Atheists, Spirituality, and Unitarian Universalism

The active participation of atheists is surprising to many people learning about Unitarian Universalism for the first time. It seems at first glance that atheism and participation in a religious community are completely incompatible. And yet, by the Unitarian Universalist Association’s most recent estimate, 19% of UU’s identify as atheist.

In my previous post, I offered an answer to the question “Why would an atheist be concerned with spiritual growth?”

Now I want to share some of the responses that other UU readers provided, and highlight a recent conversation among other UU bloggers about atheism.

An atheist UU herself, Jacqueline of Moxie Life wrote:

…I have spent my entire life diving into my spiritual growth. I look to many faith traditions to guide me… I believe it is because I am both a UU and an atheist that allows me to continue looking and hopefully growing. I am not stuck or solid (good or bad thing there) on any one idea and always learning.

Rev. Ricky Hoyt asserted:

Atheism is a “A-theology” not “a-spirituality.” Atheism is one kind of an answer to the same spiritual questions of identity, purpose and meaning that everyone asks: “Who am I?” “What should I do?” What is it worth?” Our Unitarian Universalist congregations are places where we ask those questions and encourage people to find their own answers. Atheism being one of dozens of valid, spiritual answers.

And Jess of Best of UU pointed me to Rev. Matthew Tittle’s sermon, “Why Atheists Go to Church.” It was a good recommendation; Rev. Tittle addresses in depth the variety of reasons that atheists choose to be part of a religious community. It would be difficult to summarize the sermon here, but one section jumped out at me as particularly relevant to the conversation about atheists and spirituality:

Everyone who regularly attends church of their own free will does so because they want to be part of a community. We want to be part of a community because we seek a sense of belonging. And we seek belonging because we humans are makers of meaning Not to make meaning of our lives is to risk our own survival. There are other ways to make meaning in one’s life outside of a religious community. But everyone within a religious community, atheist and otherwise, is at some level on a quest for meaning.

However, Unitarian Universalists are not in total agreement on the value of atheism. For example, the UU Enforcer last week posted a quotation decrying atheism as an inadequate response to suffering.

This provoked responses from two UU ministers. Rev. Christine Robinson argued in the comments, “I have seen ATHEISTS love, care, hope, and serve with great dignity and sense of meaning in their lives.” Rev. James Ford wrote his own post, “Tough Talk about Atheism,” in which he harshly criticized atheism, but argued that agnositicism can still be “a powerful spiritual stance.”

Update 1/23/08:

In the comments, Bill Barr joins the naysayers, writing, “Atheism’s become quaint I’m afraid. One of the consequences of the unchurched as the fastest growing population is the whole question of belief becomes moot.”

Terri Pahucki adds:

When asked if I believe in God, I usually say, “Which one?” OR “You’re asking the wrong question!” I have also thought of “God” as a verb, as something we do through our actions…As I’ve gotten to know individual UU’s theology better, I have found that the differences between those who call themselves atheists and those who call themselves theists are actually smaller than first supposed. Many believe in a sense of “sacredness”. They just call it different things.