spiritual but not religious

[Cod]

Hello and welcome. Are you normal?

[downbeatplumb]

Greetings! 

I grew up Christian and was turned off by the dogma in my fundamentalist church, however I was left wanting to believe in some form of divine being because this was a major part of my upbringing and shaped my early experience with the world. Later I became interested in Buddhism because of its ties to spirituality without directly affirming an existence of god. 

Is it possible to be spiritual but not religious, and if so could someone still be considered an atheist?

Do you believe in god if not then you are an atheist. You can believe whatever else you want and be an atheist. 
So welcome friend.

[Angrboda]

Greetings! 

I grew up Christian and was turned off by the dogma in my fundamentalist church, however I was left wanting to believe in some form of divine being because this was a major part of my upbringing and shaped my early experience with the world. Later I became interested in Buddhism because of its ties to spirituality without directly affirming an existence of god. 

When I was younger I wanted to be an astronaut. That didn't pan out. I guess the lesson here is not to assume the wisdom of our childish inclinations as that wisdom more often than not turns out to be folly.

Is it possible to be spiritual but not religious, and if so could someone still be considered an atheist?

I suppose it's possible, but the type of thing that is spiritual but not religious is not the thing that people who say they are spiritual but not religious are engaged in. One of the best attempts to describe religion was done by a professor named Ninian Smart, who identified seven "dimensions" of religion, such as having origin myths, or other explanatory lore, and so on. Those who are spiritual but not religious may not be engaging in all the descriptive categories that Smart identifies, or necessarily doing so in the same way, but it's clear that the practice of spirituality by people who are spiritual but not religious overlaps any description of religion along similar behavioral dimensions. The spiritual but not religious haven't pulled novel ideas from out of thin air, but rather taken elements of existing religion and adapted it to their own needs. In that, they haven't changed the essential behavior. A religion doesn't cease being a religion because it changes one or a handful of things in its doctrines, stories, or beliefs. Likewise, simply changing specifics about a religion and its beliefs while keeping the majority of the edifice of thoughts and behaviors intact doesn't set you apart from religion. There are something like a billion Catholics in the world, no two of which likely has identical beliefs and practices, yet we see the identity of Catholicism as shared among them because of the commonalities, not the differences. Likewise I would argue that the spiritual but religious share the identity of being religious because of the shared commonalities with paradigm cases of religion. Spiritual but not religious, I think, in the final analysis, ends up being an identity movement that is inauthentic in its core. There are so many "spiritual but not religious" that being spiritual but not religious is essentially a new religion, with its own dogma about its independence from religion, and its own set of shared beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors. Generally and more informally speaking, what the spiritual but not religious are doing is cherry picking what they like about religion and calling those beliefs and behaviors "not religious." The fact that you are borrowing them from religion makes that cherry picked set religious to its core.

Welcome to the forum!

[Brian37]

Greetings! 

I grew up Christian and was turned off by the dogma in my fundamentalist church, however I was left wanting to believe in some form of divine being because this was a major part of my upbringing and shaped my early experience with the world. Later I became interested in Buddhism because of its ties to spirituality without directly affirming an existence of god. 

Is it possible to be spiritual but not religious, and if so could someone still be considered an atheist?

"Spiritual" is a meaningless word to me. It is simply a loaded term merely to say, "I have an intense sense of awe when I think about certain things."

You don't need to use the word "spiritual" to say you react to a loved one's hug, or your pet cat, or a beautiful sunset our mountain view. 

In real biological terms, our senses create chemical reactions in our brains when we think about things we see as positive or comforting, that in turn can have the positive effect of boosting our immune systems. But those perceptions can at the same time be very false, like a kid who truly believes in Santa.

Yea, I have intense feelings when I see beauty in nature. But I simply do not assign those things to superstition or cliche words. There is no magic to life. Life also has very horrible destructive things in it too. It isn't that I want negative things to happen, just a fact of reality in that we observe them.

I  don't have a "spiritual" feeling about volcanos or tornados killing people, much less serial killers or cancer.  

There is lots of good in life for sure, but still just as natural as anything bad that can happen. "Natural" does not mean always desirable, just in that it is observable.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Greetings! 

I grew up Christian and was turned off by the dogma in my fundamentalist church, however I was left wanting to believe in some form of divine being because this was a major part of my upbringing and shaped my early experience with the world. Later I became interested in Buddhism because of its ties to spirituality without directly affirming an existence of god. 

When I was younger I wanted to be an astronaut.  

Lucky you.  I wanted to be a tractor.

Boru

[Jackalope]

Not everyone gets to be a tractor, Boru.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I know.  I'm still dealing with the crushing disappointment.

Dreams die hard.

Boru

[Athene]

If you don't believe in a God or gods then you are by definition, an atheist.

If you define the word spirit or spiritual as pertaining to matters involving consciousness/awareness then that's your business. It's a loosely defined word that doesn't necessarily have a religious or supernatural to connotation to everyone. 

I wouldn't feel the slightest bit compelled to "answer" to atheists for my use of the term if I were you.


Hello, btw.

[bennyboy]

Don't listen to these guys.

The Universe is a big, magical, mysterious thing, and we are pretty sure that everything in it is connected to everything else.

Go ahead and enjoy those spiritual feelings and inclinations. Just don't tell me to stop masturbating, and don't threaten me with a pit of fire.

[AFTT47]

Greetings! 

I grew up Christian and was turned off by the dogma in my fundamentalist church, however I was left wanting to believe in some form of divine being because this was a major part of my upbringing and shaped my early experience with the world. Later I became interested in Buddhism because of its ties to spirituality without directly affirming an existence of god. 

Is it possible to be spiritual but not religious, and if so could someone still be considered an atheist?

"Spiritual" is a meaningless word to me. It is simply a loaded term merely to say, "I have an intense sense of awe when I think about certain things."

Yeah, I think that's accurate. I think most of us probably get that, "intense sense of awe" sometimes. It might be triggered by laying on a mountain top, far away from city lights while looking up at a dark sky under pristine conditions. I used to get that sometimes on very calm days out on the ocean over the Florida Keys where there were all these beautiful shades of turquoise over the shallow reef. Or maybe it's something more primal like an intense, sexual experience. I may be off about the third because my memory doesn't really go back that far.

Most of us have had intense, emotional experiences in our lives and I get the temptation to label them with words like, "spiritual." In the end, it's just emotion though. No need to assign it some mystical quality. I think one can still appreciate and treasure those experiences without doing that.