A Question for Atheists

[Vaskill]

Alright so this question has been bugging me for quite awhile.

Since Atheists do not believe in any form of super omnipotent invisible gods/goddesses. I was wondering if Atheists share a love for Nature/Earth as well? I mean can an Atheist be "spiritual" or believe that say Planets are scientifically bigger/more important than us? This is quite hard to word out but I am hope I am making a little bit of sense. I am curious because since I don't believe in any Gods/Goddesses of any kind but I do believe Nature/Earth is more important than us and fulfilling but not as a God/Goddess or of the sort but just there, pretty much because I can see it. Question is would this be Atheism or very far from it? Also since a large portion of Atheists use science in their defense, technically aren't Atheists using the Natural World/Realistic point of views in their arguments? Does Atheism only think of not believing any type of God/Goddess but still revere the Earth? Common sense answer but I just like to hear the voice of others for a change.

I don't post often mainly because of my horrible wording , so excuse me for my ignorance, just curious.

[Col. Tartleton]

It's just a lump of rock so big it's gravity can trap an ocean and atmosphere. It's nice, but how much of that is just familiarity?

[Slaytaninc]

Try imagining existence before the Big Bang as an Atheist. Although by that reckoning, the idea of a 'God' that existed forever and ever and will exist forever and ever makes even less sense.

I seriously got myself into a serious heading asking "What proceeded existence?" It makes utterly no rational sense.

[frozenprince]

Try imagining existence before the Big Bang as an Atheist. Although by that reckoning, the idea of a 'God' that existed forever and ever and will exist forever and ever makes even less sense.

I seriously got myself into a serious heading asking "What proceeded existence?" It makes utterly no rational sense.

I'll say to you what I say to everybody that asks that question.

Quantum Physics.

[Valden]

I'll say to you what I say to everybody that asks that question.

Quantum Physics.

How does quantum physics answer that question?

Atheists shouldn't defend themselves. Burden of proof is still hanging over the Theist camp. Atheists use science and rational thinking as tools to better understand the universe and as a consequence, the world we exist with. I would say that this healthy inquisitorial nature in to existence pretty much fits what you're describing as reverence of the Earth.

The claim that God does not exist requires justification just as any other truth claim does in order to be considered true, the idea that atheists are somehow exempt from a burden of proof for their claim is simply irrational. I also resent your implication that atheists are somehow more appreciative of science than theists are; I myself keep up to date with modern theories and find the natural world around me simply fascinating, as do many theists I know. Just because we disagree on the Universe' purpose and origin, there is no need to spread superiority myths about your (dis)belief.

[Mangalore]

How does quantum physics answer that question?

...

Because quantum mechanics do not adhere to our human understanding of causality and how stuff has to happen in a specific order or can be measured specifically. It is physics that go entirely against what the human mind would call logical, the reason why quantum theorists say that someone who claims to understand quantum mechanics doesn't understand quantum mechanics.

We know it works, we know that math substantiates it and that experiments support it but it doesn't make any common sense.

The claim that God does not exist requires justification just as any other truth claim does in order to be considered true, the idea that atheists are somehow exempt from a burden of proof for their claim is simply irrational. I also resent your implication that atheists are somehow more appreciative of science than theists are; I myself keep up to date with modern theories and find the natural world around me simply fascinating, as do many theists I know. Just because we disagree on the Universe' purpose and origin, there is no need to spread superiority myths about your (dis)belief.

The claim God doesn't exist is simply based on a 10 000 years observation that he obviously has never done what theists claim he should be doing at any given time in history. It's just the final conclusion from thousands of years of false proposals on his existence that the safest bet is its non existence until finally a God theory is proposed that survives contact with reality and doesn't need frantic redefinition so it doesn't get mauled by facts. The very fact that God and his purpose was redefined all the time to account for our findings about reality underlines that the God theory is obviously a flawed concept that needs to be scrapped and rethought from scratch.

First order of business would be that such a theory be based on facts. Currently people make stuff up about God (what he is, where is, why he is, what he wants,...) . No, we do not have to prove stuff wrong people make up because it somehow is necessary for their self identity. People have to prove that their proposal makes sense and actually does what they claim it would!

The God question is actually an incredibly dull question.

