Category Archives: Atheism

If you watched the inauguration earlier this month, then, like me, perhaps you thought the most memorable part of it was the poem read by Amanda Gorman.

Writer Kate Cohen loved that segment, too, and she writes in the Washington Post that Gormans piece had an added benefit: It showed how spoken words could be emotional, powerful, patriotic, and uplifting without being a prayer.

The formal benediction and invocation were full of lofty language about God, but Gormans piece, while including religious references, achieved the intended effect without centering itself around anything supernatural.

Delivered with clarity and conviction, it enlisted scripture both biblical (Micah) and theatrical (Miranda). It acknowledged the darkness that surrounds us and called on us to press on, to face the many tasks that remain to us as Americans:

When day comes, we step out of the shade / Aflame and unafraid / The new dawn blooms as we free it / For there is always light / If only were brave enough to see it / If only were brave enough to be it.

Gormans poem didnt mention God. But in its incantatory power and its grandeur of vision, in speaking to and for each of us congregated in that moment, it was a prayer indeed.

All the more reason future events like the inauguration should just have more poets and fewer priests. (This applies to everything, really.)

Cohen, by the way, has written other pieces about atheism in unexpected places.

(Image via Shutterstock)

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Amanda Gorman's Secular Poetry Was Far More Inspiring Than the Inaugural Prayers - Friendly Atheist - Patheos

Atheism as rejection of religious beliefs

A central, common core of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is the affirmation of the reality of one, and only one, God. Adherents of these faiths believe that there is a God who created the universe out of nothing and who has absolute sovereignty over all his creation; this includes, of course, human beingswho are not only utterly dependent on this creative power but also sinful and who, or so the faithful must believe, can only make adequate sense of their lives by accepting, without question, Gods ordinances for them. The varieties of atheism are numerous, but all atheists reject such a set of beliefs.

Atheism, however, casts a wider net and rejects all belief in spiritual beings, and to the extent that belief in spiritual beings is definitive of what it means for a system to be religious, atheism rejects religion. So atheism is not only a rejection of the central conceptions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; it is, as well, a rejection of the religious beliefs of such African religions as that of the Dinka and the Nuer, of the anthropomorphic gods of classical Greece and Rome, and of the transcendental conceptions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Generally atheism is a denial of God or of the gods, and if religion is defined in terms of belief in spiritual beings, then atheism is the rejection of all religious belief.

It is necessary, however, if a tolerably adequate understanding of atheism is to be achieved, to give a reading to rejection of religious belief and to come to realize how the characterization of atheism as the denial of God or the gods is inadequate.

To say that atheism is the denial of God or the gods and that it is the opposite of theism, a system of belief that affirms the reality of God and seeks to demonstrate his existence, is inadequate in a number of ways. First, not all theologians who regard themselves as defenders of the Christian faith or of Judaism or Islam regard themselves as defenders of theism. The influential 20th-century Protestant theologian Paul Tillich, for example, regards the God of theism as an idol and refuses to construe God as a being, even a supreme being, among beings or as an infinite being above finite beings. God, for him, is being-itself, the ground of being and meaning. The particulars of Tillichs view are in certain ways idiosyncratic, as well as being obscure and problematic, but they have been influential; and his rejection of theism, while retaining a belief in God, is not eccentric in contemporary theology, though it may very well affront the plain believer.

Second, and more important, it is not the case that all theists seek to demonstrate or even in any way rationally to establish the existence of God. Many theists regard such a demonstration as impossible, and fideistic believers (e.g., Johann Hamann and Sren Kierkegaard) regard such a demonstration, even if it were possible, as undesirable, for in their view it would undermine faith. If it could be proved, or known for certain, that God exists, people would not be in a position to accept him as their sovereign Lord humbly on faith with all the risks that entails. There are theologians who have argued that for genuine faith to be possible God must necessarily be a hidden God, the mysterious ultimate reality, whose existence and authority must be accepted simply on faith. This fideistic view has not, of course, gone without challenge from inside the major faiths, but it is of sufficient importance to make the above characterization of atheism inadequate.

Sren Kierkegaard, drawing by Christian Kierkegaard, c. 1840; in a private collection.

Finally, and most important, not all denials of God are denials of his existence. Believers sometimes deny God while not being at all in a state of doubt that God exists. They either willfully reject what they take to be his authority by not acting in accordance with what they take to be his will, or else they simply live their lives as if God did not exist. In this important way they deny him. Such deniers are not atheists (unless we wish, misleadingly, to call them practical atheists). They are not even agnostics. They do not question that God exists; they deny him in other ways. An atheist denies the existence of God. As it is frequently said, atheists believe that it is false that God exists, or that Gods existence is a speculative hypothesis of an extremely low order of probability.

Yet it remains the case that such a characterization of atheism is inadequate in other ways. For one it is too narrow. There are atheists who believe that the very concept of God, at least in developed and less anthropomorphic forms of Judeo-Christianity and Islam, is so incoherent that certain central religious claims, such as God is my creator to whom everything is owed, are not genuine truth-claims; i.e., the claims could not be either true or false. Believers hold that such religious propositions are true, some atheists believe that they are false, and there are agnostics who cannot make up their minds whether to believe that they are true or false. (Agnostics think that the propositions are one or the other but believe that it is not possible to determine which.) But all three are mistaken, some atheists argue, for such putative truth-claims are not sufficiently intelligible to be genuine truth-claims that are either true or false. In reality there is nothing in them to be believed or disbelieved, though there is for the believer the powerful and humanly comforting illusion that there is. Such an atheism, it should be added, rooted for some conceptions of God in considerations about intelligibility and what it makes sense to say, has been strongly resisted by some pragmatists and logical empiricists.

