1y ago

Atheists, is there anything religious that sticks with you to this day?

I am Ganesh, an Indian atheist and I don't eat beef. It's not like that I have a religious reason to do that, but after all those years seeing cows as peaceful animals and playing and growing up with them in a village, I doubt if I ever will be able to eat beef. I wasn't raised very religious, I didn't go to temple everyday and read Gita every evening unlike most muslims who are somewhat serious about their religion, my family has this watered down religion (which has it's advantages).

But yeah, not eating beef is a moral issue I deal with. I mean, I don't care that I don't eat beef, but the fact that I eat pork and chicken but not beef seems to me to be weird. So, is there any religious practice that you guys follow to this day?

edit: I like religious music, religious temples (Churches, Gurudwara's, Temples & Mosques in Iran), religious paintings and art sometimes. I know for a fact that the only art you could produce is those days was indeed religious and the greatest artists needed to make something religious to be funded, that we will never know what those artists would have produced in the absence of religion, but yeah, religious art is good nonetheless.

303 comments

I still act respectful in churches and other "sacred" places, not out of any fear of the Magic Sky Wizard, but simply because other people respect them and it seems like a useful thing to encourage, even if I don't agree with the underlying reasoning. Having a place which most of society agrees should be a quiet, comforting sanctuary is not the worst thing at all, even if the comfort is derived from extreme wishful thinking.
Also, Christmas. Christmas music is great. A Charlie Brown Christmas is one of the best holiday albums ever, though we always skip "Hark the Herald Angel Sings" 'cause it's such a tonal shift compared to the rest of the album.
- Yeah except that those places are hives of child abuse, homophobia, and science denial.
  I don't care how quiet and serene they are while plotting their next acts of bigotry.
  
  dont forget the ubiquitous misogyny!
- This is really great. I too try to give sacred places as much respect as I can, simply because I know that matters a lot to folks and helps keep the peace. Atheists could gain a lot from the concept of sacred ground and regular communing, even if not from the same obligation.

I went to Catholic catechism as a child and one of the few things I remember was Jesus washing other people's feet. I like the humility of that and it inspires me to want to do acts of service
- Was chatting with a young (17-ish) atheist guy recently who misremembered this as “isn’t there a bit in the bible where Christian licks a prostitute’s feet?” which truly left me with so many things I wanted to say that I could bareky say anything without laughing so much, but I managed to get out “did you think Jesus was called Christian??”
- Me too, this is one of the main things that stuck with me. Honestly, idk how to think of myself except in relation to my service to community, it has really shaped my entire experience of the world.
- Similar upbringing in Catholic school. Acts of humility like a poor person giving what little they have holds more weight than a king giving their weight in gold, the golden rule, and showing general compassion has stuck with me decades later. Education was pretty good too. None of that dinosaurs lived 6000 years ago or whatever crap. I attribute the education to giving me the critical thinking skills to not fall for the indoctrination. I could tell the poor giving message was a lead in for tithing. Taking a message of helping someone in real need no matter your status to support this church that was the best looking building in town didn't pass the logic test.
- I was raised without religion, but read religious texts. I have always wanted to touch my closest peoples feet or wash them. It seems so humble and real.
- We washed a person's feet before doing a special religious service project. Essentially like you said, to humble the self and focus on the act and God. Of course the project was really bad in terms of morality but I do think ritual aspects of religion feel nice. As someone said, people are cultural and engaging in acts and symbolism feels good.

I still celebrate Christmas - though in more of a yule way than anything resembling christianity. What I think of as the spirit of christmas is...friends/family getting together in winter and sharing what they have.
And, of course, my circumcision...still got that.
- Christmas is very pagan.
  
  Not the genital mutilation, though, that's Jewish. I never understood why Christians do it. Didn't Jesus fulfill the law and the prophets? Plus there was a spat over adults converting, but not getting circumcized that was settled on the side of "not required". I may be remembering it wrong.
  
  didn't the christians get that from a pagan ritual or something? Even muslims are guilty of things like this, I would go on to talk about this if I had someone incharge of my security lol

In a way, I try to live my life so that if some kind of higher power existed, they'd think I am a good person. Not as a gambit to get into heaven or whatever, I don't believe in that. But trying to imagine an objective arbiter of morality makes it easier to take myself out of the equation, which means I'm more likely to treat others as I want to be treated.
- I use biology. Being grateful and kind just has an evolutionary advantage
  
  Approaching kindness or generosity from a biological point of view seems (to me) to lead to The Prisoners' Dilemma. Everyone is better off if we are all generous, but if I can't trust others to be generous, I'm better off being selfish.
  IMHO, religion is an evolutionary adaptation to "solve" this problem. It might have worked in small communities, but not in our global society.
  I'm rambling...
  
  It does, but the question is: how can we be grateful and kind in the right way? Being grateful and kind to a robber stealing things from your neighbours house is most likely wrong. Being grateful and kind to a single mother stealing food for her child is most likely right. Trying to see things from an objective point of view is a good way for me to do the right things in the right way.
  
