Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: March 29, 2024, 8:02 am

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Can Atheists Worship/love the Divine? Yes.
#11
RE: Can Atheists Worship/love the Divine? Yes.
"Now Suppose he was real, and we thought he was fictional or rather didn't know whether he was fictional or real. If we respect the character describe, and it accurately describes the real person, then our respect for that person would be real."

We would still need to decipher if he was real or not. You use the word "real" like it's optional, it's not. Unless you don't care what is "real" and manipulate "reality" to suit your own needs. God.

Disclaimer: Primitive man who invented God is excused.
Reply
#12
RE: Can Atheists Worship/love the Divine? Yes.
Me honouring what Christopher Hitchen's has done for Atheism does not mean I need to worship him.
Reply
#13
RE: Can Atheists Worship/love the Divine? Yes.
No.



.......
Reply
#14
RE: Can Atheists Worship/love the Divine? Yes.


Can Atheists Worship/love the Divine? Yes.

There's probably some semantic confusion associated with the term "worship".

In your thread title you use "Worship/love" implying that these are similar terms. In other words, you view "worship" as simply meaning to love and/or honor. For some people the term "worship" has an ugly fascist meaning. This is because of the Abrahamic religions where a jealous God demands to be worshiped (i.e. revered and obeyed) lest he'll punish you severely.

So many people associate the term "worship" with a deity what is demanding to be obeyed, lest he'll harm you, etc.

However, if your are using the term "worship" to simply mean to love, or even "stand in awe of", then to love and cherish life is to 'worship' the universe. Whether it be a living deity or not.

The universe certainly created us, so it cannot be denied that the universe is our "creator" whether it's sentient or not.

And of course, if there is an entity beyond the universe that created the universe then that entity would be our 'grand creator'.

Atheism is not supposed to be a belief that there could not have been any possible 'grand creator'. Atheism is simply supposed to mean "without a belief in any specific theism".

However, there most certainly do exist people who call themselves "atheists" but are truly "anti-theists".

Not only do they not believe in a specific theism, but they take the stance that there cannot even possibly exist a viable theism.

They are truly "anti-theists" not merely "atheists".

Yes, an atheist can indeed 'worship and or love' a God. Especially if they don't claim to necessarily have a specific "theism" that describes the God in detail. If they have a detailed "theism" (such as the Hebrew fables of a God), then it would be incorrect for them to claim to be an "atheist" because they clearly believe in a very specific dogmatic "theism".

How could they claim to be without a 'theism' if they are worshiping a particular specific theism? That's would be a clear misuse of the term.

I think that someone who believes that there may be some truth to mysticism could quality as an 'atheist' since mysticism itself does not claim to necessarily be a 'theism'. On the contrary it claims that the spiritual essence of reality is ultimately unknowable. Therefore it hardly qualifies as a detailed "theism".

That's my thoughts on these terms.

In truth a person can do whatever they want.

If you feel like 'worshiping' or 'loving' some spiritual essence of reality, by all means do so. You don't need anyone's permission.

