Crossbreeding Atheism with Spirituality: Notes on Soviet and Western Attempts

Abstract

The recent "nonreligious turn" in studies of secularity has changed the focus from what secularity lacks in comparison to religion to what it offers as an alternative. Various forms of nonreligion have been studied extensively in recent years, yet mostly in the contemporary Western societies. This article shifts the context more to the east and also towards the history by comparing two instances when meaning-making gained a central position within an atheist tradition. For our first example, we examine the appeal to spirituality in the period of late Soviet atheism; the second comes from contemporary Western "atheist spirituality". By studying the publications by relevant authors, the article explores what can be learned about atheism and spirituality from this comparison, how atheism and spirituality are understood and combined, and the reasons for the sudden emphasis on existential questions within an atheist tradition. Remmel and Sillfors: Crossbreeding Atheism with Spirituality Art. 8, page 2 of 13 and North America might actually learn from?" (Alles 2018), we took on the endeavor of comparing contemporary atheist spirituality to the "spiritual turn" in the late Soviet atheism and chose "What can be learned from that comparison?" for our main research question. In particular, we are interested in how "spirituality" and "atheism" are understood, what is their mutual relationship, what caused the sudden emergence of this combination and, finally, what does it tell us about the patterns of development of atheist traditions? Our comparison is based on the analysis of relevant books. The "spiritual turn" in Soviet atheism is addressed according to literature printed in Soviet Estonia, which offers a possibility of narrowing down the material and assessing the atheist propaganda in a particular cultural context. Five books were analyzed: Lutheranism Earlier and Now (1969) and Indifference-Is It Good or Bad (1981) by Kuulo Vimmsaare, and Believers and Communists (1972) by Lembit Raid, both prominent figures of atheism in the Soviet Estonia; and two collections of articles, both translated from Russian: Atheism, Religion, Morality (1976) and Individual Approach in Atheist Explanatory Work (1976). All books belong to a certain version of "scientific atheism", an almost unreadable genre of popularscientific propaganda, meant for both common readers and propagandists. Although there are minor differences, the books represent more or less similar understanding of both atheism and spirituality, and were selected because they were almost the only representatives of the Soviet spiritual atheism in Estonian context. This material is supported by findings from Soviet era archives in Estonia. From the contemporary atheist spirituality, we examine three books written by atheists with a focus on spirituality: The Book of Atheist Spirituality: An Elegant Argument for Spirituality without God 1 (2006) by French philosopher André Comte-Sponville; Going Godless: Rediscovering Spirituality in a Material World (2010) by American compu...

Spirituality in Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis

“…Spirituality can be related to the religious references of AYAs with cancer, but it can also be independent of religious references (Alvarenga et al, 2021; Hendricks-Ferguson, 2006, 2008). This attribute entails that theists, atheists, and agnostics are also spiritual and engage in spiritual practices with or without reference to a higher power or an organized religious gathering (Remmel & Sillfors, 2018; Sedlar et al, 2018). Therefore, the attribute of spirituality being dependent or independent of religious practices or beliefs is essential to capture the spiritual experience of the atheists and agnostics together with the theists.…”

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“…Thus, the perceived struggles reflect their past feelings towards God and other supernatural beings and the need to supplement their views with other beliefs [Sedlar et al2018]. at the same time, this can be a manifestation of so-called "atheistic" spirituality, which is defined as a pattern of "alternative spirituality", as a lived experience of existential questions, and a departure from materialism in order to achieve a sense of subjective well-being, balance and self-development [Remmel, Sillfors 2018]. Other research indicates that the supernatural content of the beliefs of some atheists is not limited to paranormal, superstitious or magical beliefs, but also moral and ethical beliefs.…”