Religion

Can you call an atheist a spiritual person in any kind of context?

Comments

Yes! While I am not myself an atheist, the idea of "spirituality" or "being spiritual" can describe someone who approaches life with reverence and reflective care regardless of whether they recognize the reality of God. While the idea of "spirituality" emerged with the idea of "spirit" and thus conjures up a background of the supernatural (as in the idea of there being a "Holy Spirit" as part of the Trinity in Christian theology), someone may engage in many of the better or ideal practices we associate with religious tradition (meditation, compassion...) without belonging to any religion. On philosophers who are what I would call spiritual and atheists, you might look at the volume Louise Antony edited: Philosophers without God. Also, see work by Owen Flannagen and Robert Solomon. Keep in mind, too, that most forms of Buddhism are readily recognized as "spiritual" and yet are non-theistic. If you are open to the theistic side of the fence, you might check out Stewart Goetz's latest book with Continuum Press on the purpose of life or a book I just published with the University of Notre Dame Press called The Golden Cord; A short book on the secular and the sacred. Please forgive the shameless self-promotion but none of us are paid to be a panelist and if even one reader buys one book, I will at least get 25 cents in royalties! But, as you might guess, none of us are engaged in this project for the money! I suppose that insofar as being "spiritual" involves seeking to encourage reflection, respect, and reverence for what is truly valuable, our whole exchange on this website might be thought of as contributing to what is spiritual in life. It is definitely a non-commercial, non-elitist context for the sharing and caring about ideas that matter. I wish you all good things and thank you for your inquiry! CT

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