Goodness Without Religion?
Life is not meaningless without being religious.It's possible to be good without a fear of God.
It's possible have inner peace, spirit, faith without being religious.
Sikh Atheist/Agnostic?
Christian atheists, cultural Muslims Jewish atheism are very popular with their long lists of people and being used as mainstream terms, yet Sikh atheist sounds new.
Richard Dawkins calls himself a "cultural Christian". In the Protestant Church in the Netherlands and other denominations of the Netherlands, 1 in 6 clergy(religious leadership) are either agnostic or atheist. Judaism has reformed itself & accepted atheist Jews. The high number of Jewish atheists made Christopher Hitchens remark Jews carry an atheist gene.
Why can't there be Sikh atheists? I am an atheist but culturally i am a Sikh.
Cultural Sikh
Culture of people of fifth largest organized religious group in the world is extremely rich in tradition. Most Sikh atheists prefer to cremate even when living in Christian or Muslim countries.
Political Sikh
Like the Nobel Laureate atheist Amartya Sen who calls himself political Hindu, a lot of people identify themselves as political sikhs. Einstein, an american was a political Jew supporting Israel.
Historical Significance
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
Spirituality is Secular
Poetry of 15 poets whose religion was not Sikhism & born before Guru Nanak ji & Sikhism, was incorporated into Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
| Poet | Religion |
|---|---|
| Kabir | Islam Religion |
| Parmanand | Hindu Religion |
| Sadhana | Hindu Religion |
| Bhikhan | |
| Ravidas | Ravidassia Religion |
| Pipa | |
| Ramanand | Hindu Religion, Ramanandi sect |
| Sheikh Farid | Islam Religion, Chishti Order |
| Beni | |
| Namdev | Hindu Religion |
| Sain | Hindu Religion |
| Dhanna | Hindu Religion |
| Surdas | Hindu Religion |
| Jaidev | Hindu Religion |
| Trilochan | Hindu Religion |
Why can't atheists listen & sing to kirtan? Some of the religious text is the most beautiful literature ever written. Khushwant Singh, the writer, loves listening to kirtan in spite of being an agnostic.
Religious don't have any problem claiming Atheists like Bhagat Singh as their own.
Why not Punjabi Atheist?
Lot of kids of 3.75 million Sikhs outside of Punjab don't speak Punjabi but Hindi or English. Majority of irreligious Sikhs were raised in devout Sikhism even if speaking Hindi, English, French, Malay, German, Norwegian or Arabic.
Living outside Punjab I can see the large difference from Hindu Punjabi &
Muslim Punjabi(Pakistani) culture which in Punjab is considered basically the same.
The Sikh culture is agricultural compared to the Hindu Punjabis who were non-agricultural & mostly urbane .
Validity of the term 'Sikh Atheist'
Sikh Atheist is an oxymoron (ਵਿਰੋਧਾਭਾਸ, विरोधाभास )
A large number of oxymora are mainstream as they are the best way to describe. Eg: Original copy, Irregular pattern, Invisible ink, Wax fruit, Electric candles, civil war, working from home, non-fat cream, non-alcoholic beer.
Ideologically it feels offensive but sometimes reality is contrary to logic .
Uneasy Reality
It is a philosophical paradox yet like a large numbers of paradoxes in nature, it existence makes it valid.
"A paradox is a statement or group of statements that lead to a contradiction or a situation which defies logic or reason."
Paradoxes in mathematics, logic, decision theory, geometry, statistics, biology, physics, chemistry, philosophy, economics, polictics are listed at the link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_paradoxes
"A paradox is a statement or group of statements that lead to a contradiction or a situation which defies logic or reason."
Paradoxes in mathematics, logic, decision theory, geometry, statistics, biology, physics, chemistry, philosophy, economics, polictics are listed at the link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_paradoxes
No one can deny i am a cultural sikh
If Christian atheists, Muslim Atheists & Jewish atheists then why not Sikh Atheist?
Christian Atheists
Muslim Atheists
Jewish Atheists
Hindu Atheists
These terms are widely popular.
Examples of popularity of Christian atheists, Jewish Atheists, Hindu Atheists
Hindu Atheists
These terms are widely popular.
