(September 13, 2023 at 7:09 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote: Rationalism is definitely a worldview, but…like atheism, not a religion.  Offhand, I’d say the most likely avenue for religious ideation in atheists swirls around nature.  Not just in the analog sense of wonder- but also in ideas like a natural balance, or a proscribed state of primal nature.

This is right. Nature engulfs everything.

Your stupidity engulfs everything.

(September 13, 2023 at 7:36 pm)Angrboda Wrote: Your stupidity engulfs everything.

Same difference.

(September 13, 2023 at 7:37 pm)Ahriman Wrote:

(September 13, 2023 at 7:36 pm)Angrboda Wrote: Your stupidity engulfs everything.

Same difference.

This avatar of yours is a perfect fit. An irrelevant, babbling idiot. Please, never change it.

(September 13, 2023 at 7:42 pm)Ravenshire Wrote:

(September 13, 2023 at 7:37 pm)Ahriman Wrote: Same difference.

This avatar of yours is a perfect fit. An irrelevant, babbling idiot. Please, never change it.

Are you jealous?

(September 4, 2023 at 12:28 am)Ahriman Wrote: I think every person has a religious impulse inside of them. For a lot of people, this impulse maifests as one of many known world religions. For others, such as atheists, this impulse manifests in different ways. I don't think this means every person is spiritual. It is possible to be "spiritual and religious" or "religious but not spiritual" but never "spiritual but not religious"

I don't know what you mean by religious impulse, but I think religion is, as Oxford says "a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance." Of course religion can be atheistic or theistic. I would classify myself as theistic irreligious, but I prefer the terms believer or unbeliever because all of the variations are too many and complicated. I'm spiritual but not religious in the sense that I have ever or would ever join an organized religion. In the same way I'm apolitical and would never join a political affiliation. I use the term spiritual in a very practical way. In fact I would define my religious beliefs as practical spirituality. Spirit from the Hebrew/Greek (ruach/pneuma) word for spirit meaning an invisible active force which produces visible results. Wind, breath, compelled mental inclination (broken spirit, mean spirited), so spirituality to me is an interest and awareness of those sorts of things. Could be anything. Art, music, poetry, culture, tradition, groupthink, religious, secular, etc. 

Religion, in practice, to me, means an adherence to a specific set of beliefs or principals and repetition. Everyone is, in that sense, religious. My objection to religion is specifically to organized religion due to the potential for abuse (similar to politics) and neglect, for example, the transmogrification of the original teachings corrupted by mass appeal and the political leverage garnered through that appeal.

(September 13, 2023 at 7:44 pm)Ahriman Wrote:

(September 13, 2023 at 7:42 pm)Ravenshire Wrote: This avatar of yours is a perfect fit. An irrelevant, babbling idiot. Please, never change it.

Are you jealous?

Bitch, please...

(September 13, 2023 at 8:05 pm)Ravenshire Wrote:

(September 13, 2023 at 7:44 pm)Ahriman Wrote: Are you jealous?

Bitch, please...

She lives inside my head and sings to me.

(September 13, 2023 at 8:19 pm)Ahriman Wrote:

(September 13, 2023 at 8:05 pm)Ravenshire Wrote: Bitch, please...

She lives inside my head and sings to me.

My sincerest condolences.