#non religious

[a-typical]

If god is unable to prevent evil, then he is not all-powerful.

If god is not willing to prevent evil, then he is not all-good.

If god is both willing and able to prevent evil, then why does evil exist?

If god created everything then that means he created evil. And if that is the case what does that say about god?

#atheism #atheist #agnostic #antireligion #anti religion #agnosticism #godless #exchristian #anti theism #anti theist #nonreligious #non religious #religious trauma #secularism #religion #atypicalreads #books #intelligent design #mythology #checkmate theists

[historyandarthijinks]

You're valid for...

Turning to religion

Turning away from religion

Changing religions

Changing religions beliefs

Changing religious dominions/subgroups

Changing religious levels

Becoming non-religious

Not believing in religious at all

Acknowledging cults and the danger of cults, including political and religious cults

Wanting a religious group to pay the consequences of their actions

Escaping a cult

Being victim of a cult

Viewing religion different due to trauma

Participating in religious rituals

Participating in religious holidays

Taking part in cultural holidays that stems from religion

You're Not Valid for...

Pushing your religious beliefs onto others

Telling others that their god(s) are fake to their face

Pushing non-religious beliefs onto others

Believing that religion has no cultural significance

Disrespecting a religious site

Forcing someone to attend a religious ritual

Forcing someone to take part in a religion based holiday

Using religion as an excuse to violate and ignore human rights

Thinking someone outside your religious beliefs are lesser

Being prejudiced and discriminatory in the name of religion or non-religion

Being an asshole

Being awful to people of specific religious or non religious beliefs

#religion #non religious #theism #atheism #antisemitism #ex cult

[ang3l-v0id-child]

I like to remind myself that one day, the great stars will die, the earth will crumble to nothingness and I will return to the G.R.3.A.T_V.0.1.D that I once was.

#void kin #voidkin #voidpunk #otherkin community #otherkin #otherkind #nonehumanity #nonehuman #nonhumanity #nonhuman #posthuman #otherkinity #non religious #no religion #gothic #alterbeing #alterhuman community #alterhuman #alterhumanity #void child

[immortalthings]

Surprise attack!

Going to a catholic school didn't make me more Christian,

It made me want to be less Christian!

#ex catholic #ex christian #athiest #non religious #my posts

[squeesquoo]

Whoops 😬

#whoops #easter memes #easter #non religious #ex religious #ex religious memes #no hate to religious folks though #meme #memes #shitpost #shit post #shitposting #shit posting #funny #humor #ex lutheran #ex catholic #my parents were both #but not really practicing #actually autistic #autistic adult #autism #autistic things #autistic artist

[civanticism]

#nones #non religious #religion

[netscapenavigator-official]

I don’t see how being religious helps anybody out. Like, if I was constantly calling out to someone (whom I was under the impression cared about me) for help, and they constantly ignored me, that would crush my soul WAY faster than just feeling alone.

#rambles #religion #non religious #atheism

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

I love you non religious people who still cling to religion

Non religious people who go to church, because it brings them comfort, who pray not out of belief but for themselves, who have not read the Bible but sometimes wish to do it, in the way you would a normal book, simply to know all the stories, or opposite to that, non religious people who have read the Bible and know all the stories and even tho they might not believe in them, they still are glad to know them, who cling to a specific religious figure, Jesus Christ, Mary, a saint, or Bible character, who keep religious things (a rosary, a little statue, etc) because it was passed down to them or it was a gift, who hold it tight when in need of reassurance, who’s country is and has always been religious, so religion makes them feel closer to their culture and ancestors. Non religious people who don’t believe, either never did or not anymore, but still, still.

