Well, Buddhism is a religion with no requirement that there be a deity, so there's more precedent than you might think. :-)
I'd say that Unitarian-Universalism is a religion because it concerns itself with the big questions about life's purpose or meaning and how we should live, and because it seeks to nourish the spirit (however you define that).
Even UU theists may believe in something you'd have trouble recognizing as a deity. My personal belief is that God is an emergent property of life - that it arises from the complex interconnected web of plant, animal, and human life as a sort of a force or flow. I find it strengthening and comforting to tap into that sense of life's connectedness through practices like prayer, meditation, and ritual, but my views don't really lend themselves to the idea of an interventionist God.
Unitarian-Universalism has a long track record of supporting and including atheists and humanists, and there are many atheist UU ministers. Your local church or fellowship may vary in terms of how much the services include the trappings of theism. In any case you'd be expected to respect that others' search for truth and meaning might lead them to theism, just as yours has led you to atheism.
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Date: 2009-06-02 02:12 pm (UTC)I'd say that Unitarian-Universalism is a religion because it concerns itself with the big questions about life's purpose or meaning and how we should live, and because it seeks to nourish the spirit (however you define that).
Even UU theists may believe in something you'd have trouble recognizing as a deity. My personal belief is that God is an emergent property of life - that it arises from the complex interconnected web of plant, animal, and human life as a sort of a force or flow. I find it strengthening and comforting to tap into that sense of life's connectedness through practices like prayer, meditation, and ritual, but my views don't really lend themselves to the idea of an interventionist God.
Unitarian-Universalism has a long track record of supporting and including atheists and humanists, and there are many atheist UU ministers. Your local church or fellowship may vary in terms of how much the services include the trappings of theism. In any case you'd be expected to respect that others' search for truth and meaning might lead them to theism, just as yours has led you to atheism.