep deities statues and pictures as Art. I also read religious text bcz i found there are lots of good things which can be learned from it and i am also fascinated about how old these scriptures are and still tells about lots of good things about human mind, life and society.

Big_Bob,
@Big_Bob@hexbear.net avatar

I call myself an atheist simply because I don’t believe that any current religious institution has the correct answer.

I’ve had mystical experiences and my own reasoning tells me that there is far more to the world than we are able to experience or even imagine.

But none of it corresponds to any religions I know of. The closest is maybe Buddhism, but I don’t think it’s the right choice for me.

And I’m not even sure if there are any Buddhist organisations out here in the norwegian countryside.

Guess I’ll just have to go through my existential crisis on my own. shrug-outta-hecks

lud,

I call myself an atheist simply because I don’t believe that any current religious institution has the correct answer.

That’s not really atheist since thats denying any gods or similar phenomenon and it sound more line agnosticism or even theism

Chriskmee, (edited )

Most Atheists define Atheism as “lack of belief in a God”, which seems like it applies here. Agnostic is usually defined as “lack of knowledge of a God”, which also works here, so both Agnostic and Atheist.

It makes sense when you look at Theist (with belief in a God) and Gnostic (with knowledge of a God) that adding an A before it just means “without”.

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