Absolutely . Here is my use of it .

Yep, if you like sitting in church during a service, or only putting up a Christmas tree, or reading mythology, its all fine. Because if you don't believe, then it is all meaningless, and if its meaningless it can not harm you. Just don't put too much money on the collecting plate.

Actually I have a problem, in that, I like visiting old buildings and in England there are many lovely old churches you can visit/shelter from the rain. But I always think that I should put something in the box to help keep the roof in repair, yet I know that a donation can not be ring-fenced for structure only and could be used to promote religion, so I give nothing but feel mean.

I have no use for religion. Gods are imaginary. Over the centuries, religion has caused horrendous wars.

Religion is one of the most sensitive issues. Although every religion encourages the idea of peace and tolerance, almost no one remains in peace or tolerates anything when it comes to their religion.

History is full of religious war. Some have continued for years and killed many.

Some churches do good charity work, feeding homeless running shelters etc

Handy when I drop a hammer on my foot.....as in gawddammit!

ABSOLUTELY! I think of all of the wonderful things that the love of god and religious minded people have brought into my life and it just fills me with the warmth of human kindness.

If they are used in their true forms, then yes. For example, in the story of Little
Red Riding Hood, we read about the big bad wolf. Now we know wolves are real but the are no talking wolves that dress up as your grandmother to ambush and eat you. No one should take the big bad wolf seriously, nor a talking snake. However, a fairy tale like Little Red riding Hood can teach us about being cautious.

I think the bible has a few good things in it when read correctly. Love your neighbor, turn the other cheek (don't escalate an issue), welcome the stranger, help the needy, etc. ... and summed up well by Jim Jefferies: "Don't be a cunt."

I know an Atheist who redefines God to mean thanking the act of being, and some non-believers like Morgan Freeman believe we are are own Gods. I'm told many members of Universalist Churches are Atheists, and you could have a Church of Sex if you wanted. And it was either or both great non-believers Robert Ingersoll and Thomas Paine who said their religion was to do good, and some refer to football as a religion. You get the idea. I don't necessarily subscribe to these views, but I'm not necessarily opposed to them either.

Dude, seriously, words are words, they're not either positive or negative, they exist, nothing anybody says is going to remove these or any other word from a dictionary, google or any search engine or from books and/or encyclopedias. What are you going to use when you, let's say, cum instead of "oh my god!" Or if you don't say it, you won't be able to silence your partner when she or he say "oh my god!" Or if you blurt out bless you when someone sneezes? No need to be paranoid about words or labels unless you let them get the best of you.

Yes. Like with anything, we keep the positive and discard the negative. I would suggest that we keep:

• Social community
• Our appreciation for beautiful architecture
• Charity
• The good (secular) values that are embraced by some religious systems

I would suggest we discard:

• Unrealistic beliefs
• Science denial
• The bad values that are embraced by some religious systems

We atheists are not a singular group of people but are all individuals..what is meaningful for me is not necessarily meaningful for another nonbeliever. However as you have posed the question I will answer, but purely on my own behalf. As I see it, all of these words are significant because they are relevant to the history of the world, they have influenced and changed its course, causing wars and bloodshed and also defining our culture, laws, art, music and architecture. Today, where I live in Northern Ireland, we are still experiencing the result of differing factions of two strands of Christianity, the wars in the Middle East also have the toxic mix of differing religious factions and ethnicity driving them over decades or even centuries. Taking it down to a more personal level, they are meaningful to me only because they still control the thinking behind many of the decisions which are made by others, and that in turn can impact on my life and activities. Are any of these words - God, religion, church, a positive influence on my life...in that case the answer must be a definite No.

It depends on how you interpret those words. There is Religious Naturalism that offers a positive outlook. If you see “God” as the ground of all being or as ultimate reality, or the great unknown, then there is a place for the word IMO.

I am an atheist with respect to the god of the Bible, but just because something has been falsely described does not negate that thing.

If to be religious means to have deep awareness and awe for reality and to live in joy and reverence, then religion can have a positive place. But if to be religious means believing in a bunch of ridiculous church dogmas we are better off without the word

Outside of fictional literature for the sake of enhancing a story, what would be the point? Do the words wizards, sorcery and magic castles have a positive place outside of fictional literature? Do they need to?

Nothing about false Gods or their religions contribute positively to the human experience.

However, gathering weekly at a community center to discuss problems of the community could have more merit if religion were kept away.

Only when i use them to point out the fallacy of religious ideals. That's the only positive i see.

Not in this atheist's life.
I see nothing remotely "positive" about any of that garbage.
Except for maybe yelling out "oh, god!" during sex.
That would be it.

Not for me personally. Although the word "god" comes in handy sometimes when I am pissed off (goddammit, for instance).

I avoid using those types of words because even though my intent might mean something else when using that word, the person on the receiving end is going to attach their meaning to the word based on their beliefs, cultural history, etc.

"According to the symbolic interactionist perspective, people attach meanings to symbols, and then they act according to their subjective interpretation of these symbols. Verbal conversations, in which spoken words serve as the predominant symbols, make this subjective interpretation especially evident. The words have a certain meaning for the “sender,” and, during effective communication, they hopefully have the same meaning for the “receiver."
[cliffsnotes.com]

under myths and legends is fine with me.

Some of the more enlightened churches do very good charities

It all depends on your previous experience with it all.

I am anti-religious so my immediate answer would be nope.

Why not...