While the above considerations about atheism and intelligibility show the second characterization of atheism to be too narrow, it is also the case that this characterization is in a way too broad. For there are fideistic believers, who quite unequivocally believe that when looked at objectively the proposition that God exists has a very low probability weight. They believe in God not because it is probable that he existsthey think it more probable that he does notbut because belief is thought by them to be necessary to make sense of human life. The second characterization of atheism does not distinguish a fideistic believer (a Blaise Pascal or a Soren Kierkegaard) or an agnostic (a T.H. Huxley or a Sir Leslie Stephen) from an atheist such as Baron dHolbach. All believe that there is a God and God protects humankind, however emotionally important they may be, are speculative hypotheses of an extremely low order of probability. But this, since it does not distinguish believers from nonbelievers and does not distinguish agnostics from atheists, cannot be an adequate characterization of atheism.

Blaise Pascal, engraving by Henry Hoppner Meyer, 1833.

It may be retorted that to avoid apriorism and dogmatic atheism the existence of God should be regarded as a hypothesis. There are no ontological (purely a priori) proofs or disproofs of Gods existence. It is not reasonable to rule in advance that it makes no sense to say that God exists. What the atheist can reasonably claim is that there is no evidence that there is a God, and against that background he may very well be justified in asserting that there is no God. It has been argued, however, that it is simply dogmatic for an atheist to assert that no possible evidence could ever give one grounds for believing in God. Instead, atheists should justify their unbelief by showing (if they can) how the assertion is well-taken that there is no evidence that would warrant a belief in God. If atheism is justified, the atheist will have shown that in fact there is no adequate evidence for the belief that God exists, but it should not be part of his task to try to show that there could not be any evidence for the existence of God. If the atheist could somehow survive the death of his present body (assuming that such talk makes sense) and come, much to his surprise, to stand in the presence of God, his answer should be, Oh! Lord, you didnt give me enough evidence! He would have been mistaken, and realize that he had been mistaken, in his judgment that God did not exist. Still, he would not have been unjustified, in the light of the evidence available to him during his earthly life, in believing as he did. Not having any such postmortem experiences of the presence of God (assuming that he could have them), what he should say, as things stand and in the face of the evidence he actually has and is likely to be able to get, is that it is false that God exists. (Every time one legitimately asserts that a proposition is false one need not be certain that it is false. Knowing with certainty is not a pleonasm.) The claim is that this tentative posture is the reasonable position for the atheist to take.

An atheist who argues in this manner may also make a distinctive burden-of-proof argument. Given that God (if there is one) is by definition a very recherch realitya reality that must be (for there to be such a reality) transcendent to the worldthe burden of proof is not on the atheist to give grounds for believing that there is no reality of that order. Rather, the burden of proof is on the believer to give some evidence for Gods existencei.e., that there is such a reality. Given what God must be, if there is a God, the theist needs to present the evidence, for such a very strange reality. He needs to show that there is more in the world than is disclosed by common experience. The empirical method, and the empirical method alone, such an atheist asserts, affords a reliable method for establishing what is in fact the case. To the claim of the theist that there are in addition to varieties of empirical facts spiritual facts or transcendent facts, such as it being the case that there is a supernatural, self-existent, eternal power, the atheist can assert that such facts have not been shown.

It will, however, be argued by such atheists, against what they take to be dogmatic aprioristic atheists, that the atheist should be a fallibilist and remain open-minded about what the future may bring. There may, after all, be such transcendent facts, such metaphysical realities. It is not that such a fallibilistic atheist is really an agnostic who believes that he is not justified in either asserting that God exists or denying that he exists and that what he must reasonably do is suspend belief. On the contrary, such an atheist believes that he has very good grounds indeed, as things stand, for denying the existence of God. But he will, on the second conceptualization of what it is to be an atheist, not deny that things could be otherwise and that, if they were, he would be justified in believing in God or at least would no longer be justified in asserting that it is false that there is a God. Using reliable empirical techniques, proven methods for establishing matters of fact, the fallibilistic atheist has found nothing in the universe to make a belief that God exists justifiable or even, everything considered, the most rational option of the various options. He therefore draws the atheistical conclusion (also keeping in mind his burden-of-proof argument) that God does not exist. But he does not dogmatically in a priori fashion deny the existence of God. He remains a thorough and consistent fallibilist.

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atheism | Definition, Philosophy, & Comparison to ...

Attendees listen to speakers at the 2012 Reason Rally in Washington, D.C. (Allison Shelley/Getty Images)

Measuring atheism is complicated. Some people who describe themselves as atheists also say they believe in some kind of higher power or spiritual force. At the same time, some of those who identify with a religion (for example, say they are Catholic or Jewish) say they do not believe in God.

One thing is for sure: Along with the rise of religiously unaffiliated Americans many of whom believe in God there has been a corresponding increase in the number of atheists. Here are some key facts about atheists in the United States and around the world:

1 The share of Americans who identify as atheists has increased modestly but significantly in the past decade. Pew Research Center telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019 show that 4% of American adults say they are atheists when asked about their religious identity, up from 2% in 2009. An additional 5% of Americans call themselves agnostics, up from 3% a decade ago.

2 The literal definition of atheist is a person who does not believe in the existence of a god or any gods,according to Merriam-Webster. And the vast majority of U.S. atheists fit this description: 81% say they do not believe in God or a higher power or in a spiritual force of any kind. (Overall, 10% of American adults share this view.) At the same time, roughly one-in-five self-described atheists (18%) say they do believe in some kind of higher power. None of the atheists we surveyed, however, say they believe in God as described in the Bible.

3 Atheists make up a larger share of the population in many European countries than they do in the U.S. In Western Europe, where Pew Research Center surveyed 15 countries in 2017, nearly one-in-five Belgians (19%) identify as atheists, as do 16% in Denmark, 15% in France and 14% in the Netherlands and Sweden. But the European country with perhaps the biggest share of atheists is the Czech Republic, where a quarter of adults identify that way. In neighboring Slovakia, 15% identify as atheists, although in the rest of Central and Eastern Europe, atheists have a smaller presence, despite the historical influence of the officially atheist Soviet Union. Like Americans, Europeans in many countries are more likely to say they do not believe in God than they are to identify as atheists, including two-thirds of Czechs and at least half of Swedish (60%), Belgian (54%) and Dutch adults (53%) who say they do not believe in God. In other regions surveyed by the Center, including Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, atheists generally are much rarer.

