Interestingly, I think I've found myself becoming more atheist as I grow older and appreciate the wonder of nature/science as we know thus far.
This is interesting to me, as in my mind a person can be spiritual and an atheist at the same time. An atheist only lacks belief in gods, or holds a belief that there is no god. Believing in a being called God is only one of many possible manifestations of spiritual; spirituality does not necessarily have one believing there is a deity.
...the type of people who tend to self-identify that way, and not just self-identify, but go out of their way to tell you about it, in my experience, tend to have many negative traits that I don't care for (to name one that seems common, and hopefully isn't too harsh: flighty).
I would be uncomfortable assuming one word means another, i.e., that spiritual means one is probably flighty. Many of the most grounded, methodical, logical, sound people I know—including many scientist friends and colleagues—identify as spiritual, and plenty that identify as nonspiritual are none of the above. That is, I haven't seen a correlation in that example. I can't think of any correlations, so when someone identifies as spiritual, that is the only element I anticipate seeing (and even then I know it can manifest alongside countless other traits.) Happily for me, I enjoy traits ranging from flighty to grounded.
...I seem to find that with more people who go out of their way to identify as anything, not just spiritual.
Love this :) It matches my experience.
The problematic (to me so far) trait is of
going out of one's way to identify as anything. That sort of "in your faceness." I just don't enjoy overbearing people who think they're the most right or awesome, or who think their way is the best. Whether they pin that zealousness on their being a physician, an educator, Trump, etc, no matter. My kid's school staff—truly religious in their Holy Schooly Beliefness—come across this way to me. They "just know" everything that is true and right "for everyone"; it's exhausting. Some of the atheists I know do the same.
There's a difference between me knowing I have hazel eyes and being willing to acknowledge it, and marching about ensuring everyone I meet knows, is never mistaking them for brown or green, knows my personal genetic history of them, etc.