Atheists Giving Thanks to the Sun.
I argue that it is rational and appropriate for atheists to give thanks to deep impersonal agents for the benefits they give to us. These agents include our evolving biosphere, the sun, and our finely-tuned universe. Atheists can give thanks to evolution by sacrificially burning works of art. They c...
| Published in: | Philosophia Vol. 49; no. 3; pp. 1219 - 1233 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Springer Nature
Jul2021
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=151001456&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 151001456 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00483893 1VPF jtl: Philosophia issn: 00483893 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jul2021 vid: 49 iid: 3 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 151001456 10.1007/s11406-020-00269-4 ppf: 1219 ppct: 14 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 406KB tig: atl: Atheists Giving Thanks to the Sun. aug: au: Steinhart, Eric affil: Department of Philosophy, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ, USA su: Atheism Gratitude Rites & ceremonies Prayer Paganism sug: subj: Atheism Gratitude Rites & ceremonies Prayer Paganism keyword: Grooming Rituals Thanks giving ab: I argue that it is rational and appropriate for atheists to give thanks to deep impersonal agents for the benefits they give to us. These agents include our evolving biosphere, the sun, and our finely-tuned universe. Atheists can give thanks to evolution by sacrificially burning works of art. They can give thanks to the sun by performing rituals in solar calendars (like stone circles). They can give thanks to our finely-tuned universe, and to existence itself, by doing science and philosophy. But these linguistic types of thanks-giving are forms of non-theistic contemplative prayer. Since these behaviors resemble ancient pagan behaviors, it is fair to call them pagan. Atheistic paganism may be part of an emerging ecosystem of naturalistic religions. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Philosophia is a copyright of Springer, 2021. All Rights Reserved. item: Philosophia holder: Springer Nature dt: @attributes: year: 2021 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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