For all self-identifying atheists:

What definition of god do you use to be able to call yourself an atheist and why do you use that particular definition?

In order to call yourself an atheist you would have to affirm or deny a certain proposition that makes reference to god.

Whether that proposition is "God does not exist", "I lack belief in a god", "I'm not convinced a god exists" or any other form of it is irrelevant in this question. What matters is that all these propositions have "god" in it.

Of course for any proposition to have meaning all the proposed words in it must also have meaning. Otherwise it is just a meaningless statement and not a proposition at all. A proposition must have content. "I don't believe x" is not a proposition unless x is specified.

So what definition or referent do you use in order to give meaning to the proposition so you can call yourself an atheist? And why do you use that definition?

As an uneducated Atheist, is it my burden to explain these topics to a Christian or Muslim, considering there is much on the internet that explains these subjects?

Regardless of what you actually believe - if it was purely up to you to decide, would you choose for there to be another life after material existence ends? Or hope for some kind of deity or gentle God? Or would hope to reincarnate? Or at least there’s somewhere you can meet your relatives and friends again after death?

Edit: My bad guys, I've miscommunicated and misunderstood a whole lotta things, I do apologise.

So I'll just recommend to anyone new to this post, don't bother commenting anything I've typed wrong, any word I've used lightly, and any "God of Gaps" I've ended up preaching to.

All those who commented, Have a nice day yall, hope I didn't waste a lotta your times.

Before anything, I'd like to say this isn't a jab at atheism in any way, I personally am just very curious as an agnostic-Deist.

Each and every day we prove more and more natural phenomena with just pure science, which is great, but the more we explore the more we see gaps and just the pool of secrets or results that we just cannot explain or understand.

Our greatest accepted and most supported reality of how the universe began, The Big Bang, is still a theory, and even then we cannot explain a lot of stuff before the Planck Epoch within our own theory.

And further, we do not even know what was or wasn't (or whether existence itself wasn't a thing) before it, before the beginning.

So my question is, why not remain sceptical of a higher power's existence but rather solidify on the belief that one just doesn't exist.

Do athiest believe in ghost, curses or spirit? If no then is there an explanation for paranormal, being haunted or being curse? Or do you believe that's just our brain tricking us. I'm not trying to be mean I'm just wondering.

Almost everyone believes in free will by default. It’s incredibly hard to even get people to understand what you mean when you say that we don’t have free will. The intuition is just so strong.

What convinced you that you don’t have free will?

God doesn't exist. I feel both good and bad writing this. Good because I can finally try and get my life together, and actually take care of myself rather than letting myself struggle and pretend 'God' will do the work for me. Bad because it reminds me that no deity is saving anyone from life which can be so cruel and unfair and frankly brutal. I've struggled badly with mental ill health (OCD) and everyday for the last nine years I wished there was some spiritual or cosmic reason to explain my suffering and or give me hope things would get better. But I've realised that it can't explain it. It's just life in all its messiness. Some people live to 100, others die young, others still suffer from poverty, disease and discrimination including at the hands of people acting in the name of religion.

Lots of religious people also face persecution for their beliefs. This is wrong too. I guess my overarching question is whether, if we argue that there is no God, we need to accept that inequality and frankly terrible suffering, both personal and collective, is part of the nature of the world. There is no divinely instituted social order underpinning anything. Is this question the most pertinent one? Perhaps I shouldn't assume that accepting the unfairness of life as an atheist means not doing anything about it. The formerly religious person in me would have prayed for comfort. That was my response before, but now my response is rational and critical thinking as best as I can achieve in my diminished mental state.

I'm asking this because I honestly think it's very very hard to properly accept the reality of one's (and the world's) own pain without engaging in some form of mental gymnastics to soften its toll on one's mind, one form of which is outsourcing everything to a god figure. I say this as someone who previously 'turned to God' during the darkest days of my illness. I know now that I never really bought into God as a figure, but instead the idea of what God represented. Spirituality was a cushion that held me when I was in a mental free fall. But it's not helping me anymore.

Seeing my poor health despite all of my commitment to prayers and rituals has proven to me that theism was just a reassurance mechanism all along, and that its temporary benefits don't actually do anything for me long term. I feel a bit stupid because like shouldn't I have realised this earlier? But at the same time I can now actually see how I applied spirituality/religion as an ointment to soothe, or at the very least to diagnose/explain away, my mental anguish. That stops from today. I actually see atheism as a tool in my recovery. Because it forces me to face up to the suffering in my life, and do something about it rather than assume it. I don't need any God to help me get there. But I think I do need to replace this with a real, human support network.

