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Can someone be both an atheist and spiritual?

Oldcurmudgeon 6 Oct 12
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24 comments

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5

Depends on how you define spiritual...

4

The only requirement to call yourself an atheist is to lack a belief in god/gods. Any other belief is not subject to the title. But question why you believe those things and what reason you have for believeing them.

4

Yup, as long as that spirituality excludes Gods. Simple as that.

3

You "can" be both spiritual and Atheist, but it takes a big dollop of steaming hypocrisy to do so unless you have

  1. a definition for spirituality that makes sense
    and
  2. Evidence to support the existence of spirituality so defined
2

I have never understood 'spiritual'.

2

If by spiritual you mean some unproven force or life energy belief system....then no.
If you mean searching for meaning in life and greater understanding of the human condition. Yeah.

2

A spiritual person will never have a religion.

2

Yes if we stop labeling ourselves. Everything living and not living was created by the universe. That is a very deep spiritual cosmic fact.

2

if you define spirituality as a deep connection with the world around you, then yes you can, but i wonder why you need a name like spirituality, which can mean other, less natural things, to describe that. if you define spirituality with a sense that there is something with agency, even if not a worship-hungry deity, controlling or creating or taking a crap on the world, depending on how you view things, then you probably could not correctly define yourself as an atheist. there is no rulebook for atheism as it's not a religion or a belief system. but it does have a definition -- and even on that not everyone agrees. i think it boils down to two contenders, which are not mutually exclusive:

  1. you don't believe there are any gods.
  2. you believe there are no gods.

as long as you fit into one or both of those descriptions, you can correctly call yourself an atheist and anything that doesn't conflict with whichever description you've chosen is not a dealbreaker.

g

Nice explanation.

@palex 🙂)

g

2

Obviously, not if spiritual relates only to religion. But, an atheist can certainly feel some of what religious people mean when they describe some spiritual experiences, like awe, inspiration, or mind awakening experiences. I like to think of spiritual as, "of the mind." I certainly felt a mind awakening experience when I finally took the leap to atheism. I am inspired by many people and things. I am in awe of the accomplishments of enactment of enlightenment ideas and science.

1

A person can be whatever they define themselves as. This is a personal issue. Different definitions for "spiritual" make it a broad question.

1

Maybe if you're tripping.

1

I believe also that a religious person can be secular.

That is not the question. The question is can someone be both an atheist and spiritual?

1

I believe you can. I am.

1

Yes, why yes you can. I am. you see I am very spiritual in my belief system, I honor the ancients, I do not pray to them as gods nor do I pray to them and ask for anything, but I do give thanks to them for my being here and the knowledge passed down and the sacrifices they made for their descendants. they are not gods but I am humbled by them.

1

Red Sam Harris’ book

1

If you mean spiritually in the sense of exploring the inner being and striving to understand that then yes.

If you mean believing in some other "force" out there or that we have any kind of spirit that lives on, then no O personally don't think so.

There's no hedging bets.

1

Yes, It's called Buddhism.

1

It depends on how you define it. Some consider a spiritual experience to be an inspiring or emotional high. I don't like to use the word though because it has a lot of supernatural baggage.

1

You can't be spiritual if there are no spirits. But there could be spirits without a god, so yes.

Came here for that.

0

Still I am
spiritual as another dimension.

0

Yes, though some might just call it philosophical. For me, it's more of a feeling of interconnectedness that supports life, and thinking about the nature of things can sometimes offer philosophical insight for understanding things not yet figured out by science, and the imagination behind new ideas to test perhaps.

0

If you believe in souls but no god, then sure. I warn you though, one will fall apart under scrutiny without the other.

0

Spirituality is a nebulous, malleable term, so absent a definition, "it depends" is the only answer one could give.

What you are probably really asking is whether an atheist can be moral, which has nothing to do with spirituality or religion but some people just can't help but insist that they do or must.

The answer to that is, of course an atheist can be moral, ethical, master the great virtues -- just like anyone else. Indeed, an atheist is, in principle, freer to do so than a believer.

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