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Can Atheists Be Spiritual?

Can Atheists Be Spiritual?

Last updated on: October 1, 2026 at 10:00 am by Larry Jordan

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Can Atheists Be Spiritual? 2026-10-01T10:00:48-05:00 Larry Jordan

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Atheists can find meaning without God. Atheist spirituality can be moral and responsible, pluralistic and skeptical. It can embrace awe, gratitude, and reverence.

Can we experience a connection to something outside ourselves without believing in gods? Of course. Image from Gemini/AI-generated, in the public domain

The mystics, who seek direct experience of Ultimate Reality, and the quantum physicists, who seek direct evidence of physical reality, both perceive an essential interconnectedness. This is observation, NOT speculation.

Spirituality, broadly defined, means connecting to something outside yourself. This is often, but not always, religious. Atheism means the lack of belief in gods. Can we experience a connection to something outside ourselves without believing in gods? Of course.

I wrote about interspirituality, including atheist spirituality, here. Several atheist readers appreciated that I mentioned atheist spirituality. One reader reflected on atheists’ contributions to society, including ethics as human goods, doubt as a method, the importance of pluralism, and meaning as a human task. He mentioned several thinkers, including Hume, Nietzsche, and Spinoza, who influenced me.

Most atheists value open-mindedness above like-mindedness. Therefore, many atheists would believe in a God if they had reasons to do so. But they are puzzled by God’s allowance of human suffering and His (sic) hiddenness, as well as by the conduct of some Christians and the speculative nature of much Christian doctrine. And they are unpersuaded by arguments that the universe requires a cause or a designer.

Atheists Can Behave Morally Without God

In The Way, I wrote, “It is easy to generate a false sense of security by relying on a moral code, but all moral codes deal in absolutes, such as those that decree that ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ Shall we kill to advance a “just” war or to defend ourselves or to prevent further killing? Thus, what good is an absolute moral code if it only helps us to make the easy decisions?

The Ten Commandments had ancient precursors in some societies, including the Code of Hammurabi, the Egyptian Ma’at, and other codes. The Chinese, Greek, Indian, Persian, and Roman cultures developed guidelines, and some were much more nuanced than the Bible.

In fact, the commandments that God proscribed were NOT materially different than the moral codes that most communities set themselves. If God created the Ten Commandments, we might expect that they would be superior to anything that Iron Age people created on their own.

Also, we might expect that atheists would behave worse than Christians, but that has NOT been the case. Instead, some atheists have shown more concern for others, more respect for the planet, and more tolerance for diversity than many Christians.

Atheists Can Blend Curiosity and Skepticism

Both science and spirituality require a blend of curiosity and skepticism. Blind faith in religion or in science (scientism) is NOT helpful. Those who are both curious and skeptical will be less inclined to dogmatism and more inclined to tolerance of different perspectives.

Often, atheists have supported individual liberties, religious (and irreligious) tolerance and the separation of church and state. Personally, I know many atheists and atheist organizations that support social justice more than some Christians and Christian organizations. Atheists guided by conscience can be as moral as theists guided by conscience, scripture and tradition. Atheists can find meaning without God.

Religious fundamentalists have perverted their religions to justify some bad behavior. Some Islamic fundamentalists have justified terrorism. And some Christian fundamentalists have justified homophobia, misogyny, Islamophobia, racism, slavery and war.

Atheism is NOT a religion, as some say. It is NOT even a belief; it is a lack of belief. All of us have a lack of belief in one god or another. Although some atheists are angry and/or dogmatic, many atheists can imagine believing in a god, as they can imagine believing in a unicorn, should new facts emerge. But they do NOT think that there is any inherent merit in believing in unbelievable or unlikely things.

Atheists Can Find Meaning Without God

Last year, I spent ten days cruising around Svalbard, an archipelago halfway between Europe and the North Pole. There were 80 passengers, including Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist and a prominent atheist. Many of the passengers were atheists, scientists or both.

We heard several talks onboard, and the first talk was about awe, NOT about climate change, geography, ocean currents, or plankton. Often, the scientists used words like “awe,” “consciousness,” “interconnection,” “mind beyond brain,” “mystical” or “transcendence.”

Terms like “mystical” sound like religious terms, but Christians do NOT often talk about them. And some scientists talk about them a lot. Many atheists and/or scientists, like Dawkins, embrace awe, gratitude, reverence, and a sense of responsibility.

Dawkins says that he is “spiritual” in the same way that Einstein was spiritual. Einstein was an atheist and a secular Jew. Einstein said that he believed in “the God of Spinoza.” Like Einstein, Spinoza was an atheist and a secular Jew.

Atheists can be awed and inspired, but they attribute awesomeness and inspiration to the natural world, NOT to a supernatural source. Consider how much more urgent we would be about the environment (for example), if we all thought that this world was the only world.

Atheists can find meaning without God. Atheist spirituality can be moral and responsible, pluralistic and skeptical. It can embrace awe, gratitude, and reverence.

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About Larry Jordan

Larry Jordan is a follower of Jesus with a Zen practice. He wrote “The Way,” informed by the Eastern religions, the mystics, and the quantum physicists. "The Way" won a 2024 Nautilus Book Award. You can read more about the author here.

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