Atheist Religions?

You need a "belief system" and a set of acceptable/unacceptable behaviors that is not based on a deity (or deities)... Without that, there is no reason for your character to care about entering a building dedicated to a different religion. You can say she chooses to not enter these buildings out of respect, or because she doesn't support the deist mumbo-jumbo that goes on in there, or any number of personal reasons, but without some sort of code, imposed by her chosen belief system, it remains a personal reason (and that's fine, if that's what you want).

Do you need it to be a recognized, actually exists (or existed) belief system? If so, you'll have a hard time finding a non-theistic practice that would both suggest it's inappropriate to enter a building dedicated to a different religion and espouse a more hedonist approach. Honestly, it's the entering the building that makes it problematic. All of the other traits you listed could be embraced by a number of Eastern religious practices, secular humanism, and a variety of other possibilities. Again, you could make that one thing a personal choice of hers rather than a religious-based doctrine.

sunandshadow said:

I'm outlining a story where I want the main character to have an atheist belief system, but one which has some definite metaphysical beliefs, holidays, standards of behavior, etc. One of the specific ones I've thought of so far is that the main character should believe it is inappropriate for her to enter a building dedicated to a different religion. I also want her beliefs to be generally utilitarian and/or humanist. More on the socialist/communist side than the capitalist side. More on the hedonist side than the stoic, ascetic, or minimalist side. So can anyone suggest an actual religion or philosophy I can could have her be a member of, or is there nothing that would fit? Wikipedia only lists buddhism, hinduism, and jainism as non-theistic religions, and none of those are very close to what I'm looking for.

Click to expand...

Technically, many religions are atheistic in the sense that a full-blown Neo-Platonic hunk of Goodness God is a very esoteric construction. The
stoic reconstruction of how fate relates to such beings alone is enough to suggest that the gigantic big guy 14 billion+eternity years old and bigger than an ever-expanding universe and everywhere and loving all things perfectly is much rarer in human thought processes than we are led to believe, I suspect.

If it's a non-technological, fantasy setting, then there could very easily be beliefs in karma, sympathetic magic, like to like, stuff like that. Shouldn't be hard to come up with a list of rituals or rules of thumb where people try to influence the universe by wearing purple socks or some such.

What about worhsipping trees? Or even animals? Or perhaps checking augeries before doing something. There can be a tree worshipping festival or festivals dedicated to specific animals; the rituals can involve bedecking them with garlands and making them offerings. You can have taboos too - for example, if your belief system involves worshipping trees, you can have a taboo which limits felling trees.

Will there be demons, ghosts and magic in your universe? If there are demons, you can have rituals aimed at placating them - such as dances.

If you want some real-life atheist religions, the only examples I can come up with at the top of my head are LaVey Satanism (No gods, about the self, magic) and Raelism (no gods, but powerful aliens). There are plenty of religions where there are gods but they're kind of... well, a natural consequence rather than the be-all-to-end-all of the religion as in Abrahamic religions. Someone who doesn't believe in gods may believe in unicorns, or alien abduction, or ghosts, or what have you. If the character does not believe in gods but believes in the supernatural you may have to eventually decide what is and what is not a god.

Consider the Freethinkers if you're looking for historical interest.

Or, how about this: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...om-united-church-due-to-her-beliefs-1.3180632
Apparently, she thinks of God as an 'interventionist, supernatural being', and she seems to be a humanist. She lost two-thirds of her congregation when she eliminated the Lord's Prayer, but apparently gained other people who agreed with her views. I think the church wants to know if she had her fingers crossed when she was ordained.

How can there be an 'atheistic' religion? Either one believes, or one doesn't... As a true atheist I have no religion. Period.

Melisande said:

How can there be an 'atheistic' religion? Either one believes, or one doesn't... As a true atheist I have no religion. Period.

Click to expand...

Atheism is simply bot believing in a deity - you do not need a deity to have a religion.

RKarina said:

Atheism is simply bot believing in a deity - you do not need a deity to have a religion.

Click to expand...