(btw this is applicable to every religion)

#religion #non religious #catholiscism #me and the Virgin Mary #girl I might not believe in you but I’ll always love you

[scribbyizback]

Here's the reminder that religion isn't bad. Being non religious isn't bad. Both are perfectly fine. They should be able to coexist. You can be religious. You can be non religious. Religion is something you should feel comfort in. If you don't, no matter the reason, you should be able to leave. Religion should not be used against someone else. You should not force it upon someone. But it is a good thing to have, if that's what you enjoy and believe in. Science and religion, philosophy and religion, atheists and religious people, separate religions, we should all be able to look at each other and get along just fine. Do not criminalize people who believe in something, or people who don't.

Ok stay safe <3

#religion #atheist #non religious #philosophy

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Jacqui Frost

Published: Jan 11, 2024

Shared testimonies, collective singing, silent meditation and baptism rituals – these are all activities you might find at a Christian church service on a Sunday morning in the United States. But what would it look like if atheists were gathering to do these rituals instead?

Today, almost 30% of adults in the United States say they have no religious affiliation, and only half attend worship services regularly. But not all forms of church are on the decline – including "secular congregations," or what many call "atheist churches."

As a sociologist of religion who has spent the past 10 years studying nonreligious communities, I have found that atheist churches serve many of the same purposes as religious churches. Their growth is evidence that religious decline does not necessarily mean a decline in community, ritual or people's well-being.

What is an atheist church?

Secular congregations often mimic religious organizations by using the language and structure of a "church," such as meeting on Sundays or hearing a member's "testimony," or by adapting religious language or practices in other ways.

For example, there are a growing number of psychedelic churches, which cater to people looking to experience spirituality and ritual through drug use.

There are also secular organizations that promote the idea that people can live forever, such as the Church of Perpetual Life. Members believe they can achieve immortality on Earth through radical life-extension technologies such as gene editing or cryonic preservation – freezing bodies after death in hopes that they can someday be resuscitated.

These secular congregations often appeal to atheists and other secular people, but their main purpose is not promoting atheism.

However, "atheist church" organizations like the Sunday Assembly and the Oasis explicitly celebrate atheists' identities and beliefs, even though not everyone who attends identifies as an atheist. Testimonies and activities extol values like rational thinking and materialist philosophies, which promote the idea that only physical matter exists.

[ British comedian Sanderson Jones leads the Sunday Assembly, a "godless congregation" for atheists that started in England, at Wooly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C. ]

There are also long-standing humanist and ethical communities that promote secular worldviews and provide secular ceremonies for major life transitions, like births, funerals and weddings. The American Humanist Association, for example, describes its values as "Good without a God." And for decades, Unitarian Universalist congregations, which grew out of Christian movements, have drawn on teachings from both religious and nonreligious traditions, without imposing specific creeds of their own.

But there has been a recent rise in secular congregations that explicitly mimic religious organizations and rituals to celebrate atheistic worldviews. Many have just one or two chapters, such as the Seattle Atheist Church and the North Texas Church of Freethought.

However, Sunday Assembly and the Oasis have networks with dozens of chapters, and Sunday Assembly has been dubbed the "first atheist mega-church". Many chapters of Sunday Assembly see hundreds of attendees at their services.

Testimonies, singalongs – but nothing supernatural

Many features of atheist churches in the U.S. are directly borrowed from religious organizations. At Sunday Assembly, where I spent three years doing research, services include collective singing, reading inspirational texts, silent reflection and collecting donations. They center around a central lecture given by a member of the congregation or a member of the larger local community. I attended one service where an astronomer gave a talk about the New Horizons spacecraft's mission to Pluto. At another service, a member of a local community garden organization talked about building community through her community garden program.

Atheist church organizers I met told me that they intentionally borrow the structure of a church because they see it as a good model for building effective rituals and communities. More generally, the structure of a "congregation" is popular and familiar to most attendees.

However, there are key differences. Sunday Assembly has no hierarchical structure, and there is no pastor or minister, meaning that decisions are made by the community. Attendees share duties for running the services and finding speakers and readings.

The other key difference is the complete lack of reference to the supernatural. Lectures and rituals I have encountered at atheist church services are centered around affirming atheistic beliefs, celebrating science, cultivating experiences of awe and wonder for nature, and creating communities of support.

