Former atheists-religious experiences

Please share your religious or spiritual experiences.

janesix said:

Please share your religious or spiritual experiences.

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What else could a spiritual experience be?

Cockadoodledoo said:

What else could a spiritual experience be?

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Some people use the terms interchangably. I do. I just wanted to cover all bases.

janesix said:

Please share your religious or spiritual experiences.

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How about people that weren't believers, or became believers, who thought atheism seemed wierdly religious?

My religious and spiritual experiences consisted of sitting, standing and kneeling in church bored out of my head. I occasionally enjoyed an upbeat hymn but otherwise it was dire.

David T said:

How about people that weren't believers, or became believers, who thought atheism seemed wierdly religious?

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I'm not sure that thought ever came to mind. Weirdly religious, how?

It was my deepest spiritual experiences that cemented my strong atheistic position. The godly stuff just wasn't complete. Pretty, yes. Enchanting, yes. Fulfilling, not so much. All seemed to point to a much deeper primal truth.

janesix said:

I'm not sure that thought ever came to mind. Weirdly religious, how?

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I grew up secular with no affiliation except very very limited exposure to religion. Now my father was an atheist. But I actually really didn't relate to it at all that's how secular I was. One night I came home and he was drunk and proceeded to tell me that noahs ark wax axbxc dimensions in size and based on life on the planet it would be impossible to get all the animals into the ark there for its a myth and God does not exist.


That's how I understand atheism. A batSH(@)T CRAZY dialog carried on in some fantasy reality that haz zero to do with anything!, at 14 I am looking around to see who he is talking to exactly and what the hell is he even talking about! It's a private conversation that's irrelevant to he'll breathing, carried on with others who have irrelevant views as far as I understood at 14..... Many many many years later I came to understand how exactly accurate that actually was!

My spiritual experiences are a private matter and not valid as objective evidence.

I've had some great spiritual experiences, but I'm agnostic about the God as described in the OT.

janesix said:

Please share your religious or spiritual experiences.

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Since I feel atheism is disbelief in deities, and coming from an atheist background, it took a while before experiencing spirituality embedded in as myself.

What engraved it was my experience as a former Catholic for four out of my adult years. Spirituality is also community, friendship, guidence, a sense of self with others, and excellent resources to grow in faith. Unfortunately, doctrinal issues in christianity (not the church) made me part.

With that experience and understanding the origin of everything comes from the mind (The Dharma), I developed connection within life itself. Its summarized in my signature.

When I am grateful, I am in the heart of god. When Im creative, I express the heart of god, when I love myself and others, I am the heart of god. I dont know another word to use since "god" is so embedded in our culture.

Thats my spiritual experience

Altfish said:

My religious and spiritual experiences consisted of sitting, standing and kneeling in church bored out of my head. I occasionally enjoyed an upbeat hymn but otherwise it was dire.

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Exercise. Feel the burn!

I have an independent spiritual outlook. I put into practice, mercy, tolerance, and empathy toward humanity as a whole. My faith condemns none, and pressures nobody. Im totally fine with secular people who are not anti to religious people. Im totally fine with religions who are not anti to secular people.

I am of the conviction you can be anti to religion or secular ideas, but do not make it a personal vendetta against the people themselves because that is just shallow, and lacks empathy and understanding, and it breeds hatred.

A lot of people that dont have empathy towards people they are in opposition to like to make hot and juicy points to stoke the fires of hate in the name of justice and peace. A lot of good points are made, but they lack empathetic understanding and thus are shallowly done.

Coercion is a crime to me. And yes theres plenty of cults out there that masquerade as righteous both in religion and secular movements as well. But these movements do not reflect the whole of society, and i do hope they stay minorities.

I take atheism as an anti god movement. I am not against a god believer, but i am in direct opposition to certain gods of certain religions. I dont like to be labeled anti theist.

And that is my spiritual experience.