4 In the U.S., atheists aremostly men and are relatively young, according to the 2014 Religious Landscape Study. About seven-in-ten U.S. atheists are men (68%). The median age for atheists is 34, compared with 46 for all U.S. adults. Atheists also are more likely to be white (78% vs. 66% of the general public) and highly educated: About four-in-ten atheists (43%) have a college degree, compared with 27% of the general public. Self-identified atheists alsotend to be alignedwith the Democratic Party and with political liberalism.

5 The vast majority of U.S. atheists say religion is not too or not at all important in their lives (93%) and that they seldom or never pray (97%). At the same time, many do not see a contradiction between atheism and pondering their place in the world. About a third of American atheists say they think about the meaning and purpose of life at least weekly (35%), and that they often feel a deep sense of spiritual peace and well-being (31%). In fact,the Religious Landscape Study shows that atheists are more likely than U.S. Christians to saythey often feel a sense of wonder about the universe (54% vs. 45%).

6 Where do atheists find meaning in life? Like a majority of Americans, most atheists mentioned family as a source of meaning when Pew Research Center asked an open-ended question about this in a 2017 survey. But atheists were far more likely than Christians to describe hobbies as meaningful or satisfying (26% vs. 10%). Atheists also were more likely than Americans overall to describe finances and money, creative pursuits, travel, and leisure activities as meaningful. Not surprisingly, very few U.S. atheists (4%) said they found lifes meaning in spirituality.

7 In many cases, being an atheist isnt just about personally rejecting religious labels and beliefs most atheists also express negative views when asked about the role of religion in society. For example, seven-in-ten U.S. atheists say religions influence is declining in American public life, and that this is a good thing (71%), according to a 2019 survey. Fewer than one-in-five U.S. adults overall (17%) share this view. A majority of atheists (70%) also say churches and other religious organizations do more harm than good in society, and an even larger share (93%) say religious institutions have too much influence in U.S. politics.

8 Atheists may not believe religious teachings, but they are quite informed about religion. In Pew Research Centers 2019 religious knowledge survey, atheists were among the best-performing groups, answering an average of about 18 out of 32 fact-based questions correctly, while U.S. adults overall got an average of roughly 14 questions right. Atheists were at least as knowledgeable as Christians on Christianity-related questions roughly eight-in-ten in both groups, for example, know that Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus and they were also twice as likely as Americans overall to know that the U.S. Constitution says no religious test shall be necessary to hold public office.

9 Most Americans (56%) say it isnotnecessary to believe in God to be moral, while 42% say belief in God is necessary to have good values, according to a 2017 survey. In other wealthy countries, smaller shares tend to say that belief in God is essential for good morals, including just 15% in France. But in many other parts of the world, nearly everyone says that a person must believe in God to be moral, including 99% in Indonesia and Ghana and 98% in Pakistan, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center international survey.

10 Americans feel less warmly toward atheists than they do toward members of most major religious groups.A 2019Pew Research Center surveyasked Americans to rate groups on a feeling thermometer from 0 (as cold and negative as possible) to 100 (the warmest, most positive possible rating). U.S. adults gave atheists an average rating of 49, identical to the rating they gave Muslims (49) and colder than the average given to Jews (63), Catholics (60) and evangelical Christians (56).

Note: This is an update of a post originally published on Nov. 5, 2015.

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10 facts about atheists | Pew Research Center

Religion may once have been the opium of the people, but in large swaths of the world the masses have kicked the habit. In countries once dominated by churches characterised by patriarchy, ritual and hierarchy, the pews have emptied and people have found other sources of solace, spirituality and morality.

In the US, those who say they are atheist, agnostic or nothing in particular is up from 17% in 2009 to 26% last year. In Britain, according to the most recent data, more than half the population proclaimed no faith in 2018, a figure that rose from 43% to 52% in a decade.

But there are many different ways of being an unbeliever among them labels such as atheist, agnostic, humanist, free thinker, sceptic, secular and spiritual-but-not-religious. According to Understanding Unbelief, an academic research project based at the University of Kent in Canterbury, unbelief in God doesnt necessarily entail unbelief in other supernatural phenomena Another common supposition that of the purposeless unbeliever, lacking anything to ascribe ultimate meaning to the universe also does not bear scrutiny.

Who are the unbelievers, and what principles guide their lives? Over the course of a year (and pre-pandemic), the British photographer Aubrey Wade met more than 30 people from five countries (the UK, US, Brazil, Japan and Norway) to find out. Belief is a word we use all the time, often without being able to explain precisely what it means, he says. In practice, most people hold at least some conflicting beliefs about the world.

Wade, who describes himself as an atheistic agnostic, says he was struck by how many ways there are of making sense of lifes big questions, with and without a concept of God or gods. For some people, unbelief and religiosity dont go together at all, while for others they are comfortable bedfellows. In Japan, for instance, the distinction isnt even relevant for most people.

The pandemic has given us all reasons to reflect on what gives our lives meaning, he adds. Ive learned that atheist individuals and cultures of unbelief are as diverse as religious ones. What unites them is the drive to seek meaning and purpose in life.

Lola Tinubu, 53, is an atheist and a humanist who lives in London. She is the co-founder of the Association of Black Humanists, a group for people, particularly from the African diaspora, who are free thinkers, nonbelievers, atheists and humanists.

I grew up in a Seventh-Day Adventist family. I had a happy childhood and felt safe, but we were also taught that the outside world was evil. I grew up with a segregated view of the world and a fear of others. My father encouraged me to watch science documentaries with him. After one, he said, Science is fact, but our faith is the truth. That was probably the moment the penny dropped.

It took me nearly three decades to leave the church. When I became non-religious, the first thing I did was look for other black people who had had that experience. People see you as a traitor. They say, Atheism is not African: its a European ideology. A lot of people feel they cant tell their friends. They cant tell anybody. Thats why we formed our organisation.