Give me any wacko string theorist any day. At least his nutjob ideas are interesting and have a vital interest to get challenged by science so they finally get a hint if that math adds up with reality or is a miserable dead end. Most theoretical physics of the past decades faced the challenge of being entirely unobservable at the time they were first proposed. Difference to the God question: They wanted to find a way to prove themselves and very often did or found the right alternative solution that actually did!

[The Kybrothilian]

Every planet is a world in itself. Whether these worlds are sentient or not is another question. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't.

[chriscase]

OP, if you want to read what a very thoughtful, well-spoken non-theist has to say about the possibilities of spirituality in the absence of deities, you should check out Sam Harris.

I would also say that the absence of answers such as an omnipotent deity is not so much a lack as a potential. When we shed dissatisfying "answers", we make room for the possibility of truly satisfying ones. From the complexity of life, to the movements of heavenly bodies, to the origins of the known universe, easy answers that don't actually answer anything have given way to truly detailed models that not only make good predictions, but suggest deeper, more interesting questions about the nature of existence.

Now to sophisticated theists, this means nothing more than deeper understanding of God's creation, but these are not theists who would generally point to gaps in our knowledge as evidence of God in the first place.

[Lord of Lost Socks]

An atheist does not believe in God. He does not claim knowledge about god either way. He just does not believe.

That said, an atheist can be as spiritual as he wants.

[Enzo]

I suppose it is a kind of nature reverence almost worship mixed with the reverence of the human reason, the ego, the self and all that business.

[frozenprince]

I suppose it is a kind of nature reverence almost worship mixed with the reverence of the human reason, the ego, the self and all that business.

After all the time we've spent explaining it you still don't get it?

[Enzo]

After all the time we've spent explaining it you still don't get it?

There can be a strong humanist component as well but that's borrowed from Christianity. There actually Christian humanists which are Christians who don't believe in God which is kind of interesting. I don't know why they don't believe in God though I think it's one of those things that just ought to be apparent. Practically all the cultures in the world believe in something like that.

[Aeneas Veneratio]

There can be a strong humanist component as well but that's borrowed from Christianity. There actually Christian humanists which are Christians who don't believe in God which is kind of interesting. I don't know why they don't believe in God though I think it's one of those things that just ought to be apparent. Practically all the cultures in the world believe in something like that.

Buddhism doesn't have a god. They have a god-state, where the average person can become a god through good karma in earlier lives (reincarnation). After being a god, you normally lose all your karma and go back to some lower state in the next life. The Buddhists' goal is to set aside all that rebirth and achieve nirvana.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[chriscase]

"Those atheists sure are arrogant. Without a God to worship, they must just worship themselves."

"And how can they live like that, without a special God-given purpose, like we have?"

Ahh the fabulous human capacity for self-contradiction.

[Lazarus]

I mean can an Atheist be "spiritual"

Absolutely. Just because you've found their proof of God to be lacking doesn't mean there aren't things you can learn from religious folks. You could also try religions that don't inherently have Gods, such as Buddhism.

or believe that say Planets are scientifically bigger/more important than us?

Well, once you accept that God isn't a given, then the only place importance can be generated is from within. So it's entirely up to you what is important to you - and if the green movement proves anything it's that you're not alone in your thoughts of the planets greater importance.

Also since a large portion of Atheists use science in their defense, technically aren't Atheists using the Natural World/Realistic point of views in their arguments?

Atheists shouldn't defend themselves. Burden of proof is still hanging over the Theist camp. Atheists use science and rational thinking as tools to better understand the universe and as a consequence, the world we exist with. I would say that this healthy inquisitorial nature in to existence pretty much fits what you're describing as reverence of the Earth.

[Phier]

Spiritual atheism to me seems like deism under a different name.

I am in awe of the natural world, I am most likely more "in tune" with nature than most on this board due to my childhood, but that doesn't make me spiritual in a meaningful sense.

Once you start thinking there is a higher purpose or meaning than we we see you get uncomfortably close to religion. What I see is an amazing world in an amazing universe, but nothing "special". While we have no way of knowing numbers really, I'd guess some 100 million planets are going to be destroyed today in the universe, many stars will go supernova, and one day earth will be one of them to be erased as a meaningful object.

[Diocle]

Why, being an atheist, do I feel this kind of questions as a veiled insult?

Why does someone think that an Atheist is not able to feel the same emotions of any human beings on this damn planet? Why behind this kind of questions do I feel the presence of the stifling intellectual arrogance of the religion?

Isn't this an insufferable arrogance?

