When gods don't exist

[SylverSparro]

So I don't believe in gods or goddesses or deities and the such.

I believe in nature, reason, fate, circumstance, science, and such. I do believe different things hold different powers. And spells and rituals.

So I really don't know where I belong in all these different paganism religions.

[Xiao Rong]

You should check out Naturalistic Paganism (which is kind of confusing because their website name is Humanistic Paganism but they now call themselves Naturalistic Pagans), which is loosely how I identify. From their about page:

First, we are Pagans. Our spiritual practices are inspired by ancient non-Abrahamic cultural-religious traditions, such as the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Norse, Celts, Indians, Chinese, and various native tribes**, as well as corresponding modern traditions such as Neopaganism. We acknowledge there is no way to recreate ancient religions in every detail, nor would we want to. Rather, we draw inspiration from old ways while embracing modernity. We find ancient traditions continue to speak to us just as they did our ancestors, even as they continue to evolve.

Second, we are naturalists. This worldview unites our many varieties, and makes us unique among Pagans. Good technical definitions of naturalism are available here and here, but what most Naturalistic Pagans mean by it can be summed up simply:

only natural causes affect the universe; if there are supernatural causes, there is no reliable evidence yet to support that idea.

To clarify what counts as “natural”, we look to contemporary science:

natural causes are best discovered via the current most compelling scientific evidence

In other words, we adopt an appropriate skepticism toward any supposed divine or magical causes outside nature, i.e. super-natural causes, as well as those within nature unsupported by the best evidence.***

While we find little evidence to support most of the metaphysical claims made for deities and magic, we find plenty of evidence for the capacity of Pagan myth, meditation, and ritual to affect psychology. That is why we find Pagan ways powerful. By shaping human minds, they motivate change through human hands.

As a result of our reliance on demonstrable evidence, a few tendencies emerge:

*We tend to view deities as metaphorical, poetic, or psychological in some sense, and not as causal agents external to and independent of the individual. Thunder is external and independent, but the personification of thunder as Zeus, for example, is not.

*We tend to view magic as manipulating the world indirectly through the individual’s own psychology, for example by motivating her or him to action, and not as manipulating “energies” to produce effects with no known physical causal relation to the individual.

*We tend to ground our practices and beliefs in experience, accurate history, and mainstream scientific evidence.

*Our focus on evidence as the primary source of knowledge leads many of us to an awareness of, and gratitude for, the long evolutionary process which has resulted in our existence today.

*Because our worldview doesn’t include afterlives or hidden realms, we tend to be focused on this body, this life, and this earth, cherishing each moment and improving the world for all life on Earth.

[Lillady]

Xiao brings up a wonderful point about Natural Paganism. I personally believe in the deities, but I don't see it wrong or "one does not belong" for those like you and others who do not follow or even believe in them. Nature is what we follow for the most part and the elements can speak to us and help guide us as well.

[Lightbringer]

There are plenty of people who identify as atheist witches, so you could call yourself that if you wanted to.

I have never heard of Naturalistic Paganism. It sounds pretty awesome. I can relate to it somewhat, but I do believe in "energies" in the form of waves (similar to light/sound/electric waves) and magnetic forces.

[Vervain]

This is very neat. I'm not entirely sure how closely I identify with this Naturalistic Paganism... it sounds very close to what I believe in with a few exceptions... but I think the exceptions are pretty important. Well, thank you for sharing, Xiao!

[Nettles]

The question of belief is an interesting one. I think that most of the pagan authors I've read don't really believe in Gods like Christians do but rather think that they are something that people find from within themselves.
I have difficulties believing (in Christian sense) gods as well, but I do believe that we choose in which kind of a world we live in. I want to live in a world where the earth is alive with spirit and where intuitive hunches are guidance from Life so I may better realize that there is no separation between me and Her.
I guess I choose subjective and intuitive and magical thinking over Western science that has taken us into this huge mess. Sometimes I think I am completely nuts

[Vervain]

The question of belief is an interesting one. I think that most of the pagan authors I've read don't really believe in Gods like Christians do but rather think that they are something that people find from within themselves.
I have difficulties believing (in Christian sense) gods as well, but I do believe that we choose in which kind of a world we live in. I want to live in a world where the earth is alive with spirit and where intuitive hunches are guidance from Life so I may better realize that there is no separation between me and Her.
I guess I choose subjective and intuitive and magical thinking over Western science that has taken us into this huge mess. Sometimes I think I am completely nuts

Yes. This is an incredibly interesting topic to me. I was reading about Chaos magick, where there is the belief that "belief is a tool," which I totally believe, but while I acknowledge that many of my beliefs (in specific deities, multiple deities, an afterlife) are basically non-testable and mainly tools to manipulate my experience of the world around me and assist in magickal workings, but I can't bring myself to acknowledge that my belief in the All is merely a tool. I know it IS a tool, but I can't help but think it is also more than that. After all, I was once an atheist (for a little over a year, just before middle school), and things happened since then (obviously, or I would still be atheist) that made me believe that there is something at work that is bigger than me, and that that something cares about life and truth and beauty, and it really doesn't feel right to think that that is all just a tool. Now, relating to that something as a Lord and Lady personified by various deities from various pantheons, now THAT I acknowledge as a tool, but the All... I don't know, and at a certain point it all gets too meta for me to think about, you know?

[Nettles]

Perhaps there is some kind of a immanent energy in the world, like Brahman from whom the universe has emerged in Vedas, or Gaia in the living planet theory. There is really no way of knowing, of course, and it's possible that the world is exactly as atheists say it is.
My personal belief is that there is an energy behind all forms that I choose to address through the imaginery and metaphor of witchcraft. I love Starhawk's story about Miria the Wonderful of whom all things emerge. But I might as well be a Christian, except that they seem to believe in God in the same way they believe in the mail man.
I also don't think belief is ONLY a tool (unless, of course, one is a chaos Magican). Lots of people seem way more invested in their chosen belief systems than if it only was a tool that was used for some ends. But are gods real the same way the rocks are and is moon really a Goddes? Probably not.