I think life is a non-purposive phenomenon (meaningless) ...but that does not mean we can't give meaning to our lives...many do through family and friends.

Is it a need to believe or a need to belong...I am leaning towards a need to belong.

No, we don't need dogma. There is no "all" to get behind. Atheism is nothing more than lack of belief on gods.

Who are these atheists that have problems with "the meaning of life"? Tell them the meaning of life is to sustain more life, survival and procreation. That is all!

Evolution is the process that brings about life. There is no process that gives it meaning. That's up to us and we have a 50/50 chance of succeeding at that. Many people think they've given themselves meaning through religious faith and maybe they have but since it's based on a lie, I -- and everyone else here -- have chosen to reject it and take our chances with reality.

Are you proposing that an atheist version of religion be started?

Because...no.

hell no. isn't dogma what most of us ran away from to start with? not me... i was raised a secular jew. no dogma. just chanukah presents and bar mitzvahs. but why do we have to have a core philosphy? why can't we just be individuals who happen to agree that there aren't any gods? wouldn't we be playing into the expectations of the religious folk who think we have an agenda? i don't think of atheism as a way of life. i think of it as a word that means i don't happen to believe in any gods. i mean, i'm five foot five but i don't think i need a core philosophy to connect me to other people who are five foot five.

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Yes let's create rituals, sacrifices and celebrations.
Should we start by writing an Old Testament?
Become " pagans" of some sort.
And why not ?

More like "WHY???"

We do, I’ve lots of social, civic, political, and environmental interests and hobbies. Free to spend as much time, money, or effort with each, I do. No ‘stipend’ demands or social expectations, either. And, I meet other Atheists!

There's a lot being said about this topic by John Vervaeke and others on YT. The topic usually deals with 'the religion that is not religion', what he calls religio. Religio means the bonds of a community.

I'm surprised secular humanism hasn't achieved much traction. Maybe it comes across as just for middle-class intellectuals.

If the only thing we can agree on, is that gods are not demonstrated to exist... this is not enough to get us to agree on everything else.

Like the Flying Spaghetti Monster? No.

I have not thrown the baby out with the bathwater. There are some very good and ethical sayings in the Bible. My foundation for happiness is to treat others the way I would like them to treat me. It comes from the Bible, but it makes me happy. I have rejected the notion that the mythology of the Bible is reality, but there are some sayings that I endorse.

There may already be one. The Humanist sub-group of sceptical thinking, sets out the view that. If you reject god and the supernatural, then your own species becomes the most important thing in life, and therefore fulfilling human needs and promoting human happiness becomes the highest goal, by default .

I have a few reservations about it. For one, the lack of direct environmental commitment in that, unless you believe that looking after the environment is a prerequisite for human good, especially long term; which seems sensible. And perhaps it is just a little too anthropocentric a view in general. But those are small concerns.

Life isn't and shouldn't be viewed as meaningless. Especially because of a lack of belief in an omnipotent being. Life is what one makes of it. I am an atheist, yet I volunteer to help those less fortunate than myself. I raise my kids to be the best them they can be. Whatever that choice is that they make for themselves. I strive to better myself each and every day. And not because of some misguided idea of what's waiting after I die. Cause nothing is waiting but a box and some fire. Being a good example for my kids, friends, etc. Is what I want to be remembered for when I'm gone. And that to me isn't meaningless.

Why exactly do I have to believe anything?
Your proposal is strange and counter to my nature.
If frogs had wings they wouldn’t bump their ass so much, and they wouldn’t be frogs either.

"Drive your karma, curb your dogma" -- Swami Beyondananda

No.

No.
I, for one, have no interest in dogma.
Whether it's in creating or following one.

If anyone thinks life is meaningless, that's on them.
It's not my job, nor anyone else's, to give any individual's life meaning. They have to do that for their self.

The problem would be to get atheists as a group to get behind whatever dogma is devised and decided upon. This phenomenon isn't unique to atheists - just look at the disagreement on dogma that exists among theists even within a single religion - but since many atheists come from religion, they more than likely have figured it out and would be more resistant to an atheist dogma. I would think atheists would be more likely to be looking for facts to build greater knowledge consistent with reality. Any dogma we might come up with would need to be discarded as soon as it conflicted with the facts. This is the problem with religious dogma: believers are suppose to defend the dogma even against facts that conflict with it.

If this is a serious question, you can spend your entire life studying the natural sciences, the social sciences, and history. There is plenty "to believe in".

When I first rejected religion, I substituted hope for the future of humanity, life and the biosphere. That hope has been extinguished by events of the past two decades.

No. Rejection of any gods is a simple fact. Let;s not try to make it more than that. do not wish to be hemmed in by any ideological dogma.

No. When I was a Christian, my life was not my own. I am free now and my life has meaning.

No.

As for the ultimate meaning of life, existence, the universe - the "big questions" - we may never (I'd say will never) have ultimate answers. We are instinctive meaning seekers, but the universe does not exist (IMO) to satisfy any human need for meaning. It may simply exist - for no purpose that would satisfy us. (It's still fun to ask the big questions and think about them.)

Some people may have a need for some kind of "spiritual" meaning. But pursuing natural human needs can provide enough meaning to satisfy other people - loving and caring for a mate, a , a family member or friend or even an animal or an ecosystem; creating, building, inventing, improving the social or physical environment; learning, teaching, helping, protecting.

Life isn't meaningless, the meaning is just imposed on it by us and doesn't exist naturally. Think about the reason you choose to live. That is your personal meaning in life.

I'm into Zen Taoism because it calms me and removes wasted action. There's no dogma and if you don't practice it doesn't care. I would suggest everyone look into it. I do not care if they listen.

You are your own source of inspiration