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Can an Atheist believe in ghosts?


nephili

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Seems to me that the ideas would cancel each other out.

So, if someone says they are Atheist, wouldn't that mean they don't believe in the afterlife anyways?

And if someone tells you they have seen a ghost or believes they have had a paranormal experience, wouldn't that mean they can't be Atheist?

 

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interesting question.  I think they can.  All sorts of contradicting ideas are held by people every day. 

To me Atheism is a declaration of belief.  One that states 'there is no god'.  Simple, direct, very understandable.  It doesn't cover anything else explicitly, regarding spirits or anything else, but it would seem easy to infer that it lends itself to projecting a lack of belief in spirits or souls, since god is often attributed to being the source of such things.  But that's all in the realm of subjective projection and assumption of what others think and is of little use other than as entertainment.

I've never come across proof of no god, or of god, or of spirits, so I consider myself a semi-functional agnostic in this dept. 

Yet I've experienced awareness free of the body, although I don't relate to it, or refer to my experience as being a spirit or soul... to me it was pure awareness... endless clarity and emptiness full of potential. 

My wifes experience was similar to my own, but her relationship to it differs from mine.  All things of this nature are uniquely personal and subjective... due to our experiences being so rooted in our senses and minds.

 

Edited by quiXilver
delete a repeated phrase
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1 hour ago, nephili said:

Seems to me that the ideas would cancel each other out.

So, if someone says they are Atheist, wouldn't that mean they don't believe in the afterlife anyways?

And if someone tells you they have seen a ghost or believes they have had a paranormal experience, wouldn't that mean they can't be Atheist?

 

Absolutely not. It sounds as though you're coming at this with the idea that the only explanation for ghosts is that they're spirits, and that's just not the case. There are many other explanations for what we call ghosts, hardly, if any, preclude an atheist from considering them.  

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Atheism is the rejection of deities, there are still plenty of other (silly) things they can believe in.

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I don't see why not, ghosts don't usually have a religious dimension, in fact I expect some Bishop somewhere has probably said that a christian shouldn't believe in ghosts (apart from the Holy one, of course). I suppose atheists might also claim that they're rational and unsuperstitious and so they probably wouldn't believe in ghosts anyway, of course. 

Edited by Manfred von Dreidecker
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If they believe that ghosts can be attributed to Biology or some other form of scientific explanation then yes. 

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9 minutes ago, The Narcisse said:

If they believe that ghosts can be attributed to Biology or some other form of scientific explanation then yes. 

Not really. That'd be skeptics. Atheists aren't necessarily skeptical. 

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1 hour ago, ShadowSot said:

Being am Atheist means you don't believe in a god. Doesn't mean you don't believe in the paranormal or an afterlife. 

Yes, this has been my understanding with Atheists as well. Belief or not in a big guy(s) is something different that belief or not in the paranormal- and that includes belief or not in souls, afterlife, reincarnation, ect. From the Atheists I've known or chatted with, they like to talk about paranormal stuff too- it just that's there's no deity input on their behalf. I've chatted with Atheists that believe or not in the paranormal parts.

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Obviously it all comes down to what you think ghosts are (I personally dont think they are spirits of the dead any more than they are adverts for dog food. But I do not deny that some people have seen/experienced things that are not explainable with current knowledge).  And I have never seen one.

But I am curious as to what Christians (or members of other religions) think they are,given that,on death,one goes to either heaven or hell?  (or gets reincarnated)

I am aware that in stories, for dramatic effect, they are often souls who are for some reason unable to "move on". But how does that fit in with mainstream religious teaching?

Being a atheist doesnt affect my belief in ghosts any more than it affects my belief in UFOs

Edited by Essan
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I could be completely wrong here, but aren't some forms of Buddhism atheistic, but believe in Reincarnation and restless spirits?

Also some Ancient Greek Philosophies?

And some streams within New Age?

I once knew an Atheist who was very superstitious (she once yelled at me for unfolding an umbrella inside a building) I found that very perplexing.  Then again I also find it perplexing when other Christians  bring up their believes in Young Earth Creationism.

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As of right now I have my beliefs and dis-beliefs. There's a bit of wiggle room in all things and until there is real evidence for anything ghostly I'll remain a skeptic, just too many mundane explanations for ghost in my opinion.

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Atheism shouldn't be confused with materialism.

Although many ''new-atheists'' are, in fact, also materialists (denying any spiritual aspect to the Universe).

