FAQ
Is New Atenism a real religion?
Yes — but not in the traditional sense.
New Atenism is a religion rooted in reason, collective knowledge, and intellectual humility. It has a cosmology (God as Nature), a moral framework (flourishing through balance), and communal practices (Feasts of Reason). What it rejects is dogma — the freezing of stories into unquestionable truth.
Religion, at its best, binds communities around shared meaning. New Atenism does that — but using what we know and how we know it.
Do New Atenists believe in God?
Yes — but not in the traditional sense.
There are a vast array of God ideas, ranging from a hands-off creator of the universe to one to a benevolent active agent. The God idea I believe in is not a supernatural being separate from the universe. God is reality itself — everything that exists, has existed, or will exist. This includes the laws of physics, human consciousness, and even the limits of what we can know.
Believing in this God requires only one premise: something exists.
Why Aten?
Aten refers to the sun disk of ancient Egypt — a symbol of the energy that sustains life on Earth.
In New Atenism, Aten represents the life-giving flow of reality constrained by balance — much like Earth’s atmosphere filters solar radiation into something that supports life rather than destroys it.
Is New Atenism sun worship? Is Aten God?
No, Aten, our sun, is a finite piece of Nature and not a god. New Atenism adopted Spinoza’s definition of God as being Nature and the sun, Aten, is just one part, an extremely important part, of that total reality. New Atenism venerates Aten for the immense power of its rays, which combined with the filtration and regulation of near-Earth space, make them truly life-giving.
What is the “new” in New Atenism?
The “new” in New Atenism is what reason has and will continue to reveal. New Atenism will continue to be updated with better explanations as they emerge.
Is New Atenism the religion of Spinoza?
No. While Spinoza’s writings are a huge influence on New Atenism, New Atenism evolves his God idea and metaphysics with what reason has revealed in the nearly 350 years since his death.
Is this just Atheism in disguise?
No.
Atheism typically rejects belief in a supernatural deity. New Atenism reframes God as reality itself — aligning more closely with Baruch Spinoza than with modern atheism.
It also preserves what religion does well: community, moral development, and meaning — but grounds them in collective reason rather than revelation.
What are the Three Tenets of New Atenism?
- Believe in the God of Spinoza (Nature as reality).
- Balance — the force that shapes flourishing.
- The Gospel of Prosperity — collective reason drives material and moral progress.
These tenets align cosmology, ethics, and human development.
Why call it a religion, isn't it just a philosophy?
Because humans organize meaning socially.
Religions historically unified communities around shared cosmology and moral narratives. Today, our knowledge has outgrown many ancient stories, but our psychological need for shared meaning remains.
New Atenism attempts to unite people around something already universal: reason.
Does New Atenism replace other religions?
No.
New Atenism does not require abandoning existing traditions. It asks that religious narratives be understood allegorically rather than literally.
Where traditions conflict with reason, reason must guide revision. Where they align with flourishing, they can be embraced.
Dogma is the problem — not meaning.
What do you mean by "collective reason?"
The belief that an individual can be fully rational is known as “the rationalist’s delusion.” Human progress emerges from networks of criticism, testing, and revision — what Jonathan Rauch calls the “reality-based community.”
Collective reason is the process through which ideas are tested against evidence and refined over time.
It is how we built medicine, democracy, and modern prosperity.
What is wrong with traditional religions?
Nothing — until they become dogmatic.
Religions have carried profound moral insights across centuries. The problem arises when symbolic narratives are treated as literal cosmology and/or moral law shielded from revision.
Dogma halts evolution of ideas. Reason advances it.
Is this anti-science or scientism?
Neither.
New Atenism affirms science as our best method for understanding extension — the physical world. But it also recognizes the domain of thought: ethics, meaning, philosophy.
Reason applies to both domains.
What is a "Feast of Reason?"
A Feast of Reason is a structured gathering where participants explore ideas openly, test assumptions, and practice intellectual humility.
It is ritualized conversation — not debate for dominance, but inquiry for understanding.
Isn't New Atenism kind of elitist?
It is aspirational.
Some individuals play a greater role in shaping institutions and incentives — what New Atenism calls Elephant Herders. But everyone benefits from systems shaped by reason.
The goal is inclusive elitism: elevate standards while expanding access.
What problem is New Atenism trying to solve?
Fragmentation.
Modern societies are divided by incompatible narratives. Meanwhile, we share a single reality.
New Atenism proposes unity at the fork in the road — where reason reveals what is most likely true — before speculative stories diverge.
Is New Atenism anti-supernatural?
New Atenism does not deny that there may be aspects of reality beyond current human understanding. In fact, following Spinoza, it assumes reality has infinite attributes, of which we perceive very few.
What it rejects is confident claims about the supernatural without evidence. After thousands of years and thousands of stories, we are still waiting for a confirmed example of the suspension of natural laws.
What does New Atenism say about prayer?
Traditional prayer often asks for intervention. New Atenism replaces petition with reflection.
Prayer becomes alignment — adjusting your expectations to reality, cultivating acceptance, and clarifying intention.
In that sense, prayer becomes a disciplined internal practice rather than a request for external interference.
What happens when we die?
We do not know.
Consciousness appears to arise from physical processes, and current evidence suggests it ends when those processes end.
But humility requires acknowledging uncertainty.
What is certain is this: the finite nature of life makes flourishing urgent.
Is morality objective in New Atenism?
Morality emerges from the requirements of flourishing within reality.
Certain principles — reduce harm, cultivate cooperation, encourage honesty — consistently promote stability and prosperity across cultures.
While moral codes evolve, they are not arbitrary. They are constrained by what allows complex systems — including societies — to survive.
Is New Atenism political?
New Atenism is not aligned with any party.
It values policies that are evidence-based, prosperity-enhancing, and open to revision.
Dogmatism exists across political ideologies. Collective reason must evaluate all claims — left, right, or otherwise.
Isn't New Atenism just Humanism?
It overlaps with secular humanism but differs in two key ways:
- It explicitly frames reality itself as sacred.
- It structures itself as a religion — with cosmology, ritual, and institutional ambition.
It seeks not just agreement, but cohesion.
Isn't this just dogmatic belief in reason?
No.
The central commitment of New Atenism is to revision.
If better evidence or arguments emerge, beliefs must evolve.
Dogma is the freezing of thought. New Atenism is structured to prevent that.
How is this different from just being rational?
Individual rationality is limited. Bias, emotion, and self-interest distort judgment.
New Atenism emphasizes collective rationality — structured systems of criticism and evidence that outperform individuals.
It is less about being smart and more about building institutions that catch error.
Doesn't this eliminate mystery and awe?
Quite the opposite.
Understanding that reality contains vastly more than we perceive deepens awe.
Science has not diminished wonder — it has multiplied it.
Humility before the infinite is sacred.
Who is this for?
For those who:
- Value reason but crave meaning.
- Feel uneasy with dogma but don’t want nihilism.
- Believe human progress is fragile and worth protecting.
- Want community without tribal certainty.
It is for Seekers.
What would change if this caught on?
More humility in belief.
More willingness to update.
More unity at the level of shared reality.
And perhaps fewer conflicts fueled by literal interpretations of ancient narratives.
It would not eliminate disagreement — but it would relocate it to where evidence can operate.
