I’m quite hardcore atheist…and also extremely superstitious. I will not speak out loud about either a hoped for or feared future event, for fear it will either jinx it, or bring it about. For instance, even when I knew the date my son was due to redeploy from Iraq, I would only say something like “oh, not long” when asked when he would come back. When we go camping, the word “rain” is strictly forbidden, being replaced by “the ‘r’ word”. People have invoked my wrath for saying things like “gee, it’s quiet tonight” when I’m on call.
Yes, I’m aware that it’s all quite ridiculous, but I do it anyway. And let’s not even get into why I can’t stand directly next to a bed when I get into it.
Me too. For example “Oh god! Oh god! Oh god! Yes, yes, yes, oh GOD!”.
I tend not to participate in religious events, but if someone I like invited me to something that was important to them, like a religious wedding or bar mitzvah or other events of that ilk, I’d go along because of what I feel for that person (and I have done, this isn’t just theoretical). That said I don’t think I have any friends who are particularly religious, it’s not really that common in the UK.
I don’t feel obligated to do religious things (like sing xmas carols) but no-one has ever tried to force me to either.
My favorite question ever from a theist was " So whose name do you shout out in bed? Darwin’s?" I told her that hopefully it’s the name of the guy in there with me.
I say god damn it.
I say bless you if you sneeze and then stare at me in anticipation like I’ve done something wrong by ignoring you.
I say thank god sometimes when a truly boring meeting finally comes to and end.
As a fellow atheist I take exception to the idea that this is any way “religiousy”. Doing your part to preserve the environment is important (to me at least) not because of some wishy washy idea of the earth suffering, but because if we fuck it up, we fuck it up for ourselves. I’m trying to be good to the future generations of people.
All that said, there are certainly things associated with the environmental movement that I disagree with (because I don’t think they are truthful and are not useful towards the goal of not destroying our future).
As for what I do that’s “religious”… I have faith, in the future.
