Atheist Religions?

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sunandshadow

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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.
 

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The first problem you'd have is that a truly non-theistic belief system wouldn't have a deity to hand down commandments from on high. As such, any kind of dogma would be based on people's interpretation of the philosophy. Hey, Objectivism is about as non-theistic as you can get, and one of its central tenets is that you don't question its central tenets. That's pretty good!
A non-theistic belief system has to be about something specific. It could be wiccan in nature, and be about, uh, nature. Or it could be about personal freedom, or the glory of combat (Klingonism), or something. Decide what your central tenet is, then build from there.
 

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There are many atheist groups that aren't categorized as religions, but I don't know if they would help, as they in general don't have any metaphysical beliefs. For atheists groups and freethought groups, a quick google brings up this list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_secularist_organizations#United_States

What you might find the most interesting is Sunday Assembly, a brand-new (in historical terms) movement started only a couple years ago (and I've attended for most of that time) - it has many of the trappings of a modern church (it strives to be positive - I think of it as sort of a pep rally for secular life), but caters to "the one live we know we have:"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Assembly
https://sundayassembly.com/

There's the Ethical Humanist or Ethical Culture societies, organized like churches (they also do weddings and funerals/memorial services) and they even have the same religious exemptions as churches - they've been around for many decades, though there are very few of them (much fewer than Sunday Assembly groups!):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_movement

There are some actual religions that rather than being non-religious are "less religious" than mainstream religions that it might be useful to study. I'm thinking specifically of Unitarian Universalism (which I've sort-of been a member for many years, but am lapsing). While the origins of both parts (the two groups merged in 1961) were originally Christian, they became more and more liberal (I think politically as well as in their interpretations of Biblical writings), and most UUs don't consider themselves Christians. Many or most have various "new age" beliefs, and some are atheists, but I was told it was majority atheist several decades ago. It's more of a "we encourage you in your spiritual growth" thing than having a common religious belief, and social justice (helping disaster victims, marching against "hate groups") is also an important part.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_universalist
http://uua.org

There appears to be a lot in common with UUs and Ethical Humanists (UUs, and I presume Ethical Humanists, supported gay unions/marriages long before it was "cool"), but Ethical Humanists are totally secular (and have no mention of God), whereas UUs are only partly secular, and DO mention God but understand members have differing beliefs of what God is.
 

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sunandshadow

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What you might find the most interesting is Sunday Assembly, a brand-new (in historical terms) movement started only a couple years ago (and I've attended for most of that time) - it has many of the trappings of a modern church (it strives to be positive - I think of it as sort of a pep rally for secular life), but caters to "the one live we know we have:"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Assembly
https://sundayassembly.com/

There's the Ethical Humanist or Ethical Culture societies, organized like churches (they also do weddings and funerals/memorial services) and they even have the same religious exemptions as churches - they've been around for many decades, though there are very few of them (much fewer than Sunday Assembly groups!):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_movement
Those are both something like what I was looking for, thank you! I'll follow the links and read some more about them. :)

The first problem you'd have is that a truly non-theistic belief system wouldn't have a deity to hand down commandments from on high. As such, any kind of dogma would be based on people's interpretation of the philosophy. Hey, Objectivism is about as non-theistic as you can get, and one of its central tenets is that you don't question its central tenets. That's pretty good!

A non-theistic belief system has to be about something specific. It could be wiccan in nature, and be about, uh, nature. Or it could be about personal freedom, or the glory of combat (Klingonism), or something. Decide what your central tenet is, then build from there.
Hmm, I don't think the fact that commandments don't come from on high would really be a problem for a non-theistic belief system. There are plenty of historical examples of philosophers who had a cult of personality. Some of them held religious positions, but others had secular jobs like teacher or adviser to a ruler. If I do end up making up a religion, I could give it an equivalent of the Talmud and the popular activity to quote various Rabbis against each other to dispute a topic, and also use the book as a source for 'sermons' aka pep rally speeches, legal arguments, and political speeches. And as far as religions go, though they may have a theme, I think it's important that they have advice on all aspects of "how to live" , "how to act", and "what to think". Well-rounded religions seem more useful and less easily forgotten.
 

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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.

I personally think you're heading down a strange road here. "Atheism" means "doesn't believe in gods". I don't think this implies a belief system any more than not believing in unicorns, or not stamp collecting.

I agree with Angry Guy. If the character has a "belief system", it's inspired by something other than a lack of god-belief, or it's not realistic.
 

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I personally think you're heading down a strange road here. "Atheism" means "doesn't believe in gods". I don't think this implies a belief system any more than not believing in unicorns, or not stamp collecting.

I agree with Angry Guy. If the character has a "belief system", it's inspired by something other than a lack of god-belief, or it's not realistic.
All humans have belief systems, atheists are no exception. If you didn't have a belief system you'd have no way of making judgments about what was a good thing to do or a bad thing to do. For example, many atheists believe that torturing animals is generally a bad thing, not an appropriate recreational activity. Similarly, many atheists believe that if you can save someone's life at no cost to yourself you ought to do so. Why do they believe these things? Partly it's what the culture they were born int believes, and partly they have individually thought about the philosophy behind these beliefs.

