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.

July 30, 2008 · Filed Under Atheism

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One Atheist’s Abbreviated World View - 7 Pillars I Try to Live By

An excellent post from the Atheist Revolution archive made its way onto the reddit atheism what’s hot list this past week.

The post is vjack’s endorsement of the secular humanism worldview (which I like to think of as a belief system), coupled with a suggestion that other atheists follow suit.

The goal in this is to communicate to the world that atheists have more - much more - of a world view than just denying the existence of god(s).

I agree. The crux of the matter is that theists, and many people still figuring out the question of God’s existence, have a hard time imagining what atheists might believe in - if anything. In fact, I think many people are afraid of atheists due to the flawed thinking that, without a religion to guide us, we are likely to be or become amoral/immoral people.

So, to vjack and anyone else who might care to know, I too declare myself a Secular Humanist. It is a beautiful, nuanced, almost intuitive world view that is extremely close to how I try to live my life. For an understanding of this world view, I recommend reading the wikipedia entry for secular humanism, as well as the affirmations and declaration on the Council for Secular Humanism website.

I’d also like to share my “abbreviated belief system” - a little graphic I drew up that captures some of the ideas found in secular humanism (with personal language interpretations/variations) that I most closely identify with. I found the process of distilling my world view down to something simple like this to be very rewarding, and I’d love to see your version.

June 29, 2008 · Filed Under Atheism

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