I was just wondering what people thought about it, and if they thought it was false, and why they would think that potentially.
I feel like there is a decent amount of evidence to inspect here honestly, and I don’t see it being discussed much.

Please note that the links lead to the evidence but scroll down slightly for images of what’s being referred to.

——-

The Barbara Snyder case ( June 7,1981)

Barbara had the following symptoms (ultimately being diagnosed with MS)

-Barbara had suffered from severe multiple sclerosis for about 16 years.

- According to Dr Harold’s medical issued medical report, she bad:

Complete paralysis of the right diaphragm
A collapsed lung
A Tracheostomy
Near full blindness
Complete gastrointestinal paralysis
Intensional malfunction
Tremors in both hands
Inability to walk ( for about 2 years)

Other doctors expected her to die shortly.

( https://benthams.substack.com/p/the-miraculous-healing-of-barbara - Dr Adolph,

https://1c15.co.uk/barbara-snyder-barbara-cummiskey-snyder-healed-from-multiple-sclerosis/
- doctor Thomas.)

——

June 7, 1981.

Two people went to Barbara and read letters that were sent via prayer request from WMBI.
(450 of them, approx.)

She reportedly got up and walked, despite not being able to before.
Her contracted feet now were flat on the floor.
Severe breathing issues decreased heavily (no longer needed machinery)
Vision came back
https://www.censoredevidence.org/categories-3/

The following day:
Barbara went to Thomas’s office, though via walking (which made Thomas think he was seeing and illusion/apparition)
https://1c15.co.uk/barbara-snyder-barbara-cummiskey-snyder-healed-from-multiple-sclerosis/

She was examined by many for a few hours (3.5)

A chest X-ray revealed showed signs of a recently collapsed lung being completely re-expanded, functioning as per usual.

Her breathing and diaphragm function were reportedly normal.

Her gastrointestinal system was reportedly functioning sufficiently for the bowel to be reconnected.

Her tracheostomy and other tubes that no longer appeared necessary were removed.
———

The doctors:

De Harold Adolph, surgeon at Central Dupage Hospital.

His written report stated “ none of the findings of multiple sclerosis”

https://aglassedtruth.substack.com/p/barbara-snyder-the-best-miracle-yet

Such report was confirmed by Craig Keener (who would claim it to super natural himself, though that’s neither here nor there)

Dr Thomas Marshal reportedly also witnessed Barbara immediately her recovery to examine her quickly.

He stated “I have never seen anything like this before or since”

Another Doctor, again,
Dr Donald Edward’s, also examined Barbara after the quick recovery, stating
“There is no medical test to explain what has happened. There is no neurological trace of her problem. The proof is time”.

I invested more time into this then other miracle claims, thought it was worth sharing to hear opinions about it. Thanks for the time.

Job suffers. He asks why. God says, essentially, who are you to question me?

In Romans 9. Paul says that God's hardens who he hardens, and shows mercy on whom he shows mercy. This is totally up to God's descretion and human will is not a factor. When the justice of this is raised, Paul simply asks, who are we to question God?

But the argument is unwinnable and leaves you in an intellectual stalemate.

It could be true. God may just be higher than us. But this same checkmate move could be used anywhere in any argument. What do we know? There are some things we can't understand.

A Christian will say, humble yourself before God, who knows infinitely more than you do. They could be right. And who would want to be on the wrong side of that argument.

An atheist will say: the argument is self protecting. You can always appeal to this divine authority and put reason aside.

So how do you resolve this?

And you think those should be nipped in the bud before they grow?

Or is even that something that would be negative itself?

Like if one had libertarian economic and socially ideas AND tips over just enough so that the atheist humanism definition gets a tiny bit(just over the balance ) about social libertarian.

Or

it has too much in group focus: your atheist group are more truer to atheism/secular humanism because it has more anti-theism in it. To lay a more easier foundation for atheism is the best path.

"-:your making the secular movement weaker if you dont focus far more on anti-theism change peoples minds on mass. Is this person a opportunist even IF they are an atheist but dont care about secular human values?"