An atheist belief system is only an unusual idea because, if you don't count the various Indian ones, we happen to have a lack of historical atheist cultures which evolved a group belief system that wasn't lost to history. But certainly such a system would be inspired by something other than a lack of belief in gods. Cultural respect for famous wise historical figures can, as I was saying above, do very nicely as the glue of an atheist belief system.
 

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All humans have belief systems, atheists are no exception.

I don't dispute that.

As an atheist myself, I believe some things as a result of being ex-Catholic. I believe some things as a result of being a white liberal born in 20th century America of middle-class parents. But my atheism doesn't result in a "belief system". I don't imagine I could find a dozen fellow atheists across the world and we'd agree on much except "we don't believe in gods".

I can definitely imagine belief systems that aren't centered on religious beliefs. If that's what you mean by "atheist belief systems" -- no religion present -- then apologies; I was taking you too literally! I just wouldn't think of them as belief systems "for atheists", any more than they're belief systems for people who don't paint, or don't collect stamps. See what I mean?
 
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Teinz

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It's also important to make a distinction between a belief system and ritual. Religion encompasses both. I think the need for ritual is what drives people to attend, for instance, the Sunday Assembly BenBradley referenced. People might not need a belief system, but the need for ritual is much harder to eradicate.
 

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All humans have belief systems, atheists are no exception.

My point, though, was that if you are going to posit some form of organized or generally accepted belief or philosophical system that isn't handed down from on high, then it has to have had some origin (your cult of personality suggestion is one such) and it has to have a theme, or catchy concept, or central tenet. Or something. It's been said that getting atheists pulling in the same direction is like herding cats, only less satisfying. I tend to agree with that. One of the common characteristics of atheists is that we tend to be individualists. Goes with the territory, I think. So your religion has to be attractive to those types of people, and it has to have a hook to attract the groupie-types. And sorry, but "be excellent to each other" probably won't cut it.
So, the first question should be, what are you going to offer to bring them in the door?
 

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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.

Consider Marxist Communism as your religion. It is a more or less organized philosophy, and it is atheistic. Marxists have meetings and interact in formalized ways. There probably are even some ceremonies that they do, but I can't think of any. There are offshoots of Communism or Marxism that as more doctrinaire than the strictest religion, and they have sanctions against heretics. What fun!
 

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Or ... consider what a democracy is. We hold to certain standards and beliefs that may or may not have a religious justification. Freedom of speech. The right to bear arms. Laws around slander and libel.

Heck, for that matter the community that we are in right now - AW - is itself a system with rules and standards that don't necessarily relate to religion. We have rules around trolling, spamming, RYFW and so on. These rules have evolved over time and are still evolving, but they didn't come from a religion or a belief in a higher power.

The thing with rules like this is that they start out by being invented by someone. Then they become so deeply ingrained in what we do that we forget that they were made up in the first place. We start to think of them as absolute truths. When something becomes so well known we tend to forget the times before it was invented.

You don't need to go delving into the more obscure corners of wikipedia to find non religious belief systems. Just look at ourselves.
 

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All humans have belief systems, atheists are no exception. If you didn't have a belief system you'd have no way of making judgments about what was a good thing to do or a bad thing to do.

An atheist belief system is only an unusual idea because, if you don't count the various Indian ones, we happen to have a lack of historical atheist cultures which evolved a group belief system that wasn't lost to history.

Being an Atheist, I kind of feel that there is something wrong with your reasoning here. I think that we humans have an innate feeling of "right v/s wrong" in general. But some of us, like me, do not feel the urge to explain this as if comes from 'outside' ourselves. It's just there. If you look to the animal kingdom, they too seem to have this capability. And I challenge you to explain why, for instance, one sow eats her offspring and the other doesn't. I highly doubt that the pigs of the Earth have religion or not. It is just something that one does, and the other doesn't.

I also would like to add that if you really would like to describe a "true" atheist, you would sound sort of false in trying to attach some kind of belief-system to that character. Since atheists, like me for instance, do not have one.

Personally, I hesitate entering a church during ceremonies because I do not wish to offend the believers by my being there. I do not, however, hesitate to enter a church to admire it's architecture. I have no belief system. Not because I have left a religion for whatever reason, but because I simply haven't found anything to believe in.

I think that you need to realize that there are a lot of atheists out there, who are happy not believing, and who also do not conform to some kind of "organized atheistic" belief, making them religioulsy anti-religious. I would describe myself as one. If there are no others out there, who think like me, I am sorry if I have stepped on someones atheistic toe.

As a conclusion, what I tried to say with all this, is that I believe that atheists on a whole are not evil monsters without feelings. We are humans, without a need for a label, but with our morals and ethics intact.
 