Wink

Christian - A moron who believes that an all-benevolent God can simultaneously be a hateful jealous male-chauvinistic pig.
Wiccan - The epitome of cerebral evolution having mastered the magical powers of the universe and is in eternal harmony with the mind of God.
Atheist - An ill-defined term that means something different to everyone who uses it.
~~~~~
Luke 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
Clearly Jesus (a fictitious character or otherwise) will forgive people if they merely know not what they do
For the Bible Tells us so!
Reply
#15
RE: Can Atheists Worship/love the Divine? Yes.
(February 15, 2012 at 7:49 pm)MysticKnight Wrote:
(February 15, 2012 at 7:40 pm)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote:
(February 15, 2012 at 7:35 pm)MysticKnight Wrote: Well as I explained, we can believe Socrates is a honorable person worthy of high veneration, whether we know he actually existed or not.

You can, if you're the sort of person who doesn't make much of a distinction between what you believe and what you know.

Some of us are a bit more particular in that regard.


That doesn't have to do with anything.

Like hell it doesn't.

Quote:Suppose I didn't believe Socrates exists. I don't believe he didn't exist either. I don't believe either way. Yet when it comes to his description, I honor "Socrates" - not knowing or believing he exists or doesn't exist.

In fact, even if I believed he was a fictional character, and turns out he exists, and the descriptions were accurate, then I would be honoring that person, if I found his description to be honorable and worthy of veneration.

In the former hypothetical case (should Socrates turn out to exist), you are honoring Socrates the person.

In the latter hypothetical case, Socrates isn't a person at all, he's a fictional character. You can honor what Socrates the character represents, but not the person - because that person does not exist.

However, for the life of me, I cannot imagine why someone would WORSHIP what he believed was a fictional character. Seems a bit creepy to me.

But hey, if it works for you, knock yourself out.
(February 15, 2012 at 8:41 pm)MysticKnight Wrote: Even if we believed he didn't exist, if we believed he was worthy of honor..then we have honored the real person.

This statement makes absolutely no logical sense.
Reply
#16
RE: Can Atheists Worship/love the Divine? Yes.
Not on your Nellie's.
"The Universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements: energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest." G'Kar-B5
Reply
#17
RE: Can Atheists Worship/love the Divine? Yes.
Divine refers to something of supernatural or god-like power. The concept of divinity is one without any evidence, logic or reasoning. On that basis it is a concept any atheist would reject as those are essential stepping stones when it comes to discerning reality.
So to answer the question; Atheists can fall in love with the mythology of the divine as few works of fiction can compare in complexity.
As to the question of worshiping the divine? No, both the concepts of divinity and worship (in the true sense of the word) are repellent to the stepping stones of evidence, logic and reasoning that are required for our functioning as sane, intelligent and productive human beings.
I hope I have been helpful in my answer.
Reply
#18
RE: Can Atheists Worship/love the Divine? Yes.
I worship and think my wife is divine. Can I register her as a God? Note: She doesn't understand football.
Reply
#19
RE: Can Atheists Worship/love the Divine? Yes.
If you're asking whether I can love something that does not exist, yes. Worship, well definitely not.
"Sisters, you know only the north; I have traveled in the south lands. There are churches there, believe me, that cut their children too, as the people of Bolvangar did--not in the same way, but just as horribly. They cut their sexual organs, yes, both boys and girls; they cut them with knives so that they shan't feel. That is what the Church does, and every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling. So if a war comes, and the Church is on one side of it, we must be on the other, no matter what strange allies we find ourselves bound to."

-Ruta Skadi, The Subtle Knife
Reply
#20
RE: Can Atheists Worship/love the Divine? Yes.
Divine.....


[img][Image: Sportsfans.jpg][/img]
Reply



Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Isaiah 53, 700 B.C: Historical Evidence of the Divine Omniscience. Nishant Xavier 91 4545 August 6, 2023 at 2:19 pm
Last Post: LinuxGal
  How much pain can atheists withstand ? The End of Atheism 290 14524 May 13, 2023 at 4:22 am
Last Post: h4ym4n
  Atheists will worship the Antichrist and become theists during the Tribulation Preacher 53 3108 November 13, 2022 at 3:57 am
Last Post: Fake Messiah
  I enjoy far right atheists more than lgbt marxist atheists Sopra 4 2177 February 28, 2018 at 9:09 pm
Last Post: Edwardo Piet
  Pathos article atheists can identify with. Brian37 6 2186 September 19, 2017 at 10:50 pm
Last Post: Rev. Rye
  Can I just say why I love you guys? Won2blv 13 2413 December 11, 2016 at 3:05 pm
Last Post: Alex K
  Atheists: Can You Still Accept X'n Friends? Detachable 76 10739 August 12, 2016 at 10:06 am
Last Post: Jesster
  When Atheists Can't Think Episode 1: No Evidence for God? Delicate 510 85186 December 30, 2015 at 4:48 pm
Last Post: Mister Agenda
  Yes, Atheism is a Religion Delicate 278 41302 December 22, 2015 at 7:48 pm
Last Post: ignoramus
  When Atheists Can't Think Episode 2: Proving Atheism False Heat 18 3368 December 22, 2015 at 12:42 pm
Last Post: Edwardo Piet



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)