The way to understand the world is through investigation, science and research. Science can also guide one in making moral decisions. For example, understanding the environment is now a moral issue. Science has shown that all human beings belong to the same species, so we should respect each other.

I dont believe in the supernatural. Everything is within nature. Humanism also includes a kind of philosophy and moral guidance. If theres no ultimate meaning of life, that doesnt mean our existence needs to be meaningless; we can determine for ourselves what is meaningful.

For somebody who rates thinking highly, I nevertheless define myself by the way I feel. My life. My work. I am my feelings. So perhaps thats the meaning of life for me: feeling it.

Adam Cardone, 47, is a stage magician and a reverend in the Church of Satan, New York City. He is an atheistic agnostic: someone who doesnt believe in a deity, while holding that a deitys existence is unknowable.

As a child, I wanted to learn magic tricks. I was a natural performer. When I read the Satanic Bible, I thought, Wow, its describing me. Satanism is an atheistic philosophy that incorporates ritual and magic. It looks like a religious movement in its trappings, but its more of a lifestyle philosophy. Satanists are born. You cant become one.

Our founder, Anton LaVey [author of the Satanic Bible], recognised that humans like ritual; they pine for it. They like symbolism, whether that be superheroes or religion. Religion has been using ritual and symbolism since caveman times. LaVey got rid of the theism and left all the good parts.

We have no formal meeting place. No rules. We get called devil worshippers, but theres no worship. I only know one god and thats me. I am responsible for my own destiny. We dont believe in the Abrahamic conceptions of Satan. He is not my god whom I pray to. He is a reflection of me, of who I am. He is a mirror in which I see myself.

LaVey split magic into two categories: lesser and greater magic. Lesser magic is day-to-day psychology, and how you conduct yourself so that people listen.

Greater magic is what people imagine Satanism to be: lighting candles and incense and ringing gongs and chanting. Ritual transforms you. Its like a magic show designed for yourself. Im my own performance and audience member.

LaVey rode on this grey line of fantasy and reality, which is what, to me, Satanism is. Fantasy is where were able to explore uncomfortable things, new ideas, to map out our psyche in an exaggerated fashion. I think its healthy to do this its like play. Adults lose this, and thats not healthy.

Robert Freudenthal, 34, is a member of a liberal synagogue in London. He describes himself as Jewish but not God-centred. When he got married a few years ago, he decided to explore different ways to think about God.

Although I identify as not believing in God in a religious sense, I am relaxed about the language of God in services or rituals. In Jewish practice, its quite common to have that sort of dissonance. For me, its completely OK to be 100% atheist and still go to religious services. I imagine quite a few members of the synagogue feel the same.

Religious scriptures can help us understand ourselves, the relationships we form, and the world around us. I see God in that situation as just another character in the story, like Moses, or the Pharaohs, or whoever else.

For me, its really important to have a sense of connection with the world around us, whether thats seasonal changes, the natural world, or our history in terms of migration and movement of people. The Jewish calendar and the rituals provide anchor points to reflect on life. Observing them locates me within a community, strengthens my relationships, and encourages me to think about how I can contribute to making the world a better place.

The struggles of previous generations can help us understand whats happening now. The Pesach [Passover] seder, for example, is more about liberation from slavery and the ways in which we were and still are oppressed than about God. Its an opportunity to talk about contemporary issues. This year we included a chilli pepper on the seder plate to represent the climate crisis.

In Judaism theres the concept of repairing the world tikkun olam. Its the idea that social action, doing work in order to help people, can be seen as a form of religious activity. That speaks to me. Being part of a religious community offers music, spirituality and relationships. But more than that, it reminds me Im on a journey to understand myself better and motivates me to help others.

Hedda Frland, 18, is a member of the Humanist Youth Group in Sandnes, Norway. Both secular and Christian confirmation ceremonies remain culturally important in Norway. Wearing a nordlandsbunad, a traditional embroidered costume, Frland took part in a humanist ceremony, the choice of around 18% of 15-year-olds.

When I was a child, I believed in God, but my belief faded. I needed proof. Now I believe in humanity and the good in people.

My parents and older sister had Christian confirmations, but they wanted me to make an educated decision about my faith. Im very grateful that I chose another way. A humanist confirmation involves weekly activities over several months, including a weekend role-play in which you experience what its like to live as a refugee for 24 hours. You learn about values and critical thinking, and about human rights. I began to feel that I, too, could make a difference.

The meaning of life, I think, is to make it the best experience you can, to spread love to those around you. Its important to see the beauty in everything, especially in human beings. A lot of people think theyre not beautiful enough, and that breaks my heart. Your values and personality are the best sides of you.

Ron Millar, 63, from Washington DC, runs the Freethought Equality Fund Political Action Committee, which helps candidates seeking election to public office who openly identify as humanist, atheist and agnostic. In 1988, he was the campaign manager for the first openly gay candidate running for the city council.

I grew up in a fundamentalist church in Pennsylvania. They believed the Bible was the word of God. It was conservative, but it wasnt political they were just a small religious community, and great people.

Now I run the Freethought Equality Fund, which is part of the American Humanist Associations political arm. We endorse candidates, give them money, and try to get more candidates to run as atheists and humanists. We need reason, evidence and compassion in public policy; we cant have it dictated by bronze age notions about how society should work.

In climate change, we have an imminent threat that, if we dont do anything in the next 10 years, is going to change society dramatically and for the worse. In reproductive rights, weve been heading backwards for the past 30 years, and dont know where thats going to end. The backward trend that were doing on voting rights is scary, and we still need to get LGBTQ people included in the Civil Rights Act.

Donald Trump brought a white Christian nationalism back into the frame. The angry voices we heard in the 50s and 60s against civil rights were back, and legitimised by the president.

Id hoped wed be a much better society by the time I reached the age I am. That hasnt happened; I blame the religious right, which uses the Old Testament, mostly, to perpetuate the patriarchy.