Examples of popularity of Christian atheists, Jewish Atheists, Hindu Atheists
Books
(on Amazon with titles containing Jewish Atheist/Christian Atheist/Muslim Atheist/Buddhist Atheist)
Christian Atheist: Belonging without Believing - Brian Mountford
The Christian Atheist: Integrating Science, Psychology, Medicine and Spirituality in the 21st Century - Robert R. Blake
Candidate Without A Prayer: An Autobiography of a Jewish Atheist in the Bible Belt
The Christian Atheist Participant's Guide - Craig Groeschel
How to be a Christian Without Being Religious - Fritz Ridenour
Spiritually Dysfunctional: Being the True and Amazing Story of How a Confirmed Jewish Atheist and His Seriously Catholic Wife Explore the Meaning - Fred Singer
The Gospel of Christian Atheism - Thomas J. J. Altizer, 1966
The New Gospel of Christian Atheism - Thomas J. J. Altizer
The death of man : a critique of Christian atheism - J. V. Langmead Casserley,1967
God Seekers for a New Age: From Crisis Theology to Christian Atheism - Roch Kereszty, 1970
The God killer?: Altizer and his "Christian atheism." - James D Bales, 1967
Christian atheism-- the 'God is Dead' movement: Two sermons, The power of words, Where is our God? - Arthur Foote, 1965
The death of God. The Gospel of Christian Atheism / Smert Boga. Evangelie khristianskogo ateizma - Tomas Altitser, 2010
Fall of the "Muslim atheist": Hirsi Ali's journey - Falguni A. Sheth
Confession of a Buddhist Atheist - Stephen Batchelor, 2011
Christian Atheist: Belonging without Believing - Brian Mountford
The Christian Atheist: Integrating Science, Psychology, Medicine and Spirituality in the 21st Century - Robert R. Blake
Candidate Without A Prayer: An Autobiography of a Jewish Atheist in the Bible Belt
The Christian Atheist Participant's Guide - Craig Groeschel
How to be a Christian Without Being Religious - Fritz Ridenour
Spiritually Dysfunctional: Being the True and Amazing Story of How a Confirmed Jewish Atheist and His Seriously Catholic Wife Explore the Meaning - Fred Singer
The Gospel of Christian Atheism - Thomas J. J. Altizer, 1966
The New Gospel of Christian Atheism - Thomas J. J. Altizer
The death of man : a critique of Christian atheism - J. V. Langmead Casserley,1967
God Seekers for a New Age: From Crisis Theology to Christian Atheism - Roch Kereszty, 1970
The God killer?: Altizer and his "Christian atheism." - James D Bales, 1967
Christian atheism-- the 'God is Dead' movement: Two sermons, The power of words, Where is our God? - Arthur Foote, 1965
The death of God. The Gospel of Christian Atheism / Smert Boga. Evangelie khristianskogo ateizma - Tomas Altitser, 2010
Fall of the "Muslim atheist": Hirsi Ali's journey - Falguni A. Sheth
Confession of a Buddhist Atheist - Stephen Batchelor, 2011
Mainstream Usage
1. BBC -Types of Atheism- Christian Atheism
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/atheism/types/christianatheism.shtml
2. Categories of people defined on Wikipedia
Jewish Atheists & Atheism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Judaism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_atheism
Christian Atheists
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Christian
Hindu Atheists
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism_in_Hinduism
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/atheism/types/christianatheism.shtml
2. Categories of people defined on Wikipedia
Jewish Atheists & Atheism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Judaism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_atheism
Christian Atheists
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Christian
Hindu Atheists
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism_in_Hinduism
Population
Population of Jewish Atheists/Agnostics in America > 1.8 Million
People who consider themselves 'Jewish with no religion' - 1,888,000
http://commons.trincoll.edu/aris/files/2011/08/AJIS08.pdf
How is that not jewish atheists/agnostics. If they were only atheist, they would have said atheists & not jewish with no religion.
People who consider themselves 'Jewish with no religion' - 1,888,000
http://commons.trincoll.edu/aris/files/2011/08/AJIS08.pdf
How is that not jewish atheists/agnostics. If they were only atheist, they would have said atheists & not jewish with no religion.
Term used in Reputable News & Magazines
Time Magazine
http://ideas.time.com/2012/03/12/why-we-question-god/
Washington Post - In Praise of Jewish Atheism
http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfait....novel_tuff.html
USA Today
Judaism without God? Yes, say American atheists
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/st....58/1?csp=34news
Time Magazine
http://ideas.time.com/2012/03/12/why-we-question-god/
Washington Post - In Praise of Jewish Atheism
http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfait....novel_tuff.html
USA Today
Judaism without God? Yes, say American atheists
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/st....58/1?csp=34news
Intellectuals, Academics & Public Figures supporting it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Jewish_atheists
List contains182 highly accomplished Jewish atheists including Sigmund Freud(father of psychoanalysis), Several Nobel laureates. Majority of people listed are stalwarts in their fields.
Hindu Atheists
Amartya Sen- The Nobel laureate is a self-proclaimed agnostic and associates it with the idea of Hinduism as a political entity.
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar - President of Hindu Mahasabha, described himself as a Hindu atheist. He is credited for developing a Hindu nationalist political ideology he termed as Hindutva ("Hinduness").
