What can religion teach atheists?

[Coriolis]

reason why I say it can you teach to you to be stupider because you must look back at ancient history and ask yourself this question, if these stories are false, why do people still talk about it, could there be an origin to some of these legendary stories or mythical creatures, how magic began. how technology began, ask yourself questions or use the internet atheist is a religion too, bunch of stuck up idiots together

People have told and retold Aesop's Fables over the generations, and countless myths and fairy tales. Sure there is an origin: the human desire to explain what appears inexplicable, and to provide examples of what they consider to be the right way to live - and its opposite.

 

[Thisica]

For people who move from religion to atheism, some have learned to maintain the internal belief structure, and fill it with new contents. By that I mean, if they were raised in a dogmatic religion with absolutes, then their atheism will tend to be dogmatic with absolutes. If their religion was a closed system of thought, then their atheism can be a closed system of thought.

What religion, and more specifically - spirituality, can teach people is that there is more to the universe than the concrete, observable, and measurable. There isn't any reason to think that the human mind perceives the whole of reality through the concrete senses. In this way it can teach the atheist a sense of wonder, mystery, and speculation about the possibilities of reality.

I have always been an atheist, so I haven't had such experiences of feeling resentful at religious organisations. My major problem, as far as my life is concerned, is to not take my wyrd experiences too seriously. This isn't helped by my tendency to take it all at face value (I have a science background, which does lend itself to too much literalism). It's more helpful, for me, to think of these experiences as like dreams and interpret them like dreams.

I do wish, at times, that people don't jump to literal conclusions about their spiritual experiences. I see this all too often, with horrible effects - people have been compelled to commit crimes just because some spirit or deity compels them to do so. Just because the experiences feel awesome/terrifying/whatever, doesn't give people a license to hurt others, for instance, out of impulse.