Franciscan atheism

I had no clue on where to put this so I'll put it here.

I've been thinking about Franciscan spirituality and noticed the practicality of how it interacts with many different christian beliefs.

but can it go further?

what about atheism?

the tenets and main beliefs can be extracted from the theme.

Poverty : basically removing material possession and looking for meaning within the love of fellow man.

Love : loving all men as equals or betters

Service: dedicating all service to the love of people and people themselves.


I am curious to what people would think.

Could this be possible?

does it already exist under a different name?

like a form a humanism perhaps?

A good part of the forum might have been the Abrahamic Studies Group , within the Special Interest Groups -> Faith section.

I only have questions unfortunately. Is this a version of the poverty, chastity, and obedience? Love being without lust and directed uniformly in all directions, and service an obedience to that cause? I think these conditions exist within Buddhism also but a Buddhist would be able to answer that better then I. Jediism too, though perhaps more discreetly. In Jediism it might break those themes up into more culturally relevant concepts and we apply some or all of them individually as best we can in life to try and work for long term progress towards the same goal.

Or do you mean the asceticism of actually living in poverty, living to express love, and living from only its rewards. Such a dedicated application to love so that it became the source of survival sounds like an emotional roller coaster to me. You'd have to be on your guard from abuse for such intense fidelity.

In regards to Jediism the most superficial comparison I can make is to the Primary Tenets; Focus is to poverty the disconnection from materialism to connect to the Force, Knowledge is to Love from connecting to something more fully, and Wisdom is to Service as the application of the Jedi by virtue of the prior actions. I think the same balance exists there, but I know little about Franciscan spirituality. Can you write some more about it here?

I was actually talking to my dad about this the other week.

Though Franciscans do have those beliefs, they are also catholic in their ideology. A lot of faiths/different orders of faiths have a lot of the same beliefs/morals, but then there are specific beliefs that do not carry over. It is all about finding which one of the orders you agree with.

Personally, I think most religions are more similar than they are different. I am a practicing Buddhist, but I also really like the Franciscans too. I am planning on going to a monastery and living as a monk for three months. Most monasteries have a three month "trial period", either for trying it out to see if you want to go further, or just for the experience of being a monk for those three months. I have researched Franciscans, Zen, and a couple other sects of monks and they are really very similar. But, like I said, it is the little things that set them apart.

So no, you cannot be a TRUE Franciscan and be an atheist. But that does not mean you would not get something out of the experience if you were to go that route.

Adder wrote: A good part of the forum might have been the Abrahamic Studies Group , within the Special Interest Groups -> Faith section.

I only have questions unfortunately. Is this a version of the poverty, chastity, and obedience? Love being without lust and directed uniformly in all directions, and service an obedience to that cause? I think these conditions exist within Buddhism also but a Buddhist would be able to answer that better then I. Jediism too, though perhaps more discreetly. In Jediism it might break those themes up into more culturally relevant concepts and we apply some or all of them individually as best we can in life to try and work for long term progress towards the same goal.

Or do you mean the asceticism of actually living in poverty, living to express love, and living from only its rewards. Such a dedicated application to love so that it became the source of survival sounds like an emotional roller coaster to me. You'd have to be on your guard from abuse for such intense fidelity.

In regards to Jediism the most superficial comparison I can make is to the Primary Tenets; Focus is to poverty the disconnection from materialism to connect to the Force, Knowledge is to Love from connecting to something more fully, and Wisdom is to Service as the application of the Jedi by virtue of the prior actions. I think the same balance exists there, but I know little about Franciscan spirituality. Can you write some more about it here?

I didn't place it in the abrahamic section, deliberately

because we are trying to extract the christian beliefs.

and actually I have found very similar threads with both buddha and St Francis

it was why I started the thread. You foiled me fiend, lol

And yes, I am trying to find a ground for the roman catholic tenets. With poverty, we can call that generosity, perhaps....