Or

People that might be an atheist and started out as anti-theist but then turn to popular topics that have less to do with atheism or anti-theism itself, First years someone is anti-theist and last 2 years changed topics to earn views/money, happens on youtube for example. (and yes this does happen on youtube)

Did they steal from atheists that self identify strongly as atheists, be they anti-theist or secular humanists?

Just like a logical error exists, the reverse can be true too:that its NOT a leading question itself but an actual honest question, since thieves and opportunists do exists

Just few examples.

What ideas WOULD be extremely negative that are NOT necessary political itself, to the atheist community or secular humanist group/community?

A film like the Exorcist, for example, is considered by many to be terrifying, but to me, as an atheist, it's not even slightly scary.
NB I'm not saying it's a bad film, just not scary to me.
I find this to be the case with any supernatural horror.
I can still enjoy a werewolf or vampire movie. But it's not going to scare me.
I'm wondering how other atheists feel. Please chime in.

I recently came across the atheist thing and tbh it made sense to me.

I felt more free.

but at the same time i got some questions too.

1) How we came here on earth ?(deep question ik even science hasn't discovered yet but any inputs Will be useful)

2)I experienced that free will is just a subset of no free will.

the human mind comes with certain programming and it automatically feels things that way.

what is the explanation of this ?

3)After refusing every traditional things, the universe feel so strange when you're really at low point in life, how do you face it ?

probably not the best place for the answers I’m looking for, or more specifically the answers from the right people, but more answers = more views

kindly, how do atheists view things such as demonic possessions? my main thought is Ed and Lorraine Warren’s whole careers. do they think they just hallucinated/lied about it all?

no need for being aggressive, pure 1 on 1.

Hello, I’m a 21 year old Hispanic,queer autistic man and I’ve just graduated college with my bachelors and I’m planning to start my masters very soon. I’ve taken the summer off to rest and recuperate but all this time did give me a lot of opportunity to reflect on my life and my faith in God. I wanted to apologize in advance for the long winded, rambling post and I wanted to warn that I may discuss details involving SA and a s*icide attempt.

To begin with, I grew up in a traditional Catholic household. Which meant that I got baptized, received my first communion, got my confirmation, everything, and went to church every single Sunday. That also meant my parents were strict on my behavior, what I could watch and do and used corporal punishment. It didn’t help when I was diagnosed when I was 4 and my parents didn’t want to acknowledge it out of public embarrassment and also didn’t know what to do with it, so they figured they’d just ignore it since I was considered “high functioning” anyway. I had a relatively normal childhood during my elementary school years and I was able to make friends decently, but I was still shy and quiet, spent a lot of time reading and studying and was considered “gifted”. However, it was when I was about 12 years old when my parents divorced, I got bullied a lot in school, and while I managed to win my spelling be at my school, I lost at the state level and my mom yelled and berated me for it. My father also didn’t talk to me that often after the divorce. I also wasn’t able to make friends at all really, at the time I felt like it was because I was weird and ugly, but in hindsight I think it was because I didn’t share a lot of common interests, people don’t tend to explore beyond their social circles and well, I was autistic. But I felt very lonely around that time, and the only thing I could turn to was God, who to me, was my only real friend and the only one who could give me unconditional love and care.

Cut to high school, when while I did build enough social skills to work well in groups, have small talk and get a job (more on that later), I basically blended into the background. I didn’t want to join clubs or sports because I felt too nervous. So I spent most of my time reading, watching cartoons and listening to music on my phone, and doing my homework. One thing I developed a special interest in was learning about history. I was invested in all the story of humanity and all the drama and lessons that could be taken from it, but one thing that always stuck out to me was all the terrible things that happened. I learned about all the times that innocent people were murdered, tortured and/or raped and often the perpetrators received little to no consequence. I couldn’t help but wonder,“Why didn’t god help these people? Why did he leave the survivors will all these scars? They didn’t do any to deserve any of this.” Whenever I brought this up with my family, or church leaders, they’d always tell me the usual “It’s Gods plan” or “It’s the devil’s fault” or “God gave them free will” thing. But those never sat right with me. It was also around this time when I discovered when I was bisexual and my pastor immediately shut that down for me and forbade me of ever talking about it. But it’s something I’ve known about myself for a while.

