Atheism, spiritualism and materialism

Some people believe you can categorize people as materialist or spiritualist according to their attachment to religious views or even cultural views of the society. We, atheists, in this sense, would be the classical materialist. But materialist, what does it mean? I think most people think that a materialist person is bound to material stuff. Like Madonna, the material girl. However, if you think about Marx (Karl), another classical materialist, he was not bound to properties, money and all this stuff. Indeed, he lived a humble life, interested only in his studies and his militant work. On the other hand, while he formulated the philosophical basis of a materialist view of history, he designed a new kind of spiritualism, in which the proletariat is the leading class in the future of the human being and will lead all of us to a life of fraternity and love to each other. And spiritualism? In the free dictionary.com it is said that spiritualism is a philosophy, doctrine, or religion emphasizing the spiritual aspect of being. Spiritual aspect is related to soul, something not tangible or material. For instance, this brazilian-french spiritual movement (Kardec-followers) had an important leader, Chico Xavier, that passed away some years ago. However, his sons fought over his inheritance. Quite strange, a fight over material stuff in the family of a very important spiritualist. So materialism is widespread. I think most of our life experience is not tangible, most of it is spiritual in sense. It does not mean, necessarily, that we have a spirit of something that will emerge from our corpses. We, atheists, do not believe in a god that will keep we safe from our death. That will fix all mess around. That may preserve our spiritual life while we concern with our material life. We take our responsibility over our lives, material and spiritual sides, and, the most important, we don’t waste time with religion. In conclusion, I think atheists can experience their spiritual life in a deeper and wider way than religious people can.

Nesta eleição este blog cumprirá um dever cívico.

Observaremos os candidatos de Sâo Paulo e avisaremos quem mais parece ter tendência a privilegiar uma agenda religiosa quando empossado. Isto é necessário porque há políticos que, eleitos, defendem suas religiões, afrontando cotidianamente a laicidade do Estado.

Vamos lá: Marta: nada consta. Kassab: nada consta. Alckmin: o picolé de chuchu tem vasto histórico de favorecimento a Igreja Católica e hoje saiu na Folha de São Paulo que sua campanha de fim de semana será visitando templos. Ivan Valente: nosso candidato, nada consta. Soninha: budista feliz, nada consta.

Quanto aos vereadores, no momento oportuno descreveremos, partido por partido, se há candidatos visceralmente ligados a seitas. Sim, porque no nosso sistema eleitoral a pessoa corre o risco de votar em um candidato e eleger outro, assim devemos observar as listas.