Edited by TruthSeeker_
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I often associate the word spirituality with emotion. As spirituality is aimed to satisfy some emotional need. There are a lot of immaterial things going on in my head caused by electrical and chemical reactions. 

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2 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

I often associate the word spirituality with emotion. As spirituality is aimed to satisfy some emotional need. There are a lot of immaterial things going on in my head caused by electrical and chemical reactions. 

I get you.  Emotions are not directly observable, yet their effects are... it's similar for me with spirit, only it is one step removed and more subtleand related to awareness and breath.  To me, spirit is associated with awareness and linked intimately to breath.  The fastest way I know to rapidly manifest influence or change of consciousness and level of awareness is through my breath... altering the length, depth, intensity, frequency and quality of our breath can manifest many shifts in consciousness and awareness.

My experiences in Pranayama breathing have been more intense than any entheogen or pharmaceutical drug I've ever taken...

It's expressed so often, in many cultures ... that the spirit is carried on the breath... spirit leaves the body at death and what also leaves the body at death... the breath.

I had the exquisite pain and the deep humbling gratitude, the pure, raw intimacy of holding a friend in my arms as she passed... as her breathing slowed and stopped.

There was a moment some minutes after her breathing stopped and her body was completely still... there was a palpable realization, a vajra moment... sudden, unshakable awareness that whatever had been the essence of my friend, was no longer present.  A few moments before I had been holding my friend in my arms... and now I was acutely, palpably aware that I was holding my friend's body in my arms, but she... the essence of my friend... was no longer present in that body in any fashion. 

it was palpable... like a silent internal 'woof' when the air is sucked out of a small space, it was... so palpable a realization it was almost a physical sensation...

a foundational awareness of some subtle, deep shift.

Sometimes when I'm sitting quietly focusing on my breath, just as I breath in... I quickly wonder what the odds are that i've inhaled a couple atoms that she exhaled with her body's last breath...

 

 

 

 

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The easiest way to figure it out is to ask yourself how your spiritual beliefs make you feel. 

Warning Subjective Opinions Ahead!

I feel that people believe in ghost because they are afraid not only of death but of being gone forever. 

In the case of ufo's I think it's partially about cosmic loneliness. The whole, "What if we're it?" dilemma.

As for things like bigfoot and nessie, that might just be curiosity at play.

When it comes to things like occultism and religion it's really people trying to fill a need in their lives. The need for control, security, etc. And it really depends on the individual as well. I would like for ghost to be real, but with so much fake and fraudulent claims I've given up. Plus years of occultism lead to some crazy trippy experiences that convinced me that ghost exist, but again I actually looked into what was going on in my head, it debunked itself. When it comes to the paranormal or supernatural I am still agnostic about it. I just need real and solid evidence before I jump on that bandwagon again.

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These are some really good responses. I really only asked because most of the Atheist I know generally say you die, that's it. There is nothing else. But the same people can turn around and say some of the most fantastical stories of ghosts and other paranormal happenings. I guess I can see where someone could not believe in a god but still believe in something resembling a soul.

Of course that is assuming that ghosts have anything to do with dead people at all. I have talked with people who believe they are everything from apparitions from other dimensions to cloaked humans from the future to glitches in the "matrix". I've heard some colorful ideas.

I feel a forum like this is a great way to get points to take into a conversation about things like this.

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They are less likely to, but nothing in the definition of 'atheist' say they can't. Atheism is a rejection of theism, not necessarily a rejection of any supernatural/paranormal claim. Atheists can definitely be superstitious too.

On a separate but related note, theists, including deeply religious people, can also not believe in ghosts.

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I think there is some confusion in exactly what "atheist" means. A lot of people in this forum who call themselves atheists are really antitheists, instead. These people are open to a wide range of alternate beliefs.

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Here's the deal, atheists can believe in anything they want, except for deities.

The belief in deities (or a deity), invalidates an atheist label. Simple.

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If I could actualy see a ghost then maybe my mind might change, I do have a mouse in my house and it`s bold. Hundreds of millions of dead people and how many see ghosts hmmm almost none.

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32 minutes ago, The Silver Thong said:

If I could actualy see a ghost then maybe my mind might change, I do have a mouse in my house and it`s bold. Hundreds of millions of dead people and how many see ghosts hmmm almost none.

Well ghosts are like God -- what exactly you think they are is cultural -- in some places they are frightening horrors, in other places they are mysterious but basically harmless, in others they are funny.

My opinion is there is almost certainly no such thing, based on absence of convincing evidence.  The default should always be skepticism, but not disbelief as such -- affirmative assertion such a thing is impossible.

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