Sociologists of religion call these practices "sacralizing the secular" and "secular spirituality": activities that enable nonreligious people to express their shared beliefs and cultivate a sense of belonging and purpose.

[ British comedians Sanderson Jones, right, and Pippa Evans, second from left, co-founders of The Sunday Assembly, an atheist service held at a converted church, lead the congregation in song during a service in north London, on March 3, 2013. Echoing with joyful song and with a congregation bent on leading better lives, this London church is like any other — except there's no mention of God. ]

One example is collective singing: borrowing a familiar aspect of religious services that can give members a sense of transcendence. Most Sunday Assembly chapters have church bands that lead singalongs to pop songs like "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi and "Brave" by Sara Bareilles. When the astronomer talked to Sunday Assembly about NASA's mission to Pluto, the congregation sang "Across the Universe" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by the Beatles to reinforce their reverence for the vastness of the universe.

Another borrowed ritual is the sharing of testimony. Many Sunday Assembly services involve a member standing in front of the congregation to share something they learned recently, to express gratitude, or to affirm their atheistic beliefs by sharing why they left religion.

Some atheist communities, although not Sunday Assembly, even engage in "debaptism" ceremonies in which they renounce their former religion. Some atheists I interviewed sent their debaptism certificates to their former churches as a way of solidifying their new nonreligious identity.

Change ahead?

As rates of religious affiliation continue to decline, many scholars and pundits have argued that there will be a decline in community engagement and other important indicators of well-being, such as health, happiness and people's sense of meaning and purpose.

However, atheist churches are an example of how nonreligious Americans are finding new ways to meet those needs. A member of Sunday Assembly told me: "I honestly can't think of a word to describe it. I mean, 'life-changing' sounds stupid, but Sunday Assembly just helped so much. I've always struggled with depression, and I'm so much happier now that I have this group of friends who share my beliefs and who are trying to do good out in the world with me."

[ Members of the congregation attend as British comedians Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans, co-founders of The Sunday Assembly, an atheist service held at a converted church, lead the service in north London, on March 3, 2013. Non-believers worldwide have contacted organizers to ask how they can set up their own branch. ]

Atheist churches are still fairly new, but studies have shown that participation in them and other types of atheist organizations can bring social and emotional benefits. In particular, it can help atheists buffer the negative effects of experiencing stigma or discrimination.

Whether the atheist church trend will continue remains to be seen. But such churches' recent growth is evidence that they can work much like religious organizations to build community, cultivate rituals and bolster well-being in a time of religious change.

==

Yeah, I don't know about this.

#Jacqui Frost #atheism #atheist church #secular #secular congregation #decline of religion #rise of the nones #leaving religion #empty the pews #secularism #no religion #irreligion #non religious #religion is a mental illness

[a-typical]

It is, when you think about it, remarkable that a religion should adopt an instrument of torture and execution as its sacred symbol, often worn around the neck. Lenny Bruce rightly quipped that 'If Jesus had been killed twenty years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses.' But the theology and punishment-theory behind it is even worse. The sin of Adam and Eve is thought to have passed down the male line - transmitted in the semen according to Augustine. What kind of ethical philosophy is it that condemns every child, even before it is born, to inherit the sin of a remote ancestor? Augustine, by the way, who rightly regarded himself as something of a personal authority on sin, was responsible for  coining the phrase 'original sin'. Before him it was known as 'ancestral sin'. Augustine's pronouncements and debates epitomize, for me, the unhealthy preoccupation of early Christian theologians with sin. They could have devoted their pages and their sermons to extolling the sky splashed with stars, or mountains and green forests, seas and dawn choruses. These are occasionally mentioned, but the Christian focus is overwhelmingly on sin sin sin sin sin sin sin. What a nasty little preoccupation to have dominating your life.

