mindstalk | (Reply)

That's certainly true, technically, but I'd admit myself that there's a strong materialist/naturalist halo to atheist, and I've always gone "umm..." when people claim Buddhism as an atheist religion. "Umm, no Creator, okay, but reincarnation and boddhisattvas?" So I'm not rushing to claim "no god, but woowoo" types for atheism. Personals sites have a "spiritual but not religious" category which seems somewhat appropriate.

Whether Fanw's inclinations and beliefs actually qualify as what I'd call woowoo I don't know; I hear the words, but the actual intended meaning has always been elusive. "spiritual" is a slippery word.

While I'm posting, I'll add a clarification I'd been thinking of: I'm not out to relabel all agnostics. Someone who's broken somewhat with their religion, but has lots of doubts, is perfect for the agnostic label. And there may be other good varieties as well. But I think I've seen people who are practically atheist in every way, and even attack religion on their own, but who then turn and say "oh, I'm not atheist, that'd be being as dogmatic as a believer." (I know I've seen that statement, many times; I'm not *certain* I've seen it coupled with the other traits, it could be my memory is conflating things.) Grrr.