Does the idea of divinity have a place within atheist thought? I think life after death would hint at the possibility that religious is a human construct but divinity could be something else.
I don't believe there is divinity. I do believe in things being sacred. As a midwife, I believed that the place of birth was sacred. A place of reverence, peace, safety, in respect for what was happening there. My home, daughter and pets are sacred to me. I love them and take joy from their presence. My artwork, books, family pictures, and the stuff that reflects my personality, in my home are sacred since I love it all, they are precious and irreplaceable to me. I do not think of these things as divine though. I don't think anything is divine, or infused with God. Also, the things that are sacred to me, are not sacred to anyone else.
Divinity has to do with gods. It's as simple as that. There is nothing divine. Nothing sacred. Maybe divine and sacred to YOU but not to others or at least not in the same way. Then it all becomes a matter of perception but divinity has to do with gods. This is where the term "divine" came from. People talking about their gods.
Divinity literally means "of God", but I would make the same argument you have for the word sacred. Which is to say that it is along the lines of inalienable human rights, but more personal. Family is sacred. Honesty is sacred. Love is sacred. Etc., As examples of what I mean.
As far as the concept goes I can't see that an atheist who considered academically the idea of life after death with no emotional precondition attached would have a problem with the proposition except on an empirical basis as life after death doesn't have a pre-requisite for deities. It is a prominent feature of Christianity so I can understand that the association lends weight to a negative argument but the bare bones (excuse the pun) of life after death don't require affiliation with, or existence of, divinity.
Probably not as divine pertains to a god or supernatural power. I am not aware that its context can unhinge from that, I think its root is from Deva in Sanskrit.
I think divinity and god in western cultures would be linked, and most atheists here would discard it. It’s only in the east, in Hinduism and the veda’s that you find some wider definitions of the divine which are separate and might be more in tune with your thinking. It’s not impossible that the hindu’s are right, although I find their many gods just as unlikely as a single Christian god.
The multiple gods in Eastern thought are to be used a a focus for the divine rather than to be believed literally, but it depends upon the intellectual level of the practitioner to what extent they can acknowledge that. The Brahmins recognised that different levels of awareness require different approaches to practice.
I always thought divinity was that shitty white candy people made at Xmas when l was a kid.
As an atheist, I still use words that come from religion, but assume my audience knows I'm using them in a non-religious fashion. Words like heaven, hell, divine, angel, devil, epiphany, and many more have found their way into secular conversation.
Divinity must still strike a nerve with some hard core atheists though. I submitted a manuscript to an atheist publisher some years ago, and the one comment that stuck out in my rejection letter was that I used the word "divine" in it. (Yep, I struck those words out immediately and replaced them with synonyms.)
Divinity is defined in a religious view. For atheists divinity can be used as a synonym for good or majestic.
You just could not ignore the pink elephant in the room, couldn't help yourself could you? Do you ever talk about something else, anything else but divinity.... how long you been out of church? 3 weeks? 3 hours? What you did in church? Talk about the devil all the time?
Wow, what a wild bunch of assumptions. I attended church a few weeks in 1968. Never before, never since. You have a strange reaction to the word 'divinity'. Try thinking outside of the box.
@JSchaper Try dropping the word. Somebody has to tell things the way they should be... You want world without gods... stop talking about gods!!!!
Divinity is purely a religious thing, by definition.
noun, plural di·vin·i·ties.
the quality of being divine; divine nature.
deity; godhood.
a divine being; God.