I know a few, very few, atheists who avoid anything religious, but that strikes me as dogmatic, and one of the many reasons I left religion behind was to escape dogmatism. Considering how deeply religion has infected every aspect of our culture we’d have to become hermits to avoid it completely. We’d even have to reject things like Motown, because it’s heavily influenced by gospel music.

I love Handel’s Messiah, especially the version by the Roaches, which should be heard live to fully appreciate it. Gothic churches, stained glass, religious sculpture and painting is often amazing and awe inspiring. I’ve recently added Argent’s “God Gave Rock and Roll To You” to my music mixes – I’d forgotten how much I liked that song. The short prayer in “Fire and Rain” is one of the most moving things I’ve ever heard. Some Gregorian Chants are stunningly beautiful. The tales of Roman and Greek deities are very entertaining and sometimes enlightening.

I’ve read the Tao, Buddhist writings, and many other religious texts, taken what I found useful and discarded the rest.

When a religious person enjoys such things they give credit to their god. When an atheist enjoys them he’s amazed at the beauty created by other people. That’s a fairly trivial difference. Both people are enjoying the wonder and awe of the art.

I also celebrate some holidays. There’s no Christ in my Christmas, but I still enjoy the gift giving and the general spirit of the season. I love the lights and decorations that fill the neighborhood, and put my own up as well. There’s usually an angel ornament or two in the tree, right alongside the Spiderman and Unicorn ornaments. Spiderman and Unicorns are no more or less real than angels.

I also celebrate Thanksgiving, without giving thanks, by having a big meal with my family. There is one thing we do religiously, though – we must have Arlo’s “Alice’s Restaurant” playing during the meal.

P. S. I’d like to second Reed Braden’s recommendation of “Lamb.” It’s very funny, and a great read.

Posted: November 3rd 2009

See all questions answered by Dave Hitt

If I tolerate anything religious, it has to do with people, not the religion itself. I’ve changed my view on this over the years: around 1995, I refused to enter a castle chapel while sightseeing, which annoyed the friends I was with, but also made me question what I was annoyed about.

Since then I have visited churches for the architecture, such as St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, and I even attended the wedding service of a colleague, in a Catholic church in Portugal. There are still things I won’t do e.g. I won’t actively take part in religious services or say religious words, such as Christmas Carols. I’m one of those people who hates lying or deception in any form, even “white lies” or “fitting in” just to keep people happy. Friends, and other smart people, generally understand how I see such things.

Posted: November 2nd 2009

See all questions answered by brian thomson

I am not an Atheist in that I don’t believe in gods. I go the extra step in that I believe in no gods. There is a sufficient amount of evidence against the God Hypothesis and a sufficient lack of evidence for the same that I am comfortable saying that I believe there is no such thing as a god.

However, I absolutely love the themes that religion is able to provide in literature and music. There are religious songs that stir my emotions like none other.

Harry Connick, Jr.'s I Pray on Christmas, Lyle Lovett’s Church, Edith Piaf’s Mon Dieu, Verdi’s Requiem and Handel’s Messiah are ranked very high on the list of music that I enjoy.

Christopher Moore’s Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal is one of my favourite comedy novels.

Even though her writing style makes me cringe, Anne Rice’s Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt was a thoroughly enjoyable story.

The Biblical allusions in Shakespeare, Chaucer and the great British Romantic poets enrich their writing so much more than many Atheists will admit.

I challenge any Atheist to stand in the Sistine Chapel and not be struck with awe by the religious art surrounding them on all sides.

Even the religious texts themselves, from the Bible to the Qur’an to the Bhagavad Gita, contain amazing stories that I thoroughly enjoy reading.

Being an Atheist, even being a hardcore anti-theist, does not mean that you must reject every human achievement inspired by religion. If you threw all religious references in the garbage, you would have nothing left of the classics and very little left of modern music and literature to enjoy.

Posted: November 2nd 2009

See all questions answered by Reed Braden

Religious artifacts are interesting as any other human-made ones. Religious art is often excellent, from all countries and all religions, including the so-called pagan ones (the kind that inspired Picasso for example and the Easter Island statutes) because the very best and brightest artists were chosen and financed. Religious architecture also was built by the most talented, gifted craftspeople and designers (as in the Egyptian pyramids). Ditto for religious music. See a pattern here?

It was not just the perceived religious inspiration at work here, but the overwhelming talents of the top of the top artists who were chosen and encouraged to create their finest. An artist creates. Period. Religious inspiration is secondary to that pressing desire and need of artists which molds itself to the dominating themes of the time in question (think of the completely secular and artistically fantastic expression of Impressionism).

Happily, these artists were able to advance their art/crafts, discovering methods and pigments in use today. Unsurprisingly, this superb artistic expression, despite its religious correlation, is appreciated by many secularists.

Ever wonder why excellent art/music is no longer being created for the religious realm even though the majority of people are religious? And why you can still find some excellent art/music in the secular realm? It is because the secular realm now commands the best and the most talented artists.

Living in various European cities for the past twenty years have given me the great joy of seeing many medieval churches, some of them with breathtakingly beautiful stained glass. Often, these churches put on very affordable concerts of religious music. At these concerts, the atmosphere is secular, despite the nature of the music and the architecture! No one discusses religion. Every Christmas dinner that I have been invited to by European natives is conducted within the same secular manner. So, yes, religious artifacts/events correlated to religions are appreciated by secular communities.

In addition, as an avid cook and gardener, I enjoy researching the cuisine and type of gardening done in Medieval Christian and Buddhist monasteries. I enjoy reading Confucius (quasi-religious) and Taoist writings which I consider to be delightfully and dryly entertaining and soothing.

And most importantly, I do not reject religious people or their right to religious beliefs as consenting adults—I just challenge and criticize their religious beliefs. I have gladly attended religious ceremonies like funerals and weddings of religious friends.

Posted: November 1st 2009

See all questions answered by logicel

I’ve heard that Richard Dawkins enjoys religious music and many of us appreciate the architecture.

I do wonder sometimes at the people who dedicated their entire lives to building a cathedral. I think wouldn’t it have been great if they’d built hospitals or schools instead. Sure, selfishly speaking the hospitals and schools wouldn’t impress us so much, years later. I can’t deny that the (now empty) churches in my area are pleasant features of the landscape and help with navigation, but it also seems like a rather misguided effort.

Posted: October 31st 2009

See all questions answered by Eshu

One doesn’t have to believe in elves to enjoy reading Lord of the Rings, or in fairies to enjoy going to see Iolanthe.

Religious art has always been well-commissioned and popular, and tons of it easily stands on its artistic merit.

Personally I love the music of the choral group Anuna, a lot of which is old Christian music in a variety of languages. I really don’t care what the lyrics mean, I just love the harmonies.

Posted: October 30th 2009

See all questions answered by SmartLX