#Richard Dawkins #The God Delusion #atheism #atheist #agnostic #antireligion #anti religion #agnosticism #godless #exchristian #anti theism #anti theist #nonreligious #non religious #religious trauma #secularism #religion #atypicalreads #books #intelligent design

[estellamiraiauthor]

Random question for any religious folks out therr (particularly Christians, but I’m open to advice from anyone with a perspective !)

I have a friend who is the type who asks for prayers when someone she loves is going through a hard time, who says “Sending prayers” if someone else posts a sad or worrisome status.

As a non religious person, I appreciate that. I don’t pray, but she does, and so I appreciate her praying for me. But when it’s the other way around, I’m never sure what to say to her. To a non-religious friend, I usually say “sending positive vibes” or “sending happy thoughts,” but I also know that Christians believe specifically in the power of prayer, for me to ask God to help with whatever is wrong rather than just sending happy thoughts through the universe, and that saying something like that could come across as like… IDK, giving someone a coupon when they need cash, or suggesting yoga for their chronic condition? But if I say I’m praying for her that would be a lie, because I DON’T believe in prayer and don’t do it.

Which leaves me with things like “Good luck!” or “I hope you feel better soon!” which probably aren’t going to offend anyone but also feel weak compared to either positive vibes or prayers?

IDK, what do religious people want from their non-religious friends at times like that? Should I just say nothing? But I don’t want her to think I’m not thinking of her or that I just didn’t see her status….☹️

#help #advice needed #non religious #non religious problems #Christianity #all opinions welcome

[juni-the-cricket]

i made a tree :D 🎄

i think you can leave messages and add ornaments never done this before though

#age regression #agere blog #age regressor #agere #sfw age regression #agere sfw #christmas #non religious #just for fun

[curateyourcraft]

Are there more witches out there who aren't Wican/Pagan/religious? I don't believe in deities, gods, goddesses, or any sort of higher being at all. I believe the universe is vast and full of random occurences, like our existence. I have no problem with those who idntify their craft with religion, just want to see more witches who don't associate the two together. Sometimes it's hard to feel like I belong and to find inspiration for my own craft when I see so many witches talking about the religious aspect since I am atheist.

#witchcraft #witch #secular witch #atheist witch #atheist #spirituality #non religious #yes they are different

[wagonlitcommunitytheatregroup]

To my fellow atheists,

Please be wary of living your life JUST in opposition to religion. Take it from an older atheist, it will not help you. The brick walls you are running into fighting with religious people, you will continue to run into them. And it will get harder and harder.

Now this isn't to say stop talking about it alltogether. Don't hide yourself or your beliefs. If someone broaches the subject or wants to have that talk approach them with respect and honesty. But don't make it your life's work. There WILL be some who hear what you tell them in respect and honesty and it will plant a seed that will help them later on. But, to use a really weak metaphor, if you are asking people to come to your castle by constantly firing arrows from the walls, nobody will want to come to your castle.

You've done so well escaping or avoiding the suffocating brain death of religion. Now take your life and remember to live some of it for yourself. Help others, be kind, be a good human, but don't let yourself be defined by what you aren't. Leave what you aren't behind you. Embrace what you are and live the full life you have. You deserve it.

(Before somebody tries to come at me, of course we need to fight against religious fascism in all its forms but you still should divorce your identity from being just someone who opposes things)

#atheism #atheist #atheist advice #old atheist #non religious #anti religion #deconversion #deconstruction

[pixelprinxe]

You see as an idiot, 😂 no but actually though I don’t think I ever celebrated the religious part of holidays??? Like yeah I knew Christmas was Jesus birth but beyond knowing it, I never went to church or kissed the baby Jesus. so when someone said they don’t celebrate Easter bcuz they’re not religious I was like “…what???” Funnily enough the most “religious” holiday that applies to me now is actually Halloween because as a Wiccan that’s like my new years? And I wanted to like light a candle for my grandparents but idk didn’t manage to… maybe this year I’ll actually try harder tho I don’t know where I’ll end being this year

#Wiccan #non religious #holidays #Easter #Halloween