Atheists, is there anything religious that sticks with you to this day?
I am Ganesh, an Indian atheist and I don't eat beef. It's not like that I have a religious reason to do that, but after all those years seeing cows as peaceful animals and playing and growing up with them in a village, I doubt if I ever will be able to eat beef. I wasn't raised very religious, I didn't go to temple everyday and read Gita every evening unlike most muslims who are somewhat serious about their religion, my family has this watered down religion (which has it's advantages).
But yeah, not eating beef is a moral issue I deal with. I mean, I don't care that I don't eat beef, but the fact that I eat pork and chicken but not beef seems to me to be weird. So, is there any religious practice that you guys follow to this day?
edit: I like religious music, religious temples (Churches, Gurudwara's, Temples & Mosques in Iran), religious paintings and art sometimes. I know for a fact that the only art you could produce is those days was indeed religious and the greatest artists needed to make something religious to be funded, that we will never know what those artists would have produced in the absence of religion, but yeah, religious art is good nonetheless.
Ex-muslim here. I am not practicing most of its rituals other than zakat, as I feel like its one of those act that transcends any beliefs.
What is zakat?
Not OP and not a Muslim but it seems it’s a ‘commandment’ on charity to the poor.
Ty!
Every year, out of all of your things that are not necessary like jewelery/saving or other non essential items, you are supposed to donate 2.5% of it, or equivalent in money, to a poor person.
Interestingly this would mean that a true muslim will probably never become a multi-billionaire.
If the amount is 2.5 %/yr of non-essentials, there is still lots of ways one could make money significantly faster with a good business strategy and lots of luck, and have a probability of eventually reaching a net worth in the billions. However, there's a difference between following the letter of the “law” and its spirit.
Jews call that sadaka. it's one of the ideas I remember fondly from my early years
IMO, the rule that meat must be tayyib is the best part of the quran, and it's the part that almost all Muslims know nothing about. They all know that meat must be halal, but they never know tayyib. Halal has even disintegrated into playing creepy prayers on repeat over a loudspeaker at the slaughterhouse or etching a payer into the side of the blades in the machine. Crazy how far from the original text selfishness and capitalistic greed can take people.
I read about it once and thought why couldn't I give back at least as much, even without religious justification. Perhaps ironically in this context, part of the amount goes to my local atheist charity.