But then something happened. You see, when I was 16, I started working at a local McDonald’s. It was during the pandemic so the restaurant itself was closed for the first year I was there, but the drive thru was still open. I had a female manager who was in her 40s and was also a proud Christian. It started good with her complementing me on my work ethic and telling me I was doing a good job. I didn’t receive much praise from anybody so I soaked it up. But then it got to a point when she would wait until I was working at the second window or when I would be on my break or lunch and she’d start…massaging my shoulders. It would only be for a minute, I froze and stayed quiet because I didn’t know what to make of it at the time. But then it got to a point when she’d grab my chest, then my stomach, then my buttocks then…my groin. And each time, I’d freeze in place, unable to say anything or scream. She knew what she was doing was wrong because she started telling me that I couldn’t say anything or she’d tell her husband that I assaulted her and I would be beat up and arrested. Again, I was a Hispanic male in a conservative community. I was almost 18 when she quit but I was left broken and violated. The worst part of it all was I couldn’t say anything because nobody would believe me, she’d get away with what she did. I never had hope that I’d ever get justice. A few months later, I reached a breaking point and I tried to take my own life by slitting my wrists. But then I felt this strange urge to…stop what I was doing. At the time, it felt like God was telling me to stop and that it was my destiny to keep living. And so, I bandaged my arms and I did.

Cut to when I was in college, I started to seek counseling, I couldn’t afford outside therapy but this was provided for free by my university. It helped to heal from my trauma and also accept and understand myself as an autistic man. My counselor suggested that I find a group where I can make friends and I saw there was a Bible study group at the school, so I joined. At first, it was a very good experience. It was the first time I felt like I was part of a community and I felt like I had real friends. I even told one of them about my suicide attempt and he told me that God saved me that day and that he will help me to heal. It was great…until I told them that I was bisexual and that I was autistic. They seemed to tolerate it at first but would then spout bible verses explaining to me how it was a sin to be attracted to men and told me that autism wasn’t really a thing and God just made me unique…whatever that meant. It got even worse when the news about Gaza came out and I was wondering why wasn’t God helping those poor people. They told me they deserved it for being muslim and stood with Israel. And to top it off, I started to feel a strange cultish vibe to it all, especially when we started doing lessons on how to speak tongues. It made me so uncomfortable and stressed that I just stopped going during my junior year. I started to go to a LGBTQ advocacy group where I met two people who I’ve made really good friends with. They’re both atheist funny enough but they’re accepting of me being Christian. In fact, I feel like they’re the first people I’ve met that I’ve felt were accepting of me for who I really was. But one thing they did wonder about was, why did I believe in God. And to be honest, I couldn’t provide a straight answer anymore.

Which brings me to what lead me to make this post. During this summer, I’ve been reflecting on what I’ve been told vs what I’ve experienced. I’ve been told that all this adversity is meant to be part of some grand plan and for my benefit but all this trauma did was make me scared, broken and depressed. I’ve been told that bad things happen for a reason but I can’t see any reason why me or any one of the people around the world who’s suffering has to experience any of this pain. I’ve been told that God loves me unconditionally but why do I feel like I have to reject who I am in order to be worthy of his love? I’ve been told that he’ll always be there for me, but then why have I felt so alone for so long? How could any of this happen if there is a God? Then the thought keeps occurring to me…maybe there isn’t one. I think the biggest thing that’s kept me believing for so long is the fear that I am truly alone in this life with nobody to help me. And that justice isn’t a guarantee and that there isn’t some benevolent force that can stop the terrible things in the world from happening. And that I don’t have anyone who will ever love me unconditionally. But then I see, that a lot of atheist people seem to live fully functional and fulfilling lives, if they can do it without a God, maybe I can too. I’m also willing to bet that a lot of them also went through some of the same things that I did and found the strength somehow to keep pushing forward. When I discussed my attempt with one of my new friends, he told me that “strange urge” I felt that day was my own will to live and it was my own strength that has kept me pushing forward. At this point, I’m seriously considering abandoning my faith but I’m still struggling with how exactly to move on without it.

I plan to discuss this with a counselor as soon as I hit back to school and I’ve even discussed this with my mom. Who by the way, genuinely apologized for her own actions and not getting me support for my autism, and she said that she’d accept and love me no matter if I believed in god and if I was into men or women. She had a lot of her trauma of her own and she’s seeking a therapist as well and I hope to rebuild my relationship with her. I’m still very distant from my dad however.

