Can Atheists Be Spiritual?

I am slowly finding like-minded bloggers who feel the need to express what they believe in, in addition to the assertion that they have no belief in god(s).

Here’s a gem written by David Garnet over at Glittering Muse.

If we are to attract more people to atheism and the humanist worldview, we need more of this kind of writing.


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July 30, 2008 · Filed Under Atheism

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One Response to “Can Atheists Be Spiritual?”

  1. Ace on August 9th, 2008 4:36 am

    I would consider mysef to be a very spiritual Atheist.

    Here is my thinking on the subject.

    An Atheist by def is someone who has no belief in any kind of God. 
    This fits me.

    Spiritual by def refers to someone who holds something including a church or a service as sacred, I am a Unitarian Universalist and so I do hold the services as sacred to me but more than that, life is sacred to me, as is Nature and the Universe, People, All life in fact.

    Spiritual Practices can include Meditation, Trance, Creative Visualizations, Spirit Dancing, Ritual, Lighting Candles, Yoga, Affirmations and Cleansing your home with Incense and Sage and Yet all of these practices have some basis in Psychology or physical betterment as well.

    I often engage in these practices in my own life as well as attending various services and ceremonies put on by the UU church, I can be found reading devotionals at home daily to keep me focused and on track from 365 Tao to satisfy my Taoist leanings to 365 Goddess to satify my Wiccan leanings to science books to satisfy my rational thinking mind and If someone invites me to a Pow Wow, a catholic Mass or a Wiccan festival, I will be the first to say-Count me in because I enjoy the interactions with new ways of doing things, I enjoy new experiences and might learn something or find something I can use in my own practice.

    I belong to a Ghost Hunting group that heads out to ‘haunted’ hotels and lighthouses and such things and I tell the ‘head of the group’ that every good ghost hunters group needs a skeptic and here I am!

    Though most Atheists are rationalists and materialists in their thinking towards the supernatural, That is not the def of an Atheist unless someone wishes to change it or make it something else, I myself have looked at similar spiritual paths such as Wicca and Pantheism and while they have many good points, I cant bring myself to believe in a God or Goddess or that the Universe is a God or Goddess, I cant because I am an Atheist.

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