  I think it's really more of a sociology thing. Like, it's pretty well accepted that our natural inclination towards fairness is not from a biological drive, but because we would want to be treated that way. The best way of ensuring that is creating a society where that is the norm. Mankind decided that killing others is wrong because we don't want to get killed ourselves. If we think stealing from others is fine, we have no redress if someone steals from us.
  When I was young, I noticed that the some of the Hammurabic Codes shared a lot in common with Christian teachings. I brought this up to my dad and he said "Yeah, where do you think Hammurabi got the idea?" Now, obviously, he's got his timeline confused, and even as a small child I could do that math and knew the royal edicts pre-dated the 10 commandments and are of a completely non-religious nature. Groups living together need fairness to prosper.
  Evolution, however, tends to lean more towards the strongest surviving. Evolutionarily, we need our genes passed on. Sure, we might manage to procreate before we die, but then we're not around to protect that lineage. Lions are a good example of that problem. If a rival male takes over your pride after killing you, they will also kill all the cubs. Presumably so only their genes are the ones moving on. That is the evolutionary drive. Wolves, however, are much more social creatures. They function as a group that doesn't necessarily need to be related and they make decisions similar to how we would expect our own group behaviors. If one of the pack is hurt, they don't leave it behind to die, they protect it and even leave them behind with the pups to heal when they go out on hunts. But this only extends to their pack. Anything outside the pack does not get that consideration. It's only in groups where being grateful and kind is an advantage.
  Sociology is still a science though! A very good reason to follow those precepts.
  Oh man, and that other poster thought they were rambling... I get real wordy when the Adderall kicks in first thing in the morning.
- Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.
  Marcus Aurelius
- I refuse to believe that a being incalculable in power and knowledge, omnipotent, able to see both the past and the future, is somehow, according to what religious people want you to believe, burdened by what we humans experience as emotions or morality.
  
  Why?
  
  I think a grand being would definitely possess things like emotions or morality - some mechanisms of wisdom and good judgement. What I've always balked at is the idea that a grand being would have more ego-driven and self-serving human behaviours like jealousy, intolerance of people who are different, revenge, hatred, predudice, etc. Any idea of "God hates [fill in the blank]" has always been laughable to me. I think a grand being would definitely be morally superior to most humans

I still say "Oh my God"
- I still say "bless you"
- For someone that became an atheist twenty years ago, I have hypocritically requested that the Big Man damn hundreds of things nearly every day.
  We need a good offhanded atheist curse to express frustration.
  
  Other options: Shit!/Aw shit!- These work, but not in many professional spaces.
  Jesus! Jesus Christ!- Getting biblical again, though this curse seems to make things fall off of the shelf more slowly, increasing your chance of catching them before they hit the ground.
  Fuck me! /Fuck sakes!/ Fucker!- Effective, but nsfw.
  Crap!- Works, but you sound like a middle aged soccer mom expressing her frustration.
  Jeez/shoot/sheesh!- Go back to middle school, little one.
- I NEVER said "oh my god" as a Christian as it was considered taking the lord's name in vain, so saying it now is my act of freedom and rebellion.
- Can't shake it either, it's so deeply ingrained.

I enjoy blaspheming. (God dammit, Jesus fucking Christ, etc)
I try to pry it out of my lexicon but can't do it, especially when I'm mad which of course is most likely when I blaspheme.
- Totally agree! "God" just has that ring to it. I haven't found a suitable replacement yet
- One of my favourites is “Christ on a bike!” because it’s so hilarious.
  
  I use Christ on a cracker. No clue if I heard it somewhere or if it just came out of my mouth one day.
  
  "Jesus christ on a stick!"
  
  "Jesus H Christ" always made me smirk not sure why. Like Christ was his last name or something.
  
  I like “Jesus Christ on a pogo stick!”
- Now that you say it, I think I do that too.

I wasn't raised very religious.
I do think some of the stuff from the Christian Bible would be great if people followed it.
pray in private, not where people can see you
help other people. Like, go read the good Samaritan again. It's not long. That dude goes way the fuck out of his way to help someone he's never met. And some people do some fucking intense mental backflips to justify "no it's a metaphor man you don't have to like actually go near a poor person
you'll be judged by how you treat the least among you. Yeah, anyone can be nice to their friends, or suck up to wealthy. But how you treat the poor and vulnerable? That's telling.
Part of what makes the religious right in the US so infuriating is they spend so much time being mad about gay people and comparably no time on poverty.
Every mega church should be condemned as heretical and repurposed as housing or something for the needy.
- I am religious now, but I always swore I'd never walk into a church after growing up in a very Roman Catholic area for exactly this reason. That was the only Christianity that I knew - hating on LGBTQ people, refusing women bodily autonomy, just general hypocrisy with the whole "love your neighbor" thing. Spent some time as a Zen Buddhist, but then felt the call to go to church, so I did some reading and found the Episcopal Church. Went once, got invited to chat by the priest and took him up on it during the week after my second Sunday. Straight-up told him that I'm a bisexual woman who values my rights to leave an abusive marriage and to choose what goes on with my body. His response blew me away: "I don't have a problem with any of that - and I don't think Jesus does either."
  That was back in 2012. They'll get rid of me when they put me I the ground (after a requiem mass, of course). The love and care I've witnessed in this denomination just wasn't possible under the RCC teachings that I always saw as a kid. The more I go along, the more I'm convinced that you can't honestly be on the political right and truly follow the teachings of Jesus.
  Sorry if this is a little rambly. It's 3:30 and I'm trying to stay awake while I feed my baby.
  
  The more I go along, the more I'm convinced that you can't honestly be on the political right and truly follow the teachings of Jesus.
  As someone that was raised in a religious right wing home and is now a moderate left atheist, I have a feeling it's because a lot of these people choose their beliefs first, political or otherwise, and then attempt to twist and interpret the Bible in any way they can to reduce the cognitive dissonance that occurs when you inevitably run into contradictory information between the teachings of Jesus and the reality of right wing politics.