Shreela FlatherBaroness Flather of Windsor and Maidenhead, the first Hindu woman in British politics. She has described herself as a "Hindu atheist". Broadly, she is an atheist with affinity to secular aspects of Hindu culture such as dress and diet.
Kamalahaasan- Famous Tamil Actor and film maker who make films with atheist ideals and has a popular dialog in his film Dasavathaaram "I don't say that God doesn't exist, I just say it would be good if he existed".
Web Presence
A Google exact phrase search (https://www.google.co.uk/advanced_search) which is verifiable by anyone & reveals the following data. This is different from a regular google search.
It does also include the cases when words just occur next to each other. But that effect is much more prominent in case of "Sikh atheist" from the first page onwards.
"christian atheist" 234,000 results
"christian atheism" 57,500 results
"jewish atheist" 101,000 results
"jewish atheism" 46,900 results
"hindu atheist" 110,000 results
"buddhist atheist" 60,800 results
Sikh atheism as i mentioned is not
"sikh atheist" 5,980 results
"sikh atheism" 207 results
It does also include the cases when words just occur next to each other. But that effect is much more prominent in case of "Sikh atheist" from the first page onwards.
"christian atheist" 234,000 results
"christian atheism" 57,500 results
"jewish atheist" 101,000 results
"jewish atheism" 46,900 results
"hindu atheist" 110,000 results
"buddhist atheist" 60,800 results
Sikh atheism as i mentioned is not
"sikh atheist" 5,980 results
"sikh atheism" 207 results
Sikh Atheism is easier to achieve than pure Atheism
I base it on the number of people willing to be called Christian/Jewish Atheists. Religion never dies but reforms itself again & again.
All religions change using the justification 'proper interpretation of holy text'. They make the same words mean whatever they want in all religions based upon cultural & political needs.
Even Sikhism reformed so many times
1. Sehajdhari ( Shaved Sikhs) now accepted into SGPC.
2. 40 Years ago men weren't allowed to talk to woman who they married.
3. Before that they didn't allow seeing the lady's face before marriage
4. Before that they had child marriage system.
5. Ghunghat system which was once tied into Sikhism. Any man other than the husband weren't supposed to see a woman's face. Very very similar to Islam.
6. Women weren't allowed to work outside the family.
This was all done as their is description in Guru Granth Sahib about women's modesty & conduct. Now they say it was only the culture.
7. Proper sword was supposed to be carried in the beginning. Then they reduced it to dagger. Then into blunt dagger. Then into small metallic model of it.
8. Wearing a cap wasn't allowed.
"Hoye sikh sir topi dhare,
saat janam kushti hoye mare" Guru Gobind Singh's Dasam Granth
Now keshadhari sikhs (with uncut hair) wear caps all the time.
Pure Atheism is too weak to fight religion at this moment. Plus it is a big leap to teach.
Technically there is no difference, it's only Branding. The option of being an Atheist has always been there.
Further reading
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_atheism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikh_art_and_culture
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7136682.stm
All religions change using the justification 'proper interpretation of holy text'. They make the same words mean whatever they want in all religions based upon cultural & political needs.
Even Sikhism reformed so many times
1. Sehajdhari ( Shaved Sikhs) now accepted into SGPC.
2. 40 Years ago men weren't allowed to talk to woman who they married.
3. Before that they didn't allow seeing the lady's face before marriage
4. Before that they had child marriage system.
5. Ghunghat system which was once tied into Sikhism. Any man other than the husband weren't supposed to see a woman's face. Very very similar to Islam.
6. Women weren't allowed to work outside the family.
This was all done as their is description in Guru Granth Sahib about women's modesty & conduct. Now they say it was only the culture.
7. Proper sword was supposed to be carried in the beginning. Then they reduced it to dagger. Then into blunt dagger. Then into small metallic model of it.
8. Wearing a cap wasn't allowed.
"Hoye sikh sir topi dhare,
saat janam kushti hoye mare" Guru Gobind Singh's Dasam Granth
Now keshadhari sikhs (with uncut hair) wear caps all the time.
Pure Atheism is too weak to fight religion at this moment. Plus it is a big leap to teach.
Technically there is no difference, it's only Branding. The option of being an Atheist has always been there.
Further reading
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_atheism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikh_art_and_culture
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7136682.stm
How can atheists have faith without a belief in God?
ReplyDeleteAtheist can have faith in everything other than the super natural. We have faith(even irrational) in our country, people, systems & ourselves. We can have the same blind optimism for life as the religious that everything will work out, justice will prevail.
DeleteTo live a good life, One does not require faith.
DeleteFaith is the excuse people give when they don't have a good reason to believe in something.
Faith is gullibility. It isn't a virtue.
One does not need blind optimism.