What are atheists’ spiritual beliefs?
One of the questions that religious people frequently ask about atheists is, “What are atheists’ spiritual beliefs?’ The short answer is that they are so varied, and for some non-existent, that it would be impossible to assign a specific set of spiritual beliefs to atheism (the same goes for world views, morality, etc.). Atheism is much simpler than most people give it credit for being. Quite simply, atheism is a lack of belief in any god or gods. That is it. That doesn’t mean that some atheists are not spiritual.
Spirituality is a rather vague notion for most.
For some, it is specific. For simplicities sake, we will start with a specific notion. Many religious people (depending on their religion) look at spirituality as belief in the soul (or spirit) that god gave you. If this were the way all people looked at it, than this article would be one paragraph long and it would go like this: When you take all gods out of the picture, you don’t see anything on Earth as having been created by god, including all parts of the human body. Those people who believe in souls believe that souls are a part of our makeup. Therefore, in that sense, no atheist is spiritual. Not one atheist believes he or she has a soul that was created by god.
As for the vague notion of spirituality, well that is more complicated.
Spirituality can be a belief in ghosts, any number of supernatural phenomena, etc. Therefore, people can define themselves as atheists, despite the fact that they are spiritual. These people may not believe in god, but some of them do attempt to enlighten themselves “spiritually” through meditation or non-religious prayer.
Atheists may even believe in souls, ghosts, life forces, karma, etc. These are all spiritual beliefs that do not require a belief in god. Again, atheism is a lack of belief in god only. Nothing else comes with atheism, so atheists are a pretty motley crew, spiritually and non-spiritually. I have even met atheists who believe in magic.
It has been said countless times before and it will be said again. “Atheists do not believe in god. Therefore, they are devoid of spirituality, morals, and meaning in their lives.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, there are atheists who do not prescribe to any spiritual beliefs, but you would be hard-pressed to find an atheist who does not have morals or meaning in their life. People who do not have morals are sociopaths. A sociopath is not a synonym for an atheist, nor do the religious have a monopoly on meaning, spirituality, and morals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2nfXfTg92E