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There is a subset of Paganism called naturalistic Paganism or atheistic Paganism that reveres the processes of nature, may allow for metaphysical practices/magical practices, but that does not believe in any innate God or any innate moral directive. I recommend you look into that - there are some good posts about it on Patheos and Pagan Square.
 

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All humans have belief systems, atheists are no exception.

No. Introversion was right in saying that the only thing you can tell about an atheist is that he or she does not believe in any deity. All humans have a worldview made up of what they've been exposed to by chance, what they've sought out with purpose, and what they've kept and rejected as prescriptive from both of those subsets, and because all atheists are humans, they too will have a worldview. That's not the same as a belief system.
 

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No. Introversion was right in saying that the only thing you can tell about an atheist is that he or she does not believe in any deity. All humans have a worldview made up of what they've been exposed to by chance, what they've sought out with purpose, and what they've kept and rejected as prescriptive from both of those subsets, and because all atheists are humans, they too will have a worldview. That's not the same as a belief system.

Agreed.

This reminds me of someone I know who claimed that because I went to the local "godless heathens" meetup at a pub to hang out with some like-minded people and have a glass of wine, it was like going to church with like-minded people, and therefore I was religious too.
 

sgcassidy

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Alright, atheist's , like myself, just don't believe there is an imaginary deity in the sky. We are scientists, humanists, not cultist. We respect your view and everyone else's view. Atheist countries like the Scandinavian countries are the most peaceful, best educated, happiest people on earth. (Google it)If you have ever read the Bible, Koran or Torah cover to cover and took it literally you'd be in jail. Those books are read by my ilk as a metaphorical lesson where we learn this secret: be nice to everyone, don't steal their stuff, kill them or rape them. But also we measure those books against the imperial evidence. No, the earth is more than 6000 years old, dinosaurs and humans did not co-exist and climb together on the Ark two by two.
Here's my point, if you want to believe that , I'm good with that, all Atheists are good with that. You see we don't start wars over it, never have, never will. If you dissect the western world's wars, at the center is always religion. Hey Hitler was a Christian, the dark ages= Christian.
Right now Muslims, Jews and Christians are killing each other in droves, the Atheists, eh not so much.
If there is a third world war who amongst us doesn't believe it won't stem from the middle east? The seat of western religion.

Go to Facebook and look at The Thinking Atheist, Friendly Atheist, Atheism, Skepticism and Critical Thinking, Atheist Quote of the Day, American Atheists.

if you are looking for an edgy character maybe someone affiliated with Santeria or Voodoo. A Satanic cult byproduct?

Most Atheists are just mellow, non judgmental, glass of beer or wine type of people.
 

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Perhaps what you are looking for is not a religion, but a personal code?

Or do you specifically want her to have a "spiritual" community to be part of, where there is a common code of sorts? Are her beliefs personally derived or community-derived?

Unitarian Universalists are what I originally thought of upon reading your post, though they are more into tolerating and accepting many beliefs than they are into prescribing beliefs to others.

I have several atheist/agnostic friends who enjoy naturalistic rituals usually associated with the various forms of paganism, but I'd personally shy away from paganism as a belief system for an atheist character because people who are actually pagan take their religion quite seriously. It's not just a fluffy, feel good about the solstice, thing for them like it appears to be for my atheist/agnostic friends. It's like the difference between doing yoga for exercise and doing yoga as a form of worship.
 

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WELL WRITTEN SYLVA, we are a warm and fluffy bunch.
 

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As this is spec fic there is nothing to prevent there from being what would read as an atheist religion. That is a core belief and customary practices that all members are expected to follow, that is not deist. The only thing that would need to be nailed down is why people hold this core belief (i.e. not to get to heaven by pleasing God) and what is is. Given this is not a real world setting that could be pretty much anything.
 

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I would suggest a hearty, detailed look at Eastern religions, which have a quite a lot of room for let theistic modes of thought. For you character in particular, might I mention taking some ideas from Confucianism, which is far more concerned with the here and now and the structuring of social orders, with little mysticism. Not a religion per se, but sometimes lumped as one. Also, Taoism would be pretty amenable if she's less structured in her approach, though the outlooks are not exclusive. Also, maybe OT, but your MC sounds like she would fit in in Iain Bank's Culture, which is uber-materialistic but approaches a zeal and authority often religious in its certainty.
 

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Have you considered Epicurus? He advocated a value system which is very close to what is known as humanism today. Here is a useful link.
http://www.epicurus.net/
You should find more if you google it.
The problem with Eastern religions is that they are religions. They may not believe in a God but they have other beliefs which are equally unprovable.
 

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I have been absent for about a month and forgotten how wonderful everyone is on this site. I finished my first novel and am on to the dreaded query letter. This subject caught my eye. Kudos to everyone that responds so caringly and knowledgably.......This is by far the best writers site.:hooray:
 
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