I was a Satanist for a bit. I still use Magick to think about leadership and social manipulation. Its pretty useful for me, and it's also funny as hell to think of a boardroom meeting as a ritual circle around an altar of PowerPoint.
- The High Priests of the Egregore! The High Priests of the Egregore!

Christmas because I have good memories of it and I like the idea of a holiday that by and large, brings my extended family together. And I like buying or creating personalized gifts for those close to me and vice versa.
My ex's family was ethnically but not religiously jewish and they still did hannukah which was interesting and being included in that meant a lot to me.
- edit, deleted the post, reply from the inbox or else it will throw an error at ya. I have 191 unread notifs and I don't want more, so deleted the post

I was going to say nothing, but based on other answers here, it seems Christmas is being held as religious. I personally feel all religious connotations have been thoroughly washed away from xmas over the years, and it's simply a holiday like any other now. I still love the lights and decorations it brings out, the whole family coming together, and the food.
- The way I view religious holidays is, if it provides an excuse for feasting, drinking or fucking, then let's celebrate. I don't care that someone else believes that were feasting for Jesus hanging out or Ostara bringing us a bountiful harvest. I'm just here for the food.
  As for other religions left overs, I would say that a lot of my core morals were originally taught to me as part of Christianity. While "thou shalt not kill" is pretty universal and is defensible outside the framework of religion, it it's where I originally was taught that.
- And it wasn't Christian to begin with.
  
  ... Keep Yule in Yuletide Keep Saturn in Saturnalia ...
- Your wrong. It's literally the Christ Mass, come on now. People don't put fucking mangers up all over the place for nothing.
  
  Uhm historically speaking its yule... a whole week spent eating, drinking, celebrating and toasting to the departure of last year, and wellcoming the new

I recognize that Churches are often community centers and do a lot of good work

I say “bless you” when somebody sneezes.
- Same. Just out of courtesy.
  
  In Norway I use either Prosit, or the German word Gesundheit, for that courtesy.
- Same, it just feels more polite than 'fuck you'.
- I say "stop sneezing!"
- I say God Damn it when I'm mad.

I really like churches, they are a good way to find a strong community. It can be really hard as an adult in a new area to meet people, and a church can basically solve that for you. I'm in a very religious area too where they desperately want me to go to one.
Also I've kind of understood "praying" now. I meditate a lot, and the goal to focus on your inner breath and be one with the present moment. Praying is kind of the opposite, instead of focusing on your inner self, you're focusing on something greater outside of you, like trying to connect your body to the universe. It's like trying to imagine you're part of something greater and it's kind of comforting.
- 100%! Cathedrals and Temples especially are some of the most amazing pieces of architecture. You can't walk in to a historic European cathedral with the ceiling reaching to the sky and stained glass windows and not feel something.
- Both are meditation, vipassanā vs. jhāna, though that encompasses a flurry of potential objects/concepts/qualia of focus.
  you’re focusing on something greater outside of you, like trying to connect your body to the universe. It’s like trying to imagine you’re part of something greater and it’s kind of comforting.
  That sounds roughly like the fifth jhāna, infinite space. I just can't resist to comment here that our intelligence, mammal intelligence in general, is largely based on repurposed/expanded spatial awareness circuitry. That we use terms like "mind map" is anything but coincidental.
  
  Is that why we are able to visualize? Or at least most of us?

Yes that my local, now long deceased Priest didn't want my father to be buried at his graveyard, because he committed suicide and that is a sin. Made me a staunch atheist.

Feeling guilty for existing.
- *Jesus has entered the chat

I'd say monogamy, but that isn't strictly religious. Sex outside of relationships ig (ik it's not marriage but still).

I think there is a lot of beautiful wisdom in the bible that sticks with me, but usually it only comes out when I (way more often that I'd like) hear someone who claims to be Christian acting in a way that is completely antithetical to what is in the bible.

Hundreds of years ago, Christianity inspired some truly incredible music. Bach's BWV 63 (especially the Gardiner recording) is a miracle.
Contemporary Christian music, though, is probably the falling domino that ultimately led to the realization that my Christianity was just tribalism. Modern American Christian "culture" has no redeeming value, other than its lucrative redemption for fiat currency.
I do love visiting cathedrals, though.

Sup, Ganesh! I’m HandOfDumb :) This is a neat question you’ve asked and I’m stoked to see more answers.
I was raised in Catholicism, though my family has, largely, stopped following that specific religion so closely (though many are still religious). I don’t follow any specific religion and am unsure what I consider myself - atheist fits well enough!
Somethings that stick for me are many of the kindnesses that live within bible stories. There’s a lot of good stuff in there, of course! And most of (what I consider to be) the good stuff is along the lines of being a good person. But some of it is kinda off-beat.
Like, there’s a bit in there about a proclamation that people should forgive debts after some seemingly arbitrary amount of time (seven years?) and that really jibed with me. Not the time part, but just forgiving pals/family you might have loaned money to. If I spot a friend $5 for something, I’m not going to hold it against them and ask them to repay. If they do repay? Great! But I will never expect it and I will not be offended if they do not.
Similarly with larger sums. If I’m okay to loan it to someone, I’m okay to lose it.
Anyhoo, I think it’s awesome that you like cows :) they remind me of big ol’ dogs and I like them very much. They can teach us more than they can fill our bellies, I think!

