More "Apatheists" and "So what's?" saying no to God

Here's some encouraging churchless news: USA Today reports "For many, 'Losing my religion' isn't just a song: it's life." 

Helton, 28, and Dohm, 54, aren't atheists, either. They simply shrug off God, religion, heaven or the ever-trendy search-for-meaning and/or purpose.

Their attitude could be summed up as "So what?"

"The real dirty little secret of religiosity in America is that there are so many people for whom spiritual interest, thinking about ultimate questions, is minimal," says Mark Silk, professor of religion and public life at Trinity College, Hartford, Conn.

...Only now, however, are they turning up in the statistical stream. Researchers have begun asking the kind of nuanced questions that reveal just how big the So What set might be:

• 44% told the 2011 Baylor University Religion Survey they spend no time seeking "eternal wisdom," and 19% said "it's useless to search for meaning."

• 46% told a 2011 survey by Nashville-based evangelical research agency, LifeWay Research, they never wonder whether they will go to heaven.

• 28% told LifeWay "it's not a major priority in my life to find my deeper purpose." And 18% scoffed at the idea that God has a purpose or plan for everyone.

• 6.3% of Americans turned up on Pew Forum's 2007 Religious Landscape Survey as totally secular — unconnected to God or a higher power or any religious identity and willing to say religion is not important in their lives.

Hemant Mehta, who blogs as The Friendly Atheist, calls them the "apatheists"

Mariann Edgar Budde, Episcopal Bishop of Washington D.C., calls them honest.

Comments

[Laura]

Is there any way to totally let go of "meaning"? Is there a way for meditation to just be silence and not spiritual?

[Brian Hines]

Laura, excellent question. I don't think "totally" is possible because we humans are meaning-making creatures. Neuroscientists have found that emotion, in the sense of liking/disliking, accompanies virtually every thought and decision (not to mention feelings, of course).

But I've come to look upon meditation as mindfulness. Being aware of what is there within my consciousness without adding a lot to it. Can't remember who wrote this poem; part of it goes, if I recall correctly, "We should be able to look upon a mountain without considering it a commentary on our life."

Beautiful. A sunset can just be a sunset. Following our breathing can just be following our breathing. As in, "just this." See:
http://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/2011/10/james-austins-just-this-meditation-practice.html