You can be whatever you choose to be. In my opinion, as an A-theist, you will not be a Catholic but will only be participating in what Catholics do but you can call yourself anything you want. It is YOUR life so live it the way that makes you happy, just strive to do or cause no harm.

Do what you want.

Given that all cultures seem to have rituals it is clearly part of humanity.

Only you can answer that.
I go with whatever makes me happy.

I enjoy Xmas, but look at it a bit different. I more or less ignore the religious aspect and instead use it as a time of reflection. I also try to honor peace and good will towards man/women sentiments as well as other aspects. I pay more attention to how I treat people, and try to be a bit more charitable. However, I don’t go to church, I don’t donate to religious charities and I definitely don’t celebrate the birth of Jesus. (I just had a chuckle. My phone wouldn’t even let me type Jesus. It kept changing it to Jessica!)

I still put up a tree, but only have a few religious symbols and those are mostly pagan; not for any spiritual aspect, I just think they look cool. I believe the tree itself is actually a pagan tradition anyway. My tree topper is a wizzard, and I have snowmen and nutcrackers as opposed to a nativity and angles. I also have a few badass Russian Santa Clauses. LoL

Also the gifts. Can’t forget the gifts. Gotta get me some gifts. ?

The lights are kinda cool too.

Seriously though,
Xmas was always a joyous time for me. My mother was really into it and I have many fond memories of it. I am not going to stop just becasue I don’t believe in a god any longer. I just changed the way I look at it.

Sure if you want to continue to support an organisation that supports and hides paedophiles, demonises sensible birth control, ran organisations like the Madeleine laundries that basically made slaves of one parent families, thinks contraception is worse than murder, collaborated with the Nazis in WW2 to safe guard Rome and the Vatican city, traded silence about Mussolini for the establishment of the Vatican City as an independent nation state, contributed to the outbreak of WW1 by selling off Vatican concordant to the highest bidder, thinks homosexuality is a death worthy sin, is inherently sexist, is one of the richest corporations in the world with huge land and cash holdings but made a saint of a woman (mother Teresa) who taught those dying of starvation and bad sanitation that "Poverty is a great blessing that brings you closer to Christ, while staying in the palaces of dictators and tyrants, eliciting donations from the same and assuring them trying to buy their way in to heaven was a good idea.

If you want to remain a part of and support a criminal oranisation that deliberately protects and hide paedophiles and positively discriminates against women and LGBT groups, sure go ahead.

It's your conscience you have to live with.

Sure why not? Catholicism is full of thrills and adventure. Confession is a blast. Telling closet pedophiles your deepest, darkest sercrets is so sexy. Giving your hard earned money to pay for the priest's new gold rings is truly envigorating. Receiving the stale host and the cheap wine for holy communion creates a such a euphoric feeling of godliness.The sermons are so uplifting and heart-warming. Rosary beads are stylish and quite the lucky charm. And who doesn't like to see a Catholic high school girl dressed in her uniform from time to time? Hell, I think we all should be Catholic.
Just don't drink the holy water. You might disintegrate.

Personally, I think you should do what you want. If you enjoy the community aspect of religion, then partake in it. Just keep your religious views of being an Athiest to yourself.

Nearly everyone that knows me knows I’m Agnostic. But I still bow my head when they pray. Hell, for my national qualification test in my phlebotomist class, the whole class, including the instructor, knew my religious views. But they asked me to lead their prayer for luck on the test. Which I think is kind of bass ackwards because if they believe in God and the plan he has for everyone, they can’t believe in luck. Because God already decided if they were going to pass or fail. But I digress. And when I finished, instead of saying “Amen”, I was pulled a Dean from Supernatural and was like, “Ya hear me God? Breaker 1 - 9’er?” Which they all laughed and said Amen.

My point being, so what you want to do and enjoy your life. Don’t worry what other people say or how they judge. If they are religious, they aren’t supposed to judge. And if they aren’t religious and hold no relationship with you, then their opinions don’t matter.