During the cold war, the narrative was that America was a Christian country and we were fighting the godless communists. Atheists and humanists were lumped into that camp. The stigma lingers, but its going away. In 1958, something like 18% said they would vote for a presidential candidate who was an atheist, and now were up to 60%. I describe myself as an atheist, but use the term humanist, too. Atheism is just, There is no God; humanism says we have a role to help one another. Its more positive.

Yuko Atarashi, 46, is studying to be a Noh theatre actor in Tokyo. Noh is a form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. The plays often feature a supernatural being, transformed into human form, narrating a story. Japan regularly ranks as one of the worlds most atheist countries, although many people still engage in Buddhist and Shinto rituals.

A key concept in Japanese culture is ichi-go ichi-e, which means to treasure the unrepeatable nature of every moment. Noh and traditional Japanese tea ceremonies are structured around this idea. Performing these reminds me that perhaps we have just one chance in this life to meet each other, so we have to appreciate every moment.

Beauty and tradition are at the core of my philosophy. I believe in the unchangeable beauty of tradition. Japan has an ancient culture. If we understand the story of our past, we understand our culture now.

The purpose of life is to be present in the moment. Family is the most important thing for me, somewhere I can be completely myself. I live with my husband and his parents; we dont have children of our own.

At death, we reach an end. We came from nothing and go back to nothing. We should give devotions [small offerings as a way of paying respect] to our ancestors, because its through them that we exist. But the devotion is delivered to the life they lived, not the dead person.

In Japan, we say there are more than 8 million kami [gods or spirits]. Anything that surrounds us can be a kami. I visit the Shinto shrine for little daily life rituals, to reflect on my emotions and to give my appreciation to something or someone. And for weddings. For funerals, Id go to a Buddhist temple. I dont deny the need for religion. Its a concept that provides rules people can rely on, but I dont feel I need to rely on anything.

Apostle Erlon Jacques, 47, leads the last practising congregation of positivists in the world, at the Temple of Humanity in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The secular religion was developed by Auguste Comte, the French philosopher, in the mid-1800s. It was adopted by key political figures in the establishment of the first Brazilian republic. Comte imagined a science-based positivist society in which religion would still be necessary, but would no longer require a god to have moral force. The primary tenets of the religion are altruism, order and progress.

I inherited a broken church, with no light or running water. Im still at the beginning of rebuilding. The most important thing I do is to open the temple every Sunday and explain the religion to people. Its my lifes mission now.

I have around 20 brothers and sisters attending. But its hard to find people with a free mind. Our doctrine doesnt offer miracles. Reality is sad; theres no justice, peace or harmony in the world. Many churches offer a fantasy.

The essence of our religion is human connection through altruism. Supernatural gods are not required, but we understand that people need symbols. We have faith in love, science and humanity. I have a deep respect for Christianity and other religions. Many atheists make a big mistake when they lose respect for people who believe.

Comte taught us to continuously update the dogma to reflect changing times. People think positivism is conservative, a thing from the past, but our religion is open-minded, avant garde even. For example, gay marriage is completely OK for us.

My daily practice is the positivist prayer. There is no need to say anything; you can do it in your mind. But we recommend the use of music, poetry, meditation, reflection, thinking about the cosmic order, to help generate pure intentions and promote feelings of fraternity. The essence of the positivist religion is to replace egoism with altruism. Being a positivist has taught me whats important: family, love, work, friends. Not God, or priests. Before I converted, I was selfish and irresponsible, concerned with my personal pleasure. I didnt value these things. Now they are what gives purpose to my life.

Jake Vargas, 25, a student in Lincoln, Nebraska, doesnt believe in the supernatural world at all.

Having an understanding of the natural world and science to my mind, the other side of theism helps me understand transphobia. So many of the reactions people have are fear and disgust, which are primal emotions. Genetic diversity is necessary for any species to flourish, and diversity in humanity is a very natural, normal and necessary thing. Transgenderism, whatever its roots, is just another part of human diversity.

My parents were raised Roman Catholic. They didnt raise me with any particular religious belief, but they would mention God occasionally: if I told a lie, my mother might say, Well, God knows. So I was raised with the assumption that God exists. But I didnt go to church. I wasnt baptised. I would say my parents were lapsed Catholics.

I actually remember the moment I knew I was an atheist. My favourite band is Muse, and I was on Wikipedia at midnight, as 14-year-olds often are, reading about the lead singer. It mentioned his religious beliefs, that he was an atheist. I remember a cold feeling washed through me, and I thought, do I have some sort of prejudice towards these people? Do I actually believe? And the answer was no.

I certainly have values: I value justice, equality, reason. You might say offshoots of that are compassion, empathy, activism through work and interpersonal relationships. Even something small like tact. But those things arent sacred to me. I dont think they exist on a plane that is somehow beyond speculation. And I question my own values all the time.

This article was amended on 27 January 2021. The Understanding Unbelief research project is based at the University of Kent in Canterbury, not the University of Canterbury in Kent as an earlier version said.

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I only know one god and thats me: non-believers on the meaning of life - The Guardian

Its not often you read something like this. Apropos of nothing, the Guardian ran brief profiles of a handful of non-religious people talking about how they find meaning in their lives without God.

Just check out some of these excerpts:

It took me nearly three decades to leave the church. When I became non-religious, the first thing I did was look for other black people who had had that experience. People see you as a traitor. They say, Atheism is not African: its a European ideology. A lot of people feel they cant tell their friends. They cant tell anybody. Thats why we formed our organisation.

The meaning of life, I think, is to make it the best experience you can, to spread love to those around you. Its important to see the beauty in everything, especially in human beings. A lot of people think theyre not beautiful enough, and that breaks my heart. Your values and personality are the best sides of you.

Donald Trump brought a white Christian nationalism back into the frame. The angry voices we heard in the 50s and 60s against civil rights were back, and legitimised by the president.