Why someone can believe I have not the same intensity of passion, love for arts, sentiments, wonder for the mystery of life, as any man who believes in god, that is in something that does not exist?

Why is it possible that someone imagine the atheists as different persons? Persons not able to be at the same moral or intellectual level of the theists?

The perception and the imaginary about life and Universe of a man like Albert Einstein can be considered inferior in quality compared to the sentiments of a theist, only because Einstein was an Atheist?


Please!

[Vaskill]

Why, being an atheist, do I feel this kind of questions as a veiled insult?

Why does someone think that an Atheist is not able to feel the same emotions of any human beings on this damn planet? Why behind this kind of questions do I feel the presence of the stifling intellectual arrogance of the religion?

Isn't this an insufferable arrogance?

Why someone can believe I have not the same intensity of passion, love for arts, sentiments, wonder for the mystery of life, as any man who believes in god, that is in something that does not exist?

Why is it possible that someone imagine the atheists as different persons? Persons not able to be at the same moral or intellectual level of the theists?

The perception and the imaginary about life and Universe of a man like Albert Einstein can be considered inferior in quality compared to the sentiments of a theist, only because Einstein was an Atheist?


Please!

I am not insulting Atheists as I count myself as one as I don't believe in any God/Goddess or that there is another "realm" in the Universe, except I hold to the cycle of Reincarnation "not in the religious sense, mainly Life, Death, Rebirth continuously without knowing". What I meant to say is that can Atheists not believe in any such Deity of any kind but believe in something greater than themselves? Such as a Tree or Plant as having a different purpose in life but in the end are equal in some circumstances while both have drawbacks. Our planet for example is of great importance to us and I believe that Earth is our own originator along with the rest of the Animal Kingdom/Marine/etc. Would they still count as Atheists or Religious? From my understanding Atheism means "Belief in No God/Goddess/Deity in general" but can mean many other things as science seems prominent "from my notice" when discussing religious debates.

Mainly was that those of us individually and separate along with our own form beliefs do not necessarily have to believe in a deity of any kind but can appreciate other forms of life on this planet as equal to us except with upsides and downsides. I didn't mean to insult anyone for their beliefs was just curious what other Atheists thought about this. I am pretty open-minded and like to hear of others opinions on their own personal views.

[Aanker]

I have lived my entire life without any deity or object of worship (neither God nor Gaia nor nature or whatever other magic spirit there is to praise). I have no spirituality whatsoever. To questions such as "what is our purpose?" I merely shrug and counter with "do we really have one? What difference does it make?".

Spirituality is not something necessary. It is perfectly possible to live without it. I personally couldn't imagine a life talking to deities or asking for their favours because it simply makes no sense, and will not help me become happier or more successful, when I could concentrate on other things that do. Am I happy? Yes, very. Am I successful? I would say so. And I did it by myself, with the aid of other people of course, without any apparent exterior godly influence.

But in the end, what difference does it make? Will God help us build rockets that can take us to Mars? Will God help us cure cancer? Will the Bible? No. In the end, religion is for most practical purposes useless and will not help us progress technologically or socially. Our interactions in the world are dictated by rules which we have become increasingly aware of and can use for our own purposes, without the aid of gods or medicine men or thousand-page ancient books.

[Humble Warrior]

I have lived my entire life without any deity or object of worship (neither God nor Gaia nor nature or whatever other magic spirit there is to praise). I have no spirituality whatsoever. To questions such as "what is our purpose?" I merely shrug and counter with "do we really have one? What difference does it make?".

Spirituality is not something necessary. It is perfectly possible to live without it. I personally couldn't imagine a life talking to deities or asking for their favours because it simply makes no sense, and will not help me become happier or more successful, when I could concentrate on other things that do. Am I happy? Yes, very. Am I successful? I would say so. And I did it by myself, with the aid of other people of course, without any apparent exterior godly influence.

But in the end, what difference does it make? Will God help us build rockets that can take us to Mars? Will God help us cure cancer? Will the Bible? No. In the end, religion is for most practical purposes useless and will not help us progress technologically or socially. Our interactions in the world are dictated by rules which we have become increasingly aware of and can use for our own purposes, without the aid of gods or medicine men or thousand-page ancient books.

I know you`re an artist. At least you sketch.

I find it hard to believe you do that and have no spirituality whatsoever. If this is true, then you should develope some and watch your art improve even further.

Personally, I believe everyone has some spirituality, even if they deny it.