How do you define "religion," then? I define it as the belief in and worship of a deity or deities.

I'm an atheist. I have any number of philosophical and moral beliefs, but they are not a "religion."

ETA:

I don't think my beliefs are sacred. I won't be rewarded by any higher power for following them, or punished for not following them. No one is keeping track of my secret kindnesses or my stealthy misdeeds. I direct my own destiny. Not a religion. If you feel that some higher power is watching, dictating, and/or directing your actions, you have one -- but then you are no longer an atheist.

RKarina said:

Atheism is simply bot believing in a deity - you do not need a deity to have a religion.

Click to expand...

Cassandra wants to know how you define religion, but I'm very curious to know how you define atheism as well.

Most people accept Buddhism is a religion, so faiths with no deities are conventionally accepted as religions. There are other examples like some forms of animism.

I, personally, define religion as: whatever people (especially followers) sincerely call a religion. I was breifly a practising atheist Wiccan--thus religious and atheist.

And atheism is the absence of belief in a deity.

veinglory said:

Most people accept Buddhism is a religion, so faiths with no deities are conventionally accepted as religions. There are other examples like some forms of animism.

I, personally, define religion as: whatever people (especially followers) sincerely call a religion. I was breifly a practising atheist Wiccan--thus religious and atheist.

And atheism is the absence of belief in a deity.

Click to expand...

Hmmm. Yes, I would define those as religions. So I suppose what I've been defining as religion encompasses a belief in something supernatural (as opposed to a deity per se.) Buddhists and Wiccans believe in something supernatural, so to my mind, they do follow a religion. I suppose they don't directly worship a god. But then again, I don't quite understand how something like rebirth or magic would work if there is no higher/outside power of some kind involved. Surely both Buddhism and Wiccanism involve, at least, a faith in something unseen and unprovable?

I am pretty sturdy in my own philosophical beliefs, more so than many people who follow religions. But I wouldn't call my belief system a religion because it doesn't involve anything supernatural at all -- no god, no magic, no rebirth.

ETA:

Will have to mull this over a bit.

I've had so many religious people try to insist that any sort of moral or philosophical belief system must involve religion I must admit I felt a bit of a knee jerk reaction to the concept of "atheist religions." I do maintain that a philosophical or moral belief system =/= religion, but I may have to consider how I define "religion" and "atheism." Perhaps what I call "atheism" (which encompasses an absence of belief in the supernatural) is simply the far end of a spectrum.

ETA:

I suppose what I've been doing is drawing a distinction between "nontheist" and "atheist." I'll have to think about whether that holds up, and if it holds up in the way I've been thinking of them. I may refine all of my definitions and add some new ones before I'm done here. Interesting discussion.

ETA:

My own reaction to all things religious, deist, and supernatural might be best summed up as "pfft." But as I think of it, it is not really fair of me to try to co-opt the term atheist to describe that.

veinglory said:

Most people accept Buddhism is a religion, so faiths with no deities are conventionally accepted as religions. There are other examples like some forms of animism.

I, personally, define religion as: whatever people (especially followers) sincerely call a religion. I was breifly a practising atheist Wiccan--thus religious and atheist.

And atheism is the absence of belief in a deity.

Click to expand...

Exactly... I loosely define religion as a set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices (this could be personal, or community based) that influences your world view, ethics, and behavior.

As for atheism, it's simply a lack of belief in the concept of deity. The opposite of atheism is theism - or the belief in a god or gods.

Most Westerners equate religion with theism thanks to a primarily Judeo-Christian (or more broadly - children of Abraham) tradition.

Many Eastern practices do not have a deity as such, and yet they are religions, complete with a set of morals and dogma (others lack the morals and dogma part...). Secular Humanism takes a different approach, ostensibly eschewing prescribed morals and dogma in favor of reasoning, ethics, science, and philosophy.

RKarina said:

Exactly... I loosely define religion as a set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices (this could be personal, or community based) that influences your world view, ethics, and behavior.

Click to expand...

In my opinion, that definition is too loose. By that definition, libertarianism could be a religion. (As could a number of other political philosophies.)