Id hoped wed be a much better society by the time I reached the age I am. That hasnt happened; I blame the religious right, which uses the Old Testament, mostly, to perpetuate the patriarchy.

Theres no snark. No attempt to knock the individuals down. So suggestion that theyre wrong. And so much diversity despite there only being eight profiles. There are men and women, from different cultural backgrounds, covering a wide range of ages.

The piece by Harriet Sherwood, with photographs and interviews from Aubrey Wade, just seeks to shine a light on a group of people who are quickly becoming a larger segment of the population roughly 26% in the U.S. and 52% in Britain. Without doing any heavy lifting to make them look good, the piece lets the subjects speak for themselves. And guess what? They look good.

Theres been a running joke online about how reporters love covering Trump supporters in rural diners while broadly ignoring people of color who wanted him out of office. Coverage is often about how Democrats (in the majority) will reach out across the aisle to Republicans to find compromise even though they never did that when Republicans were in power. Well, here, for once, we have a spotlight on a group of people being good without God without any religious people chiming in with unnecessary sound bites. We need more of it.

You can see the full collection of Wades photographs and captions here.

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These Short Profiles of Atheists Around the World Are All Kinds of Uplifting - Friendly Atheist - Patheos

The Chronicle ExpressRELIGIOUS EVENTS IN HISTORY

On Jan. 20, 1918, following the Bolshevik Revolution, all church property is confiscated and all religious instruction in schools is abolished across Russia. In an effort to establish state atheism, the Communist government targeted religions based on state interests and became the first state with the official ideology of eliminating existing religion and preventing the future implementation of religious belief. Although most organized religions were not outlawed, believers were harassed and ridiculed while atheism was propagated in schools following the revolution. Personal expressions of religious faith were not banned, but the government imposed a strong social stigma and it was considered unacceptable for members of certain government professions (teachers, bureaucrats, soldiers) to be openly religious and anti-secular. -- More Content Now

Jan. 17: Blessing of the Animals (Hispanic Catholic Christian)

Jan. 18: Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Christian)

Jan. 19: Timkat (Ethiopian Christian)

Jan. 25: Conversion of St. Paul (Christian)

Jan. 28: Tu B'Shvat (Jewish)

Feb. 2: Candlemas - Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Christian)

Feb. 2: Imbolc-Lughnassad (Wicca/Neo Pagan)

Feb. 3: St. Blaze Day (Christian)

Feb. 3: Setsebun (Shinto)

Feb. 5: Four Chaplains Sunday (Interfaith)

Feb. 8: Nirvana Day (Buddhism)

Feb. 12: Triodion (Orthodox Christian)

Feb. 12: Chinese New Year (Chinese traditional)

"Discover Your Dharma: A Vedic Guide to Finding Your Purpose" by Sahara Rose Ketabi

In "Discover Your Dharma," bestselling Ayurvedic author and Highest Self Podcast host Sahara Rose shares her unique approach to discovering your dharma through the Doshas (the Ayurvedic mind-body types) and the chakras (energy centers of the body). -- Chronicle Prism

Bandi Chhor Divas: A Sikh festival celebrating the release of the sixth guru, Guru Hargobind, from political imprisonment. -- ReligionStylebook.com

According to the CIA World Factbook, the religious makeup of Kosovo is:

- Muslim: 95.6%

- Roman Catholic: 2.2%

- Orthodox: 1.5%

- Other: 0.1%

- None: 0.1%

- Unspecified: 0.6%

-- More Content Now

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RELIGION BULLETIN: Religion instruction is abolished in Russia - Penn Yan Chronicle-Express

DMK supremo MK Stalin came under the fire of the ruling AIADMK and BJP after he was spotted holding a 'Vel' during gram sabha meeting atAmmaiyarkuppam in poll-bound Tamil Naduon January 23. NDA allies AIADMK and BJP pulled back no punches as MK Stalin was presented with a silver 'Vel' by his party cadre at Tiruttani and claimed that the DMK was pulling off such acts to gain votes. Interestingly, DMK always has projected itself as an atheist party. The 'Vel', a spear-like weapon, is associated with Vel Murugan, a Hindu god.

Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi Palaniswami labeled Stalin's actions as 'drama' and noted that the story, screenplay, and direction for this drama was written by poll-strategist Prashant Kishor. BJP leader Khushbu Sundar noted that it was 'funny' to see the atheism-wielding DMK to suddenly pick up the 'Vel' and express their love for god, remarking that the saffron party had arrived in Tamil Nadu and that PM Modi's impact was indeed cast on the southern state. Tamil Nadu BJP President L Murugan noted that the 'Vel' had been pushed back into the hands of the same Stalin & DMK who opposed the 'Vel Yatra', terming the BJP-launched procession to be a success in the state.

READ |'Launching Udhayanidhi Is Stalin's Only Aim' Quips EPS On DMK Chief's Rivalry With Alagiri

READ |DMK Chief Promises To Solve People's Issues Within 'first 100 Days Of Govt' Ahead Of Polls

Flagging issues in sectors like agriculture and education, the DMK launched a campaign titled "WeRejectADMK", and urged people to defeat the AIADMK in the elections. DMK chief Stalin and senior party functionaries are currently visitingvillages and wards and conducting "gram sabhas". The DMK, out of power since 2011, is making a full-throttled bid to storm back and dethrone the AIADMK. Stalin hasalso stated that celebrities such as Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan are being forced to join politics and launch parties to ensure that DMK does not win the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. Stalin, who is eyeing his maiden CM-term, has declared that his party will win 200+ seats in the polls. It is to be noted that Prashant Kishor and his team IPAC havebeen roped in for DMK's campaign.

READ |Rahul Gandhi Affirms Faith In Tamil Nadu Ally DMK: 'Will Stop RSS Ideology From Entering'

Assembly elections in Tamil Naduare due in April-May 2021 and the political parties have started their campaign. While DMK's MK Stalin is eyeing becoming Chief Minister for the first time, CM E Palaniswami(EPS) is fighting for his re-election. The BJP is yet to make a formal announcement of the alliance with AIADMK and is in talks with Stalin's estranged brother MK Alagiri. Onthe other side, AIADMK has said that they are the big-brother within the NDA alliance. Meanwhile, Kamal Hassan has put a halt to hiscampaign trail due to a leg surgery. Superstar Rajinikanth who was about to launch his party this yearhas backed out due to health reasons.