I’m atheist and my parents raised me without any religion. The first time I learned anything about religion was at primary school where Christianity was taught as fact. I was really confused as to why I hadn’t heard of this “god” fellow before now, and I asked my parents about it, and they explained the general concept of religious belief to me, and said that I was free to believe whatever I choose, and I remember being frustrated that my mum wouldn’t directly answer me as to whether or not this stuff was real or not real, and kind of just settled on the idea that it was like they read the Chronicles of Narnia and believed Aslan was real, which was like, fine with me, but seemed a little silly. It was kind of funny to learn a bunch of religious stuff in retrospect - it was kind of like, “dang, this Jesus dude really does force himself into everything doesn’t he?” Easter is the funniest one, it’s such a stretch, they clearly had no idea how to make that one about Christianity and just kinda phoned it in.
So, the one “religious” thing I keep, is saying stuff like “oh my god”, “for god’s sake” and stuff like that, but for me, it doesn’t really mean anything to do with god. It’s just like an otherwise meaningless idiom that people say.
- Funny that your parents used Chronicles of Narnia as an example since it is literally an Christian allegory and Aslan is Jesus.
  
  I don’t think it’s as clear cut as to call it allegory, it’s definitely inspired though - and Aslan certainly is particularly like the holy trinity for sure.
- I also only need "god" and especially "Jesus Christ" to avoid cursing when my kids go bonkers. To consider it an idiom exactly meets my view of it.
  
  "Jesus Christ" is just a fun expression, whether it's yelling it while hitting your finger while hammering in a nail or under your breath watching your friend feed his lane opponent in League of Legends.
- I also consider it an idiom. Funnily enough, in Christian mythology, one of the "Commandments", rules to follow, is to not use god's name in vain. And then christians use the phrases like for gods sake, oh my god, etc, more than anyone else. Quite ironic, to be honest, and quite silly from my perspective.
  
  They justify it as "God isn't a name. It's a job title." Christians have pretty much forgotten the name of their god so they don't use it in vain. Judaism and Islam still have the name Jehovah, Yahweh and Allah in use, all references to the same god.
- Pretty fucked-up that your parents sent you to a religious school, and then didn't even prepare you! Glad you made it out okay.
  
  I’m from Scotland, and when I was a kid, it was assumed that everyone was Christian. It was extremely uncommon to be raised atheist - all of my friends have Christian parents, pretty much, and every school was a religious school. It wasn’t too hardcore or anything. We had lots of religious lessons in class, the school got together twice a week to pray, read bible stories and sing hymns, and we recited the Lord’s Prayer before lunch each day. I wasn't really interested in any of it but also I didn’t make a scene or ask to sit out or anything, and we were never forced to read from the bible or anything like that. I have read the bible, out of personal interest, but it was never expected from me.
  High school was a bit similar but not as much - we had the school chaplain (priest who partnered with the school) show up once a fortnight (every 2 weeks) to deliver a sermon or religious lesson or whatever, and they were always good for a laugh. My favourite lesson of his was about how text speak (this was before smartphones, so we all typed on the 9-digit phone keypads stuff like “hey hru will u b going 2 skl 2mro” meaning “hey, how are you? Will you be going to school tomorrow?” was common) could be used with God as well - we could say “hf” to mean “Heavenly Father” and lol could mean “lots of love”. We got a kick out of that for a few weeks sending eachother ironic texts that we had meant to send to god but got the wrong number.
  Wait, what was I talking about again?

Exmormon here, going on 20 years now. Don't miss pretty much anything from it except some of the music. Ignore the Republican-looking motherfuckers here and enjoy this: https://youtu.be/WwYm_mKQ3Gs
- For me it's funeral potatoes, or half the desert dishes from various potlucks that would happen in the chapel gym.
  Jokes on them though, all those recipes are posted online now! Don't need a temple recommend for that shit lol.
  
  For a moment I was worried that "funeral potatoes" was some euphemism for something there that I couldn't identify
  
  Yeah, even though I went on a mission and have tons of family from Utah/AZ/Nevada/Cali, I'm on the East Coast so a lot of LDS culture like that didn't sink in. I would honestly probably participate in ex-mo stuff more if I had to deal with it on a daily basis, but I'm fine mostly pretending it doesn't exist!
- The Osmonds were Mormons weren't they, which I guess makes this banger a Mormon choon:
  https://youtu.be/iXcj8dFOd1E?feature=shared
  
  Yep! Imagine Dragons is also kind of Mormon, but has very much butt heads with the church on their LGBTQ stance.
  
  Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  https://youtu.be/iXcj8dFOd1E?feature=shared
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  https://youtu.be/WwYm_mKQ3Gs
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
- Oh, hie, Kolob!
  
  KLOLob!

I'd say I'm agnostic, but my parents also didn't force religion on me, my dad is Catholic, and my mom is Thai Buddhist, and I view the Buddhist ideology to strive for being satisfied without material as an honorable goal. I feel as if I believe that attaining that mindset really is nirvana, and I don't think you need to be particularly religious to think that's possible.
- do atheists give you slack for being agnostic? I have seen many memes on the internet bashing agnostics (quite funny tbh), so asking
  The Imperial Japanese ruined Buddhism for me.
  
  One of the perks of being agnostic is that you don't have to tell people you're agnostic. When others ask me about my religion, I just shrug and say I was raised Christian but I'm not really religious anymore. I don't mention that I'm agnostic unless they pry and ask more questions.
  