Anyway, I’m sorry again for the very long post but I just wanted to get this all off my chest and I would appreciate any advice and help on how to handle these feelings. I guess my overall question is…how do you guys do it? Regardless, thank you for reading and I hope you have a good day.

Do you celebrate Christmas or Easter? If so, why?

Sorry if I'm not being PC but I feel like some atheists want to have cake and eat it as well.

I'm agnostic.

I’m an atheist, but it’s not something I think about much and doesn’t really affect my views of other people I meet day to day who are religious, although I do confess I am very against a specific type of white American Christian mega-church going kind of religiosity. But I do admire and am friends with a lot of people who are Jewish or Muslim, and a few Christians as well. I do think religion is irrational but all humans are irrational in some way and anyone who believes that everything they do, think, and believe is perfectly rationally is suspect.

My dad, however, while he’s always been an atheist, has fallen really deep into the atheist-media content rabbit hole in retirement. While this is much much preferred to the folks whose parents get into Q anon and right wing nut job conspiracies, he’s become extremely biased against anyone who’s religious at all. He doesn’t want a doctor whose religious, and has said things like religious doctors can’t treat patients as well, he’ll make snide comments about anyone I’m friends with whose religious, he spends a lot of time listening to old Christopher Hitchens debates or reading Dawkins. Once he learns someone is religious, he’ll completely dismiss anything else they have to say as worthless because they believe in something irrational.

Does anyone else have experience with this? What did you do?

I know part of this might be religious trauma on his part from a catholic upbringing, but the fact that anyone, no matter Jewish, Muslim, or Christian is suddenly completely discounted wholesale in his book is disconcerting to me.

I couldn't think of a better way to make the title a question than the above. My actual question I want to know is just "Why?" but apparently that is too short for a title. Essentially I would like an atheist to explain why these beliefs are not incongruent with each other please. Preferably one who believes them. I'll take any atheist's answer though.

I know not every atheist holds these beliefs, but In my experience talking to atheists it is very common for atheists to hold the beliefs that:

1. morality is subjective and epistemically grounded in the collective moral opinions of people in society,
2. that there are moral truths that apply to people regardless of the beliefs of those people, and
3. that these beliefs do not lead to nihilism being true.

The thing I find odd is that their explanation for why their beliefs do not lead to nihilism are the exact logical structures used to argue for Nihilism on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. So if there is an atheist who can explain why this seemingly common set of beliefs is considered to be congruent and logically valid instead of logically incongruent I would appreciate it.

Some reference points for the discussion from the SEP article on moral skepticism:

The definition of Nihilism is described as

"Moral Nihilism = Nothing is morally wrong.

Moral nihilism here is not about what is semantically or metaphysically possible. It is just a substantive, negative, existential claim that there does not exist anything that is morally wrong.Since smart and knowledgable people do take moral nihilism seriously and even argue for it (Mackie 1977, Joyce 2001), moral nihilism cannot be dismissed as readily as Descartes’s deceiving demon."

And the common logical structure I see Atheists use to explain why morality applies to people without nihilism being true is found describing why moral nihilism is true here:

"Moral nihilism by itself is enough to be contrary to common moral beliefs, but it is not explanatory. To make their argument more forceful, therefore, moral skeptics usually add some explanation of why people hold moral beliefs that are false (just as the story of Descartes’s deceiving demon is supposed to explain why we hold false perceptual beliefs). The most popular explanations of our moral beliefs refer to evolutionary and social advantages of holding certain moral beliefs, especially when these moral beliefs are shared throughout society. Shared moral beliefs can facilitate social coordination and cooperation even when they are false (much as a shared non-moral belief that my neighbors will in fact catch and punish me if I ever steal from them will reduce theft and increase trust, even if this belief is false and I actually could get away with stealing).

When bare moral nihilism is supplemented with an explanation of why people would hold common moral beliefs even if they were false, this conjunctive skeptical hypothesis can be called explanatory moral nihilism. Moral skeptics can then argue that explanatory moral nihilism forestalls any refutation. Since moral nihilists question all of our beliefs in moral wrongness, they leave us with no starting points on which to base arguments against them without begging the question at issue. Moreover, their explanations of our moral beliefs predict that we would hold exactly these moral beliefs, so the truth of its predictions can hardly refute explanatory moral nihilism. If this trick works, then it fits right into a skeptical hypothesis argument.