READ |Rahul Gandhi Makes Bizarre Push For 'self-reliant' India: 'China Won't Dare To Enter'

Continued here:
Stalin slammed by AIADMK & BJP for posing with Vel; NDA allies call out DMKs Atheism - Republic World

In our latest podcast, Jessica and I discussed the past week in politics and atheism.

We talked about:

Order Elle the Humanist and get a 10% discount with the promo code friendlyatheist!

What just happened with Atheist Alliance International? (0:33)

Should we be troubled by Joe Bidens overly religious inauguration speech? (17:18)

White evangelicals still view Donald Trump favorably. (25:58)

James Dobson has a lot of irrational fears about the new administration. (36:30)

Christian terrorists were absolutely a part of the Capitol siege. (43:05)

A Catholic priest apologized to his church for not condemning Trump enough. (45:15)

A former anti-vaxxer is now urging everyone to get the COVID vaccine. (52:17)

Arizona Republicans want to pass a bill to execute women and doctors who have or perform abortions. (1:09:37)

Wed love to hear your thoughts on the podcast. If you have any suggestions for people we should chat with, please leave them in the comments, too.

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Google Play, stream all the episodes on SoundCloud or Stitcher, or just listen to the whole thing below. Our RSS feed is here. And if you like what youre hearing, please consider supporting this site on Patreon and leaving us a positive rating!

(Image via Shutterstock)

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Podcast Ep. 358: What Joe Biden's Administration Will Mean for Atheists - Friendly Atheist - Patheos

The upcoming Avengers Reborn event will reveal an alternate history in which Thor was never worthy to lift his hammer Mjolnir.

For the past few years, Thor has had an on-again, off-again relationship with his signature hammer, Mjlnir. With the announcement of the new Heroes Rebornevent, launching out of Jason Aaron and Ed McGuinnessAvengers run, it looks as though the thunder god is once again on the outs with his trademark mallet - in fact, he never even picked it up.

As revealed inthe announcement trailer, Heroes Reborn is set in a Marvel Universe in which the Avengers never existed. Captain America was lost in WWII, Tony Stark was never trapped in a cave, and Carol Danvers never became a fighter pilot. Likewise, Thor is seen reimagined as a hard-drinking, hammer-loathing atheist who never became worthy to lift Mjlnir and receive his Odin-given powers.

Related:Thor's Daughter Can't Control Mjolnir Like Her Father

Enchanted by Odin to grant the wielder the powers of Thor, readers have seen a number of other characters from across the Marvel Universe prove themselves worthy enough to lift Mjlnir. From Jane Foster, to Steve Rogers, to a random mechanic in Oklahoma. Thor himself has, in the past, proven himself suddenly unworthyafter losing faith in the gods, and was therefore unable to carry Mjlnir. Seeing as how he dedicated much of his early life to proving himself worthy in the first place, witnessing a Thor who eventually gave up on that goal will be amassivedeparture for the god of thunder.

His presence on Earth and commitment to atheism also implies that this is a Thor who probably doesnt spend much, if any, time on Asgard. But then if Thor never lifted the hammer in the first place, Asgard may not have had much of a chance defending itself against any number of threats, from Mangog and Malekith to the wrath of Surtur and Ragnarok itself; all threats against which Thor alone triumphed in Marvel's current chronology. Loki is a notable entry on that list, butwithout the bitter jealousy Loki carried against his "worthy" brother, its likely that they have a very different relationship with one another in this alternate world - in fact, Loki himself may have ultimately proved worthy of the hammer.

Its also possible that this version of Thor simply remained trapped as Donald Blake,the human avatar he inhabited when he was first sent to Midgard by Odin to once again prove himself worthy of wielding the hammer. Without any clear interest in passing his fathers test, Mjlnir may still be on earth somewhere, waiting for someone worthy enough to lift it. With the Squadron Supreme looking to take the spotlight in Heroes Reborn and battle new hybrid versions of Marvels classic villains, it remains to be seen if the core Avengers will truly sit on the sidelines in this alternate reality. Either way, given how often, and how easily,Thor has lost access to Mjlnir in recent years, Heroes Rebornmay be an opportunity to rethink his primary choice of weapon.

Next:Is Thors Hammer Mjolnir Actually His Mightiest Weapon?

X-Men Hints Its Most Powerful Mutant Will Return

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Marvel To Reveal Thors Life if He Never Lifted His Hammer - Screen Rant

Two years ago, I received the worst news of my life: my daughter, Johanna, was diagnosed with stage four cancer.

Seventeen and just starting her senior year of high school at the time, Johanna was visiting colleges with her sister Max, my spouse Maggie, and me when we noticed how easily fatigued Johanna was walking around campuses. She chalked it up to general back pain for which she had recently been seeing a physical therapist, but she wasnt improving and our concern was growing.

In three short weeks we stumbled through a doctors recommendation to go to the hospital, to tests that didnt seem too concerning, to the daunting possibility of cancer, to the identification of a malignant lump in her right foot (painless and invisible to the eye), to a name for the cancer (rhabdomyosarcoma). Next came the realization that it metastasized throughout her body and in her bones in particular, and then the diagnosis that she had a less than a five percent chance to live to see her 23rd birthday.

Like most people, I had some understanding of what cancer could mean. I had extended relatives that died from cancer complications but had lived long lives first. I knew colleagues through work whod had cancer, but I saw little first-hand. Id seen plenty of media representations of cancer (the closest to reality being the film 50/50), but a two-hour movie could not truly accurately portray the experience.

The doctors told us it wasnt hereditary or caused by anything specific in her environment, but only a random genetic mutation, and since my family are all secular humanists, there wasnt anybody or anything to blame.