  To be honest, after high school it just either doesn't seem like most people I know my age are very religious at all either way, or otherwise it doesn't come up.
  I haven't had anyone give me shit for it, personally, I don't take offense to online meme bashing, everybody gets it
  
  atheists give you slack for being agnostic
  I find that to be really odd behavior tbh. One of the issues with organized religion is when a group shuns or hates on someone for their religious/ spiritual views. That's also something that can happen with atheism, even if it's not really seen as a "religion".
  Just be accepting of other people

This seem to work on an assumption that people have a religion before becoming athiest/agnostic. I never did. My birth certificate says Church of England as that's the default here unless your parents ask for something else. However they never took me to church or raised me in a religious manner, I had an entirely secular upbringing so there's no elements of Religon to hang onto.

I went to old school, pre second Vatican council Latin masses. On our knees on other days in dusty, stone walled rooms, heads down, everyone quietly counting rosary beads. Had to wear veil over head to enter church because women's bare heads weren't fit for the eyes of god. Large cathedrals, Latin chanting bouncing echoes off walls. Hunky jesus nailed to cross behind gaudy altar, his loincloth sculpted so teasingly low.
No longer believe in god, but damn, the theatrical pomp was next class, probably influenced work I do as an artist, and why I like bdsm so much.
- Yeah, there's a reason horror films and fantasy universes often base their stuff on Catholic trappings.
  Like, when was the last time some horror flick brought in, I dunno, Baptists or Mormons or Lutherans to deal with the exorcism of a demon?
  No, you bring in the Roman Catholic Priest, or MAYBE the Eastern Orthodox Priest, he's MUCH cooler and has rituals and robes and everything.
  The theater and singing in the Catholic tradition is generally top-notch, and it's one thing I miss about being Catholic. They know how to tap into artistic showmanship in a way other religions seem to have purposefully shed.
  ...I sometimes wonder how much of the metal community is ex-Catholic. It has the same theatrical flare.
- I'm not saying that every BDSM partner I've been with has been a former Catholic, but I will say that every former Catholic I've been with has been into BDSM....

I haven't believed in Catholicism for over 10 years and I still believe I deserve to be tortured so badly it's beyond human comprehension for eternity.
- You left Catholicism, Catholicism didn't leave you :")

This is probably slightly tangential, but after leaving a very dogmatic, Christian upbringing, I dabbled in the New Atheist Thing but have since come to realize religion and belief is on a two dimensional axes.
On the first axis, you have dogma, or a core set of beliefs or religious doctrine. High or low dogma. Your classic fundamentalists of any stripe are over here. Evangelical Christians, fundamentalist Islam. And yes even some strains of atheism can be relatively high dogma. On the lower end of the dogma scale you have agnostics, many atheists, some types of new age spirituality, and even some types of organized religion like Unitarianism or Buddhism.
On the second axis is humanism, or the relishing and participation in people, culture and acceptance of people or ideas that do not conform to the doctrine. High on the humanism scale would be literal secular humanists, and other faiths that prioritize people more than dogma.
Eventually, someone raised in a high dogma/low humanism religion might eventually learn there are some faiths that are relatively high humanism, even with a low or relatively high dogma score.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
- It sounds like you don't understand what atheist or agnostic actually mean.
  
  Yes an atheist believes there is basically no evidence there is a God while an agnostic believes it's an unknowable or unanswerable questions.
  The issue is if an atheist adheres to some dogma (eg all religious people are bad and dogmatic, people who don't read the same books are ignorant) then it becomes a relatively high dogmatic belief system, for that person.

I celebrate Christmas for my children so they don't miss out. Does that count? I'm also very routine. I do the same thing the same way, every day. That might tie in to rituals? Hell if I know.
- Rituals don't have to be religious or related to religion. Daily regular, repeating activities are rituals - even without any link to a religion.
  Does your Christmas have a direct relation to Christianity? It can be celebrated as a social and societal construct, possibly with imagery and rituals, with or without actual intention and relation to the religion.
  Personally, I don't think I've ever experienced Christmas as a celebration of god and Christ in the direct and factual sense. Thinking back, we had the stories of birth and my mother even tried some singing with us. I don't think I've ever taken the stories for fact though. It's a setting, a story, a celebratory setup. (But I wonder if that may be back-looking reinterpretation with a changed mindset. It certainly wasn't something that stuck over time and after early childhood.)
- That's pretty much why these traditions are there, just like people don't actually believe in Santa similarly you don't have to believe in Jesus to enjoy a winter holiday/break and excuse to see friends and family
- Christmas was a Roman holiday called Saturnalia before the Christians reappropriated it.
  I don't place any relious meaning on Christmas, but I celebrate it because humans have been celebrating roughly the same event at roughly the same time every year for over 2000 years.

Catholic guilt. My parents were atheists when they had me, but still instilled guilt in me so hard it hurts to this day.
- How? Did they send you to Catholic school and/or convert to Catholicism after they had you?

Christmas for sure because it's fun and there's good food and smells and all kinds of stuff. Beyond that, no not really.
- I slowly begin to rename it to winter solstice. Also makes it easier to incorporate the red clothed dude and stuff. Despite he doesn't make sense in any constellation, but the kids live it the weird way it is.
  
  Christmas isn't in the winter solstice though...