In a way, yes you can.
My son, like me, is a devout atheist. Yet he has a better attendance at his local (Anglican) church than many of the congregaton. He loves music, is a member of various operatic theatre groups, and asks "why should all that brilliant church music be confined to the church?"
Therefore he is an openly atheist member of the choir, helps create new arrangements to be sung at weddings, christenings, and cel;ebrations of the mass. He dresses in the same attire, and when the choir go the altar for communion, where the vicar hands out the communion bread and wine, he simply pauses when he reaches my son, makes a sign of the cross above his head, and then continues. In the vicar's words, "He is a good man, and certainly helps me to remain level-headed."
My wife and I (she's also atheist), often attend the mass to appreciate the singing, we just don't take part in the prayers, etc. We all think of it as ritual and ceremony. But then, we are talking attitudes in a more enlightened Europe.

You can be whatever. I wouldn’t, but whatever. Yours is not my life to live.

You sure can. All it means is that you are not a literalist. There are plenty of non-literalist religious practitioners.

Sure, if it makes you happy, but I don't think the Catholic church will be very tolerant of you and your non-belief.

Holy Mary, Mother of god, Me, Too!

I know it is all nostalgia, but I do enjoy the occassional mass or rosary. Strangely comforting.

But I AM and atheist. I'm also a liberal who enjoys the music of Ted Nugent, the movies of John Wayne and Roseann.

If you're just saying hail marys and pretending the wine is blood for what ever reason and such, who cares... But if you want to go diddle little kids,,, you need to get some help.. I guess it's no worse than cross dressers.. lf you're not hurting anybody, do whatcha want. I personally don't see the reason behind it, you can find lots of stuff to do that would actually be of use to people. Don't try to read more into it than's there.

Don't you think that you should follow your heart? Maybe, you can integrate the two, in a manner that does you nor anyone else harm! You are here to make yourself happy...not the population...but, the population will reap the benefits, if you are happy!

Can I mess with you a little bit??... So, you're an atheist and just want to go to Sunday mass to pick up a pretty girl? ( Sorry, you landed this one on a silver platter... Its all in good "faith", ok?)

Have you ever asked yourself why you like them? If you do not believe in them, then they are simply dead rituals to you. But, maybe they are a form of comforting escapism for you divorced from your intellect.

Yes, just like how I am a Hindu agnostic. I grew up in the Hindu culture, so some societal habits I take because that is what I grew up in.

That sounds like an oxymoron. I am not judging you, but it does sound strange.

Maybe you should just choose a side and give it all your energy.

I think that's like being a little bit pregnant... You are catholic or you are not. I believe you can attend church for a variety of reasons all of which are OK. You may like it ritual of worship, or the fellowship of the congregation or you may still be on a quest to determine who/what you are. Raised catholic, I attended other churches as I grew older. I told the Episcopalian pastor that I wasn't sure about god. His response was what better place to learn

I was a "Lutheran Atheist" for a little while (see my first--and thus far only--post). I don't think there's anything wrong with participating in something while having a mindset/belief that differs from the one you are "meant" to have. No one can control--or even see inside to--what's in your head.

I think you should do what you feel like doing, but to answer your question about being a Catholic atheist: I would think the two terms are mutually exclusive.

You have options, I don't think you'd be able to take the scarament would you? Nothing to stop anyone going to a service - I go with anyone if they specifically ask me to - it doesnt interfere with my atheism in any way - its just like going to somebodys house for a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits.

I think - never ever having had a god of any kind that I am free of any restriction (apart from my own need to be polite and kind) that would stop me entering any building designed for worship . Millions of vistors every year go to Westminster Abbey and St Pauls cathedral and are respectful- pretty sure a good percentage of them are godless like me..

I was raised Catholic and still will show up at a wedding or what have you, I have never needed to say I was or wasn’t Catholic, usually we go out to dinner after whatever happy or sad occasion it may be. The term “catholic atheist” will either piss off Catholics, atheist or both... Sometimes doing nothing is the best course of action so until religious affiliation is required on a drivers license I wouldn’t worry about it.

Its up to you