this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2023
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I am Ganesh, an Indian atheist and I don't eat beef. It's not like that I have a religious reason to do that, but after all those years seeing cows as peaceful animals and playing and growing up with them in a village, I doubt if I ever will be able to eat beef. I wasn't raised very religious, I didn't go to temple everyday and read Gita every evening unlike most muslims who are somewhat serious about their religion, my family has this watered down religion (which has it's advantages).

But yeah, not eating beef is a moral issue I deal with. I mean, I don't care that I don't eat beef, but the fact that I eat pork and chicken but not beef seems to me to be weird. So, is there any religious practice that you guys follow to this day?

edit: I like religious music, religious temples (Churches, Gurudwara's, Temples & Mosques in Iran), religious paintings and art sometimes. I know for a fact that the only art you could produce is those days was indeed religious and the greatest artists needed to make something religious to be funded, that we will never know what those artists would have produced in the absence of religion, but yeah, religious art is good nonetheless.

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[โ€“] charonn0@startrek.website 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I still cross my fingers for luck.

[โ€“] Subject6051@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I didn't know that was religious?

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[โ€“] ThatHermanoGuy@midwest.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not really. I try very hard not to let myself fall prey to so-called "cultural religion." I don't celebrate any religious holidays like Christmas. I try to be as aware as possible of the religious influences in my daily life and avoid them. It's not easy, though! Religion has infested so many facets of every culture, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate.

[โ€“] blackbrook@mander.xyz 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Western culture is (as is every other culture) indeed infused with religion. There are lots of good things that come from it. Are we to throw them away because they are "tainted" by some religious element in their origin or development?

We've ended up in a very culturally poor place because in moving away from religion we throw so much out. Babies with bath water, as it were.

We've moved to a rationalist mentality without a good understanding of how man is an inherently cultural animal. And culture until recently was very hard to separate from religious aspects.

Note that I am an atheist myself, not brought up religious, and I don't have answers to how to resolve this awkward place we have gotten to. But I'm quite sure that avoiding cultural elements simply because there is a religious taint is not helpful. Are we to throw away all of Bach's music?

[โ€“] ThatHermanoGuy@midwest.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I would never suggest doing away with Bach's or any other sacred music or art. They can and should be appreciated in their proper historical context.

I don't think it's at all fair to say we have ended up in a "culturally poor" place. People are still producing all kinds of cultural contributions without religion. If anything, it is capitalism that has commodified culture causing some of the decline we see today.

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[โ€“] rubpoll@hexbear.net -1 points 1 year ago (9 children)

After reading Flatland and playing The Forgotten City, I feel like any number of human religions could end up being "true" to some degree. But it would involve aliens, or interdimensional interlopers or something.

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[โ€“] rjs001@lemmygrad.ml -1 points 1 year ago

Religious music certainly has continued to affect me

[โ€“] purahna@lemmygrad.ml -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I was born and raised atheist/agnostic, never set foot in a church before 18 besides weddings. Still am, never doubted it. Maybe I believe in like Spinoza's god or something but definitely no Abrahamic God.

Something I've learned is that among many other things, a certain holy quality to persecution has definitely permeated the western consciousness and it 100% has me second guessing myself often. The christliness of being persecuted, made a martyr, and suffering for your cause carries a moral quality that I have absolutely not freed myself from, even though there's nothing automatically morally good or bad in suffering and being made a victim for fighting for a cause.

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[โ€“] RTRedreovic@feddit.ch -1 points 1 year ago

Greetings from an Ex-Hindu Atheist. I was never really into Religious Banter that much even as a small kid. But I would say the major propelling force that made me become an Atheist would be my curiosity and eagerness to study science. Science answered all those questions Religion could not and my treatment by my super religious parents helped me not to retain any religious superstitions. Their berating only gave me more strength to continue my study of science and legitimized my standings.

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