As an atheist that was raised as an evangelical Christian, probably using the Lord's name in vain interestingly enough. Like going "thank God/Jesus" when something good happens, "oh God/lord" when shit hits the fan, and using Christ's name as a swear word. I know it's supposed to a sin in the Christian religion, but it's the one thing I still do.
- Not to be that guy, but "using the Lord's name in vain" has been misinterpreted and misapplied by Christianity as a whole for a very, very long time. "Using the Lord name in vain" is not saying "goddamit", or "Jesus Christ, thats Jason Bourne", but instead by saying you are Christian, or a follower of Christ's teachings, and being indistinguishable from non-christians in the way one acts, speaks, thinks, dresses, etc,.
  Does this mean that cursing as described above is bad? Maybe, and maybe not--it depends on your convictions.
  One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. -Romans 14:5-6
  Back when the Torah and minor prophets were written, taking someone's name was to become their relative or kin. Even by the time Jesus came into the picture, it was still a common thing to take the name of a family to were adopted into, or to a land you moved to. Therefore, taking the Lord's name in vain" should be more accurately described as calling oneself a Christian, and then not living as one. This is endemic in Christianity--our divorce rates are practically indistinguishable for secular society, premarital sex, cheating--not to mention, we have a huge problem with covering up pedophiles, spousal abuse, child abuse, the list goes on. I believe God knows this, and Jesus even spoke to it when he was on earth.
  Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. -Matthew 7:21
  So, basically, I think God cares about the important stuff, like not acting like a hypocrite while labeling oneself one of his believers--not the inane stuff like saying "goddamnit". But, if someone believes firmly that saying swearwords containing God's name in it is also a sin, then by all means, that is treated and will be judged as a sin for that person.
  And if we want to get technical, Lord, Jesus Christ, and God are not his names. Even names the Christian god is known by, such as El, El Shaddai, Yeshua, Messiah, Jah, Jahova, and possibly Yahweh (YHWH, but we don't know for sure because Jewish scholars never recorded his name to prevent anyone from uttering it) are actually descriptors of who he is. El "The Lord", El Shaddai "The Lord will cover", Yeshua (actual name of Jesus, but not the name of God), Jah (first letter of the tetragrammaton "YHWH" ), Jahovah "The Lord will provide". Technically, it is impossible to use the Lord's name in vain if using his name in vain is defined as simply using it as a swear word or part of a curse because his name has been lost to history.
  Sorry, that's way more information than I intended.
  EDIT: And I also want to make sure I make it abundantly clear that this is simply my interpretation of things, based upon my own experience growing up in a Baptist church, and seeing all the hypocrisy there and in my own parents lives (where both were abusive in their own ways). I'm not really what anyone would call a practicing Christian because I don't attend church, tithe, or vote "prolife". Organized religion in its current form, is in my opinion, a perversion of what God intended. But this is just my opinion.
  
  You just voiced all of my frustrations with so many Christians. I'm going to save this.
  
  This is a really cool take. I’ve never heard that interpretation of “taking the lord’s name” but I like it a lot. Do you know anywhere I can read more about that idea or the history of the phrase?
- Same.
- For me it's my like for religious Christmas music.

@Subject6051
My family put us to the church as kids as little as needed to prove that they exposed us to it. I thank them for that minimal exposure because I've always felt agnostic (of course, that was verbalized as atheism as a kid). My mom was raised German christian, my dad was raised Quaker.
I think that the most meaningful lessons I learned about religion were from my father (who never once mentioned god, Jesus or the church).
My father's religion was one of acceptance of all others, refusal of indoctrination to any structured religion and an absolute knowledge that men (and women) make their faith and their covenant to each other, not to a church. Thanks, dad!
- My mom was raised German christian
  I hope not

I am a non-theist Norse pagan and have been a Norse pagan since I was single digits in age. I was raised by a Catholic mother (her mother was Irish Catholic and her father was Roman Catholic), my father's mother was a Mennonite. I was not raised religiously, but i still have Catholic guilt, and use religious curses.
- Longshot, initials SR?
  "Norse pagan since I was single digits in age" can't be very many people, is all
  
  My initials? No, sorry.
- How do you get into norse paganism?
  
  I started with reading books on Norse mythology, then realized the gods in it were no more or less valid than any other god. There is a Norse paganism community on lemmy (I still have not yet figured out how to link communities)

The way I talk to monks. In Theravada buddhism, monks are treated as a class above average humans. We had to special wording when speaking with them to be reverent, kind of like when speaking with nobles, royals and whatnot in Europe.
Still awkwardly doing that around most monks when I'm with my family, just out of respect for them. There are a few close monk friends that I can talk to normally though.
- It's relatively common for people to just spend a few years as a monk, right?
  I reckon itd be weird if one day I'm picking on my little brother, then the next I feel obliged to treat him as royalty, then a couple years later I get to noogie him again.
  
  Not years. An average person might spend a few days or weeks as a monk every few years, to sort of cleanse their Karma so to speak.
  My brother just decided to be a monk for life though. It's quite rare that people become monks for life though, especially someone as young as him. A Theravada buddhist monk's life is more restricted than those of Mahayana traditions like in China, Japan, Korea, etc.

Sometimes I listen to Gregorian chants.
About cows - there was a YTer who sucessfully connected atheism to veganism (but then didn't). I think veganism and atheism have a lot in common structurally.

