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.
I was raised Catholic and left it at a young age and spent a lot of time uprooting the brainworms so I don’t think there’s much left. However, whenever I can’t find something I really need and start getting stressed, I’ll still recite, “Dear St. Anthony, please come around, my X has been lost and cannot be found.” It’s a useful way to calm down and focus instead of freaking out and panicking.
Other than that, I still retain a lot of the theology I learned in high school, and I can still sometimes get a little opinionated about various things even though I have no dog in the fight.
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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.
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Small people can do big things (Dave and the Giant Pickle)
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Despite your differences, you can still be friendly with others (Are You My Neighbor)
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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.
If you like to talk to tomatoes…
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.
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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.
Now that you say it, I think I do that too.
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.
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“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!”
I was born in a Hindu family, i don’t believe in God but i really like and keep deities statues and pictures as Art. I also read religious text bcz i found there are lots of good things which can be learned from it and i am also fascinated about how old these scriptures are and still tells about lots of good things about human mind, life and society.
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 agree that capitalism is a big part of the decline. And I am not saying we need to embrace religion to embrace culture, or that lack of religion is the cause of a decline in culture. I am saying that all our cultural heritage, tends to have influences from religion, and that this is not a reason to reject it. You don’t have to take the religious elements, just don’t throw out the whole thing because a cultural aspect of a practice or an artifact has elements in its history you find unsavory.
Enjoy the music of Bach and you don’t even need to care about the “proper historical context.” Enjoy Christmas and ignore the Christian elements, if you like, or view then as a quaint part of its rich history (as Christians did the pagan elements). All cultural threads have always changed throughout history as people have adapted them to their current worldviews and needs. Hand-wringing about historical accuracy and taints from aspects of history we don’t like is a modern disease.
As to being in a culturally poor place, the difficulty with that discussion is that the word “culture” covers a lot of ground. We are rich with certain types of culture (yes all the kinds that can be sold to us). We are poor in other kinds, particularly kinds that build community. Capitalism favors the short term, the trend of the day, and that which divides us into manipulatable markets.
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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.
Personally, I was raised muslim, but now I don’t eat pork (or meat in general) for ethical/environmental reasons rather than religious.
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.
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…
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 still say “Oh my God”
I still say “bless you”
Can’t shake it either, it’s so deeply ingrained.
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.
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.
Jews call that sadaka. it’s one of the ideas I remember fondly from my early years
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What is zakat?
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.
If the amount is 2.5 %/yr of non-essentials, there is still lots of ways one could make money significantly faster with a good business strategy and lots of luck, and have a probability of eventually reaching a net worth in the billions. However, there’s a difference between following the letter of the “law” and its spirit.
Not OP and not a Muslim but it seems it’s a ‘commandment’ on charity to the poor.
Ty!
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 like a lot of religious art (architecture, paintings, music…). Some of it is certainly the result of historical patronage, but plenty is the result of genuine religious inspiration and even ecstasy. I often think that art is the only real redeeming quality of religion!
I thought eating beef was taboo in India regardless of religion, as in – you could get away with it in private but good luck finding a butcher that would prepare one without ruining your reputation in the neighborhood. The taste is not good enough to risk it. However, (not) eating beef is an actual choice if you go abroad.
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.
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.
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Would you mind translating that into laypeople’s language?
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I’m an anti-theist and I still enjoy a lot of religious literature like Pilgrim’s Progress