ETA:

I have quite a collection of attitudes, beliefs, and practices that influence my world view, ethics, and behavior. I feel quite strongly about them. But I reject gods, spirits, the supernatural, a belief in an afterlife or reincarnation, magic, etc.

I would say I have no religion. But beliefs and philosophies -- I have plenty.


ETA:

I suppose, as I think of it, I would say that religion requires faith in something that cannot be seen or proved (whether it be a deity, magic, or rebirth). Generally, I think it also involves some sort of ritual or observance. A philosophy requires neither. It also seems to me that religion generally involves something that is considered sacred in some way. (I stand ready to be convinced otherwise, though.)

RKarina said:

As for atheism, it's simply a lack of belief in the concept of deity. The opposite of atheism is theism - or the belief in a god or gods.

Click to expand...

I'm sorry! I realize now that I misread, somehow, your earlier post. My screwy eyes. I thought you said that atheism was not simply not believing in a deity. My fault.

Yes, then. Of course, we agree on that.

CassandraW said:

I've had so many religious people try to insist that any sort of moral or philosophical belief system must involve religion I must admit I felt a bit of a knee jerk reaction to the concept of "atheist religions."

Click to expand...

A very strong logical argument can be made that the exact opposite is true, that it is impossible to have a true moral system worthy of the name if a religion is involved-- that in fact, the only truly moral system must arise from a strictly humanist source.

I think that deism, "religion", and (codified and/or humanist) morality exist in all combinations.

Angry Guy said:

A very strong logical argument can be made that the exact opposite is true, that it is impossible to have a true moral system worthy of the name if a religion is involved-- that in fact, the only truly moral system must arise from a strictly humanist source.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't go that far. But I would argue that if your sole reason for engaging in or refraining from a particular behavior -- e.g., being kind, not lying or murdering -- is the belief that you will ultimately be punished or rewarded, then your actions (or lack thereof) are less morally motivated than if you have no such belief, and act in that way solely because you believe those actions to be right.

I don't murder or steal, and I try not to lie, not because some deity forbade me to do so, but because I think they're morally ugly actions that I don't want others practicing. (I curse like a sailor and have been known to be unchaste, but then I don't consider either of those things immoral.)

That said, it's perfectly possible to have more than one motivation for moral behavior -- so I don't think having a religious motivation means that one doesn't also have a purely moral motivation that goes beyond a belief that one will be punished or rewarded.

I've known atheists who still believe in supernatural and paranormal phenomena. Like Fox Mulder.

Interesting discussion, I think that the beginning of the first definition on dictionary.com is an adequate definition of religion. There are additional modifications of it, but they are not essential and are not possessed by all religions. In the last few decades many political opinions in the U.S.A. have become religious, rather than strictly political. The view of climate change that is being put forward by the IPCC and similar organizations is religious, rather than scientific; the difference being the matters of faith rather than knowledge.

1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe,
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/religion?s=t

kuwisdelu said:

I've known atheists who still believe in supernatural and paranormal phenomena. Like Fox Mulder.

Click to expand...

Of course, Fox Mulder wasn't believing it on faith. He was believing it based on evidence.

CassandraW said:

That said, it's perfectly possible to have more than one motivation for moral behavior -- so I don't think having a religious motivation means that one doesn't also have a purely moral motivation that goes beyond a belief that one will be punished or rewarded.

Click to expand...

You and I can agree on that, but any theist who says that any moral system requires a theistic source is implying that their entire motivation for not lying or stealing or whatever is religious. And therefore, by definition, they don't belong in the "multiple motivations" group.

kuwisdelu said:

I've known atheists who still believe in supernatural and paranormal phenomena. Like Fox Mulder.

Click to expand...

But an atheist (by the strict definition of the word) can believe in the supernatural. They just don't believe in one or more supreme beings. A belief in reincarnation, for instance, is completely compatible with atheism. Technically.

What we need is a different word for someone who doesn't believe in anything not explainable by physical laws and not provable by observation and experiment.