Not really. I try very hard not to let myself fall prey to so-called "cultural religion." I don't celebrate any religious holidays like Christmas. I try to be as aware as possible of the religious influences in my daily life and avoid them. It's not easy, though! Religion has infested so many facets of every culture, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate.
- Western culture is (as is every other culture) indeed infused with religion. There are lots of good things that come from it. Are we to throw them away because they are "tainted" by some religious element in their origin or development?
  We've ended up in a very culturally poor place because in moving away from religion we throw so much out. Babies with bath water, as it were.
  We've moved to a rationalist mentality without a good understanding of how man is an inherently cultural animal. And culture until recently was very hard to separate from religious aspects.
  Note that I am an atheist myself, not brought up religious, and I don't have answers to how to resolve this awkward place we have gotten to. But I'm quite sure that avoiding cultural elements simply because there is a religious taint is not helpful. Are we to throw away all of Bach's music?
  
  I would never suggest doing away with Bach's or any other sacred music or art. They can and should be appreciated in their proper historical context.
  I don't think it's at all fair to say we have ended up in a "culturally poor" place. People are still producing all kinds of cultural contributions without religion. If anything, it is capitalism that has commodified culture causing some of the decline we see today.
- I was raised entirely non-religiously, but I still still celebrate "cultural Christmas" since that's what we do in the UK. I don't go to midnight mass or watch Songs of Praise, but putting up the tree and having a big roast dinner is good times.

I don't buy into all the soul mumbo-jumbo, but it makes for good stories. Also, the Catholics made some good music back in the day.
- damn, yes another thing I like is the religious music too. I have heard Richard Dawkins say he likes the bible for it's old English poems etc.
  not only of Hindus but muslims have some nice songs as well. My muslim friend was laughing after I was humming a quite nice muslim prayer song (Hindi), long ago, but that moment was quite funny.
- Yeah, about that...
  Catholics used to castrate the choir boys so their voices wouldn't change.
  
  yeah, they needed a high voice and they didn't know about Helium back then.

Biblical wisdom mostly. Certain parts definitely don't hold up to modern morality, but there is a lot well-thought-out advice buried in it that has helped people in Judeo-Christian areas for thousands of years.
One of the Proverbs in particular comes to mind: "He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm." Hard to argue against the inherent wisdom in such a statement.
Also, like you, I have an appreciation for old churches and some religious art.
- Same. I particularly love those. Matthew is a bop:
  Matthew 26: 52
  “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”
  and similarly
  Matthew 7:1-2
  1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
  Matthew 5:27-29 - Adultery in the Heart
  27 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
  Word by word: It doesn't matter what women wear, if you can't restrain yourself then take your eye out.
  Matthew 9:12
  When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. [...]"

Music, especially singing in groups. Once I shrugged off the religious trappings associated with music, it turns out there are very many wonderful songs that have nothing to do with God. The feeling of oneness transcends religion, and is a human experience that we all need to feel once in a while.

But yeah, not eating beef is a moral issue I deal with. I mean, I don't care that I don't eat beef, but the fact that I eat pork and chicken but not beef seems to me to be weird. So, is there any religious practice that you guys follow to this day?
No more half measures walter
go vegan
- Put your cock away, Waltuh.
- https://www.slurrp.com/article/why-india-has-the-worlds-lowest-meat-consumption-per-person-1670058643313
  Also, I am not having as much effect on the environment by eating meat. I eat once or max twice every month. Not every day like some americans (soap opera americans)
  
  The american expectation is to have meat with every meal. Bacon/sausage with breakfast, ham sandwich with lunch, then a roast or steaks for dinner.
  Americans will literally view a plate of food without meat as a snack. Like, its not a meal unless there is meat. Meat is very inexpensive here because soy and corn are heavily subsidized. All animal products are roughly half the price of what they would be without the subsidies.
- go vegan
  nah I love meat! Can't live without it. I thought I would eat factory manufactured meat, but that sounds like just a bunch of fucking chemicals bunched into one. I thought they would just grow meat like in the lab, but no. Pretty misleading ads out there.
  
  Can't live without it
  Yes you can.
  
  Its true eating meat is nice, but it's terrible for the environment. At least consider eating less meet. You are lucky - there are many very tasty vegetarian Hindu meals.
  
  I love meat! Can’t live without it.
  Sure you can! Everyone who goes vegan or vegetarian manages to do it, and so can you!
  And nobody goes vegan or vegetarian does it because they dislike the taste of meat - it’s because of the same reasons you wrote about the cows - it’s because we see animals as creatures which do not deserve to suffer just for our pleasure.
  Everything you mentioned about why you don’t want to eat cows is just as true for all the other animals. Chickens are really friendly, playful and affectionate little guys! Pigs are smart and sweet, and have their own personalities.
  
  All food is just a bunch of chemicals bunched into one.
  I know what you mean though, and while, as far as I know, some manufactured meat is actually just grown in a lab, there's a lot of stuff needed to keep cell cultures alive outside of a body that I wouldn't really want to eat or have around my food, so it'll be something to watch out for when it's widely available.
  Still morally and environmentally better though, in most cases.
  
  Highlighting this just because I happened to scroll down and came across this. Everything that constitutes matter is considered Chemical. The "X has lots of Chemicals while our product Y is chemical free" is a pseudo-scientific marketting tactic that Naturopaths and Ayurveds commonly use, at least from the Indian Context as I live here. Other than that, have whatever you desire. A person only has one life after all.

I'm just wondering if souls exist. I hope they doesn't.
- that's pretty pessimistic don't you think? Are you scared of eternal life? (I kinda am)
  
  I'm scared of reincarnation. I don't want to live a second life no matter how good it would be.
  
  Souls existing would put a very large hole in my materialist worldview, and I don't want to have been fundamentally wrong for my entire life, especially on something that so greatly impacts my decision making and general outlook.

