Atheism and the Sense of the Sacred

Believers in God hold things sacred. They say marriage is sacred as is prayer. Can atheists have a sense of the sacred?

Atheists say they do not believe in the sacred. The sacred is not that towards which we have feelings of respect. The sacred is that towards which we SHOULD have feelings of respect. Using this understanding, it seems that we do not need a religious interpretation of sacred. I take the view that we must reject the concept for it implies that something is deserving of respect for godly or religious reasons. The word sacred is religiously derived. The idea of mere respect will do for atheists.

Some atheists say the nearest they get to holding anything sacred is truth. If the truth is that there is no God then it follows that this truth is to be respected. We do not need the idea of God before we can accept anything as worthy of respect.

To argue that you need the God concept before you can consider anything worthy of respect is a refusal to respect atheism even if it is the truth!