After this diagnosis, we began doing what we could to help Johanna begin her treatment with high hopes and no understanding of how bad chemotherapy and the associated issues shed face could be. While we expected cancer and the treatments to be a struggle, we had no idea the extent of it.

I dont want to oversell this one iota, and theres no need to, since no words can convey how bad this was. A few short examples give a sliver of the experience:

From the early days at the hospital, Johanna struggled with severe pain in her back because the cancer had eaten away at her spine so much that the vertebrae were beginning to splinter and crush each other. I know from having broken a couple of ribs once that such fractures can be difficult to endure, but endure she did, only asking about the possibility of a more comfortable mattress, which wasnt an available accommodation.

The many nights I spent at the hospital with her, listening to her tortured breathing for any signs that it might stop, were terrifying for me but must have been much harder for her. I almost welcomed the interruptions from the nurses every couple of hours to check her vitals, since at least I knew that meant she wasnt in immediate danger.

Early in her treatment, doctors performed minor surgery to insert a port into her chest, something thats needed for some types of chemotherapy which might otherwise burn the body if not inserted directly into a large enough vein. That process went awry as the port site didnt bond correctly after surgery, and I watched in horror as bandages drenched in blood were replaced, drenched, and replaced again. When I saw her life blood literally squirting from the site during another dressing change, I lost my usual mild manners and yelled at the medical crew for swifter action. Thankfully, the bleeding stopped after a doctor put steady pressure on her carotid artery.

Watching her hair (eyebrows and all) fall out was slow at first, but it somberly and visibly marked her struggle. She chose to shave it all off the day it started to shed in chunks as she brushed her hair. I fought back tears as I helped her using my shaver in the hospital bathroom. After it was done, she asked to be alone in the bathroom for a moment. As I heard her softly cry, my heart broke into a million pieces.

And that was only the early weeks of the process, which was long and tortuous, involving chemotherapy twice a week for nine months, six weeks of radiation, and efforts to address all sorts of ailmentsextreme pain, bouts of nausea, constant fatiguethat left Johanna frail and mostly bedridden. In addition to multiple types of chemo, all with their own unpleasant side effects, were a dizzying array of drugs to treat the symptoms including clotrimazole, cyclobenzaprine, gabapentin, lidocaine, lorazepam, megestrol, oxycodone, ondansetron, polyethylene glycol, methadone, ranitidine, senna, sucralfate, sulfamethoxazole, and trimethoprimall which had their own schedules and procedures.

Any plans we had to continue visiting colleges, teaching her how to drive, and generally enjoying family activities before she went off to college were all indefinitely shelved. It wasnt until a year into the treatment that she began to feel better enough to walk around with a walker.

Seeing others in the cancer ward of the hospital, we could see that we had many advantages. Some kids didnt have parents who could be with them 24/7, since they had to work, often hours away from the hospital. Some had a worse diagnosisI recall one brave girl who was hoping to live just long enough to attend her senior prom. Some were so young they couldnt understand why the pain they were feeling wasnt some kind of punishmentI heard one toddler tell their caregiver that they would try to be better.

There were some small moments of joy during the experience once nights in the hospital became less frequent. Shopping for wigs was actually funJohanna picked out a blond bob-style with pink strands and a long curly black and blue-green one. We managed to do some activities that had good disability accommodationsa traveling Cirque du Soleil show in northern Virginia, a musical in New York, and a visit to Virginia Beach to see my wifes family, where we happily sang karaoke for hours. The most thrilling news was when she decided to still apply to college and was accepted early decision to her first choice, Salisbury University on the eastern shore of Maryland, just over two hours away from my home in Washington, DC.

I certainly understand how some folks turn to faith in such situations. Anything you can do to get by is worth trying. But for me, my atheism couldnt be more firmly cemented by the experience. If someone or something capable of preventing such tragedies stood by and watched while they happened, good could no longer be used in the same breath as their name. For we know that to stand by idly when we could act is itself an act that we call complicity. And complicity in the face of such horrors is unforgivable.

After 10 months, 15 cycles, 30 days of radiation, and 79 infusions, Johannas main chemo treatment was complete and, remarkably, she was declared cancer free. Since her variety of cancer has among the highest risks of recurrence, the road remained long as she continued the fight, receiving preventative chemo almost weekly for 12 more months. Her hair began to slowly grow back and she was getting stronger every day. Today, her chemotherapy regimen is complete and her most recent scans show no signs of recurrence. Through resilience, science, and support, she beat the odds.

After this long and arduous process, with the fog of the cancer drugs receding, Johanna understandably couldnt wait to get back to livingattending school, seeing old friends and making new ones, and experiencing a normal life. Thats why her doctors, along with most of the family and I, were so pleased Johanna was cleared to attend universityeven the limited pandemic version of the experience. Last month I dropped Johanna off back at Salisbury after she came home to get her chemo port removed (seamlessly this time), another big milestone.

For the next few years shell get quarterly scans to make sure the cancer does not come back. Meanwhile, while shes taking precautions to avoid COVID-19, shes enjoying college, thriving in her philosophy and psychology courses, and looking forward to a class in glassblowing next semester.

At this stage all I want to do is thank the doctors, nurses, hospital staff, friends, and family who gave Johanna the best chance she had to live a good life. Personally, Ive relearned patience and caregiving, and appreciate the silver lining about how this brought me closer to my daughter. I hope theres value in sharing this story with others so the lesser-known aspects of cancer can be better understood, and families who go through it have the small consolation of knowing they arent alone. For those who want to learn more, Id suggest avoiding online groups where rumors about miracle treatments and exceptions are the focus, often resulting in heightening fear and anxiety. Instead, I recommend listening to your doctors, reading resources from government agencies and credible organizations working for the public good, and joining live support groups run by professionals that can provide meaningful guidance.

Thankful to all who were part of the process, most of all Johanna herself, we cautiously move from day to day, building confidence in the possibility of a bright future.

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Beating the Odds - The Humanist