Ex-muslim here. I am not practicing most of its rituals other than zakat, as I feel like its one of those act that transcends any beliefs.
- What is zakat?
  
  Not OP and not a Muslim but it seems it’s a ‘commandment’ on charity to the poor.
  
  Every year, out of all of your things that are not necessary like jewelery/saving or other non essential items, you are supposed to donate 2.5% of it, or equivalent in money, to a poor person.
  Interestingly this would mean that a true muslim will probably never become a multi-billionaire.
- Jews call that sadaka. it's one of the ideas I remember fondly from my early years
- IMO, the rule that meat must be tayyib is the best part of the quran, and it's the part that almost all Muslims know nothing about. They all know that meat must be halal, but they never know tayyib. Halal has even disintegrated into playing creepy prayers on repeat over a loudspeaker at the slaughterhouse or etching a payer into the side of the blades in the machine. Crazy how far from the original text selfishness and capitalistic greed can take people.
- I read about it once and thought why couldn't I give back at least as much, even without religious justification. Perhaps ironically in this context, part of the amount goes to my local atheist charity.

I was born and raised atheist/agnostic, never set foot in a church before 18 besides weddings. Still am, never doubted it. Maybe I believe in like Spinoza's god or something but definitely no Abrahamic God.
Something I've learned is that among many other things, a certain holy quality to persecution has definitely permeated the western consciousness and it 100% has me second guessing myself often. The christliness of being persecuted, made a martyr, and suffering for your cause carries a moral quality that I have absolutely not freed myself from, even though there's nothing automatically morally good or bad in suffering and being made a victim for fighting for a cause.
- There are plenty of virtues that are generally seen as good outside of religious sentiment associated with suffering for a cause. Tenacity is usually an appealing quality.
- The basis of that isn’t Christianity, it is morality that existed before Christianity which Christianity adopted. Nietzsche referred to it as “slave morality” - the idea is that by redefining the behaviours of subjugated people as virtuous rather than compelled, it gives them power and agency
  
  You might be right, but regardless of the origin, the belief was popularized in the West because of Christianity. Unless you're suggesting that Nietzsche is merely pointing out an intrinsic feature of all human morality, but I don't know his work well enough to decide either way on that.

Personally, I was raised muslim, but now I don't eat pork (or meat in general) for ethical/environmental reasons rather than religious.

That's interesting because I only became a vegan long after I became an atheist and I think if it happened the other way around there wouldn't have been such a delay seeing as so many Catholic religious feasts in my culture have an entire roasted animal as a centerpiece. That would have definitely forced me to confront my religion. It's weird too because we are taught that we are stewards of animals and to take advantage of them in such ways seems contradictory to the faith.
Something that has stuck with me though is religious music, especially the stuff with darker vibes. Music targeted at a religious demographic with religious messaging like Christian rock is not what I'm taking about, just the classics that we used to sing in church and choir. I also enjoy religious precessions, I don't see them as cultish rituals as I think a lot of atheists do. There is something meditative about processes like the giving and receiving of communion.

I used to be deeply religious, I even got tattoos.
Haven't covered them up because the symbology is pertinent.
Listen to some religious music, I like some classical Christian music.

I've always felt the serenity prayer was good life advice.
- Yes, yes it is.

This weird irrational fear when I'm reading religious texts, or hearing religious songs that I may go back or something.
Like I know rationally that that will never happen, but for some reason a part of me is afraid if I listen to to much of it I will fall back into it or something.
It almost feels how "sinning" used to feel when I was religious. Like an irrational fear of doing something "bad".

"Good must prevail even if you suffer directly for it."
In every day life, this is voting for parties that would increase my taxes but provide benefits for a greater number of people. Giving to charity, supporting the creators I like directly (as much as possible, Patreon still takes their cut). Using FOSS/privacy based software instead of the mainstream data syphons. Encouraging repair instead of replace, doing car maintenance for friends.

The Belgian minister of Justice (Koen Geens, Christian party) wrote a column about Christianity, where he nicely summed up what it means to be a good Christian:
Try to align every decision and action with your system of morality, and be consistent in this.
Even as an atheïst/humanitarian, this is a constant struggle. It nicely sums up how we need to weigh our options and consciously try to do the right thing. To me, it was a profound observation.
- That just means being a moral person, being a good ------ian requires a whole set of things to be believed as well.
  Typically, the ------ian asserts that only they are capable of having a conscience.

No.
- I love this answer.
  Atheism is not a religion. We don't fight or argue with religious people since we don't care. We don't bring up atheism with other people as a topic to discuss since we simply don't care.
  I am not sure if this is the right comparison, but we don't really care if the earthworm feels that it wants to take a shit. Or what it feels for a worm when taking a shit. I simply don't care. Same about the religions.

Not 100% sure this answers the question, but here goes.
Closest I can say that stuck with me, as someone born in a Christian household would be the original Veggietales and how some of the messages have stuck with me. You take away the Christian aspect from some of the messages and you get messages that I think could still apply to a general audience.
Small people can do big things (Dave and the Giant Pickle)
Despite your differences, you can still be friendly with others (Are You My Neighbor)
You should forgive others (God Wants Me To Forgive Them!?!)
I may not follow them to a tee but I am at least somewhat trying.
- Ye. There aren't people who believe you can't be moral without being religious (christian) for nothing. Christianity has actually a lot of good messages.
- If you like to talk to tomatoes...

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