Having a discussion on another message board, and I'm curious to see what people here think..

Backstory: Person A (Atheist) has a Catholic Mother, who routinely passes along Prayer Alerts on Facebook. These Prayer Alerts typically start out with "If you have a soul..."

My question is how do you interpret "If you have a soul" ? Sympathetic plea to moderately religious friends or a backhanded swipe at Person A?

IMO, it comes of looking like a swipe/bait tactic, since it's a Prayer Alert, it's already aimed at the religious people, so adding that line is unnecessary.

I don't see how it could be a 'backhanded swipe" at an atheist.

After all, if the atheist genuinely believes that they have no soul, then why should they be offended by the suggestion that they don't?

Seems kind of ironic to me that they would find such a suggestion to be offensive.

On the other hand, spiritual people who may not believe in the particular religion and/or rituals that are being associated with this "prayer" could easily be offended at the implication that just because they DO believe in a soul, they should also believe in praying to a particular God that "His Will be done".

That would be like saying, "If you have a Soul, Pray to Zeus!". Now that's suggesting that if you don't believe in Zeus you have no soul. That's offensive, IMHO.

But to suggest that an atheist has no soul seems to me to simply acknowlege precisely what the atheist already claims to believe anyway. So I don't see why an atheist should be offended by that.

Any atheist who is offended by the suggestion that they have no soul is actually just a closet spiritualist anyway, IMHO.

my soul, essence, inner being, higher self is who I truly am...this body is just a shell that houses the real me. I am NOT a religious person..and don't have to be to understand this very simple concept.

perhaps the nature of FACEBOOK being so popular and anonymous,, there is no telling who actually reads her posts regardless of her heading,,,the additional wording is not necessarily an insult,,,

As a Christian, she should believe everyone has a soul. I say a deliberate swipe unless she's forwarding someone else's writings.

Atheists believe they have souls... they just merge and dissipate back to the greater energy that surrounds us all.

i interpret "if you have a soul" as a method to jostle the
reader mentally into consideration of the idea of a soul.

it might be passive aggressive.



i don't care that much for the god oriented facebook cookies
interjecting religion all over the place. it is the internet
version of the roadsigns which say "HELL IS REAL" etc.

I wouldn't call that a "soul"...more like recycling. I think your wording is more poetic, though.

But, being an Atheist, in general if someone told me I have no soul, I would just nod in agreement. If they told me I have a soul, I would just ask why they think that, and consider their answer. Either way, no big deal, really.

To be an atheist is to only claim either to lack a belief in a god, or to deny a belief in a God... any other spiritual, mystical or divine beliefs are purely individual and not adherent to the masses of atheists. I for one, being an atheist, believe that there is no spiritual world of any sort, and hence that i, and you, have no souls, only consciousness.

That doesn't mean that no other atheist doesn't believe in a soul. There's a sect of buddhism that claim no deities, hence by definition they too are atheists. Same goes for certain groups within Satanist cults.

I too, am an Atheist with no belief in or of anything spiritual or supernatural. I fail to see any need for either.

It's all too funny to me.

soul is ( Nepha ? sp) anywazes we all have a soul its the Breath of life he gave man at the beginning. he Breathed and man became a living soul... Blessings...Miles

Then he sprinkled his fairy dust, and with a swish of his wand, Man took up smoking.

wow that was kind of mean but damn it was twice as funny

Abra, you are speaking of materialists, not atheists.

That was exactly my first thought upon reading this.



That's how it 'sounds' to me, too, but I'm a fan of the doctrine of 'there always might be some other explanation'.

Thank you, ED. It seems that the majority of self-described atheists I've met are also materialists, so its understandable that people conflate the two. But you are correct - many atheists believe they have souls.

Edit:

Charlie Piano, props to you!

It sounds like an assumption on the part of the prayer poster that non religious folks do not have a soul.

If you are a true atheist that is not an insult.

I would have to have the definition of a soul to say if she is right though.

Because spirituality doesn't require a religion and those who are spiritual have a soul or inner self that they care for and try to uplift the spirit of others through living a positive and nurturing life.

Man is a soul.(being) An animal is a soul. (being)

Man has a spirit.

All are souls. All mankind has spirit and a life force. The spirit of man is NOT immortal being subject to destruction in the lake of fire.