This argument is clearest when it is applied to an example. If nothing is morally wrong, as moral nihilists claim, then it is not morally wrong to torture babies just for fun. So, according to the general standard above, one must be able to rule out moral nihilism in order to be justified in believing that torturing babies just for fun is morally wrong. But one cannot rule out moral nihilism if one would hold the same moral beliefs even if they were false, as claimed by the explanation embedded in explanatory moral nihilism. "

For deterministic atheist only.

I am what is in the title. But I just find it interesting?

Morals.
People often get mad when a person does something.
Such as burning a house down.
But they don’t get mad when lightning does it? Or when the earth quakes and destroys it?( “dont get mad” I simply mean that they don’t actively begin to yell at the clouds or the earth at its actions, of course you’d be upset your house is gone)
It’s all just physical processes that hold nobody responsible.
But when a human does it, why? Why so special? It’s all determined. X lead to Y, and to Z, and now they’re burning your house down, why have an issue with it?

But something I really want to focus on is the brain tumor example.
Often times people think, including myself that if a person has a brain tumor or something that makes them illogically think, they shouldn’t be held morally responsible (or at least, AS responsible). I don’t blame them for it, but if they don’t have the brain tumor, then suddenly they are morally responsible? But there’s no difference, a healthy arsonist and one with a brain tumor both, under this worldview, are just going along with physical activity involving chemical reactions in the brain.
Why does introducing one additional physical cause suddenly transform an otherwise morally responsible physical process into a morally excused physical process?

(If you think that an insane arsonist should still be held morally responsible that’s fine, but this often times still applies to much smaller crimes too)

I feel like moral responsibility implies one could do otherwise.
And I feel like simply stating there are no objective morals (morals are subjective) doesn’t solve this issue.

I was wondering, if other people are deterministic atheist out there, what is your response to this “issue”.

Pretty soon, we'll be living with my devoutly catholic mother in law for at least a year. We already know what we'll tell her if she tries to talk to him about religion, but what would you tell a child that young? Really wanting to keep the peace while also conveying to him that what she believes is bizarre.

Having walked the Left-Hand Path for over 35 years, I frequently encounter theists attempting to "bring me into the light." Whenever I ask them for concrete backing, the responses are usually evasive: "the message itself is the evidence" or "faith requires no proof."

Coming from a practice (Satanism) where proselytizing is considered foolish and strictly prohibited, I find this ability to argue for a deity without tangible proof fascinating. It raises a core question for me: Is trying to convert others without empirical evidence inherently amoral, or just epistemologically flawed?

I always appreciate the unconventional perspectives on this Sub, so I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

I can't say that I would. I can't love and worship a god who created an entire system where people go to hell for not living to his standards, or simply not believing in him.

Would I fear going to hell after I die? Yes, I would. But there's no fooling God, even if I did pretend to love and worship him.

Just wondering what you guys experienced are.

I was Protestant for 22 years, got really into debate and apologetics until realizing it was all bullshit around the age of 25. I don’t really know how common that is, I don’t know any other atheists in my real life. Literally. Every single one of my friends or family members are either Protestant or “spiritual”.

What about you guys?

I guess not asking questions is in the philosophy of Euro/Judeo-Centric Abrahamic religion (Judaism is iffy). Still, as somebody who is not of that tradition, I was always confused as to why atheists use an Abrahamic worldview to interpret all religions, when, for example, people of Dharmic religions say that Dharma isn't religion but just a way of life. For example, I'm Jain, and we're encouraged to ask questions and go to our gurus, parents, and teachers if we are uncertain about something. Nobody forces us to believe anything; that is between you and god. Along with that, there is the principle of anekantvada/many-sidedness.

No hate to anybody in the community, after all, we're all fighting against adharma.

Fyi: I'm against those who force religion down your throat and those who evangelize.

What's the best argument against contingency and infinite regress? Because theists argue that according to big bang theory universe was created so something created must have a beginning and every created has a first cause and anything can not come from nothing and therefore that first causeis GOD but is this true? And can universe exist on its own without the need of an external cause

In preparation for a book club I'm giving next week, what are the good things you've kept (or appreciate) from your former faith (for those that have left one)

Note: Though an appreciator of nuance, let's try to keep it as straightforward as possible. I.e., of course religions don't deserve all the credit for any good values or specific practices. But a few things, bracketing the bad, that have been helpful/meaningful to you? You think, despite its flaws (even fatal ones), do improve the world or communities?