Spiritual Atheist here!

[Child of Stardust]

Hey, new atheist here on the forums! More precisely, I call myself a spiritual atheist. I've had some compelling spiritual experiences in my life (many of them were even in traditional religious settings, like when taking the Eucharist or entering "sacred ground"...probably because of my Christian upbringing, which wasn't totally negative) but find the evidence for gods unconvincing. I can't help but feel these feelings, and love that I do, but don't see why that forces me to shut down my logic. So I cherish them, while embracing the fact there is no God. The inventions of religion can sometimes be inspiring metaphors for archetypes at play in our lives, and a interpretive help to conceptualizing our spiritual perceptions which are beyond logical understanding (since they do not exist literally, only experientially, and can only be experienced directly). Religious rituals can be helpful for inducing these experiences (though they can also occur spontaneously at momentous moments in my life). I understand these experiences as a beautiful part of evolution, a legitimate part of human existence born of natural selection - they can deeply enrich our lives, but only really exist within us. God isn't "out there", but in here, a part of our minds. And that's not a bad thing! Many things that only exist in our minds, like imagination itself, are very beautiful and valuable. It can enrich and deepen our lives. But suppose they really exist (outside of you), and you run into all kinds of problems. The simple fact it's not true, using God as an excuse to commit horrible atrocities, or to hold back scientific progress (I know I sound very fluffy but I'm also a bit of a science nerd)...they all came from religion's mistake of assuming it was all literally true. But you can have the best of both worlds. You can cherish your feelings and respect the evidence. You can appreciate the power of metaphor. You can be a mystic and an atheist!

Still, I'm also fascinated by the history of religion, and look forward to discussing it with people who share the realization that the evidence is against gods existing.

Looking forward to talking with y'all.