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Old 01-28-2008, 02:25 AM
 
Location: UK
131 posts, read 312,519 times
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I am an aithiest. And i don't know whether I believe in ghosts but I did once think there was a polterguiest in my room :S
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Old 01-28-2008, 08:41 AM
 
Location: Wallace, Idaho
3,353 posts, read 6,652,484 times
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Well, I'm somewhere between agnostic and atheist, and I grew up in an old house where every member of my family, and even some of our friends, saw, heard, felt, and even smelled (!) things they couldn't logically explain. I have no explanation for it, but I know what I experienced. Was some of it psychological? Maybe. There are possible scientific explanations, too. Perhaps a past event gets somehow imprinted in time and replayed over and over, like a tape loop. Maybe our time is temporarily colliding with a previous time. I'd love to know the answers.

But I don't see why an atheist couldn't believe in ghosts. After all, atheists tend to reject deities not because they refuse to believe, but because there's no evidence. Show conclusive evidence of a god, and most atheists would go along with the program. The same would hold true for any kind of phenomena.

Last edited by Adrian71; 01-28-2008 at 09:40 AM..
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Old 01-28-2008, 12:00 PM
AT9
 
Location: Midwest City, Oklahoma
691 posts, read 1,216,326 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir Barton View Post
An atheist doesn't believe in God. That is all. However, an atheist can believe in ghosts. Ghosts are a different subject than God.
Ghosts are different from God, but they are both in the realm of the supernatural, not the natural. An atheist believe in natural things alone, and unless an atheist believes that ghosts can be explained by natural means, then they are believing in something supernatural. If ghosts are indeed the spirits of people floating around, then that is beyond the reach of biology, and is in the realm of religion. Just because you believe in ghosts doesn't mean that you believe in God, but it does mean that you believe in spuernatural events.

The issue here is not God vs. Ghosts..... it's Supernatural vs. Natural, and belief in the supernatural is not an atheistic trait.
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Old 01-28-2008, 02:26 PM
 
Location: Earth
24,620 posts, read 28,239,057 times
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AT9, the only atheist "trait" is that they don't believe in a god-thing. I believe that this viewpoint has been held by most, if not all, atheists on this board.

Are you redefining the word atheist?
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Old 01-28-2008, 02:34 PM
 
Location: Ocean Shores, WA
5,092 posts, read 14,803,950 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AT9 View Post
...An atheist believe in natural things alone...
That's a pretty broad assumption.

Atheism is not like a religion where you can say "XYZists believe this and they do not believe that."

It would probably be safe to say that Atheists do not believe in the Gods of organized religions or the Gods of personal revelation.

Anything more than that depends on how the individual Atheist relates to the Universe.
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Old 01-28-2008, 02:42 PM
 
Location: oregon
245 posts, read 624,680 times
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nothing that is can be unnatural, that just wouldn't make a lick of sense
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Old 01-28-2008, 05:26 PM
 
Location: Nashville, Tn
7,915 posts, read 18,598,564 times
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Sir Barton wrote:
Quote:
An atheist doesn't believe in God. That is all. However, an atheist can believe in ghosts. Ghosts are a different subject than God.
I have to admit I'm surprised at some of the responses that have been posted here. To any one of you who is an atheist and believes in ghosts I'd like to ask this question. What exactly is a ghost and how did they come into existence? The concept of a ghost fits in with religious beliefs because it sounds like we're talking about departed souls and the spirit world. If someone doesn't believe in God then they obviously don't believe that life was created by a God and the only other alternative is that life arose through natural processes. If this is the case what process could have created ghosts? Not believing in God has a number of implications if you've really thought the matter through and this would include a rejection of supernatural beliefs such as the existence of ghosts and the spiritual realm that they inhabit.
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Old 01-28-2008, 06:21 PM
AT9
 
Location: Midwest City, Oklahoma
691 posts, read 1,216,326 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Freddy View Post
That's a pretty broad assumption.

Atheism is not like a religion where you can say "XYZists believe this and they do not believe that."

It would probably be safe to say that Atheists do not believe in the Gods of organized religions or the Gods of personal revelation.

Anything more than that depends on how the individual Atheist relates to the Universe.
Ok, can an Atheist believe in ghosts? Sure. But the whole underlying principle is behind Atheism is Naturalism. Naturalists believe that, as the name implies, everything can be described in natural terms alone. So I agree that it is possible for an Atheist to believe in ghosts.... but a belief in ghosts blows the door open to other supernatural things such as-- God.

So the problem with this is that the underlying priciple behind Atheism is that the world was created without God and that there is no such thing as a spiritual realm. A belief in ghosts pokes holes in an Atheists argument. It would be like a Chrisitan saying that people can be saved by works alone without Christ. Can a Christian believe that? Sure, but it goes against the founding principle of that belief.

Do you see what I'm getting at? I get your point in that Atheists believe different things, and my point is that if an Atheist opens the door to the possibility of one thing spiritual, then that opens the door to a possibility of everything else spiritual.
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Old 01-28-2008, 06:34 PM
 
Location: oregon
245 posts, read 624,680 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MontanaGuy View Post
Sir Barton wrote:

I have to admit I'm surprised at some of the responses that have been posted here. To any one of you who is an atheist and believes in ghosts I'd like to ask this question. What exactly is a ghost and how did they come into existence? The concept of a ghost fits in with religious beliefs because it sounds like we're talking about departed souls and the spirit world. If someone doesn't believe in God then they obviously don't believe that life was created by a God and the only other alternative is that life arose through natural processes. If this is the case what process could have created ghosts? Not believing in God has a number of implications if you've really thought the matter through and this would include a rejection of supernatural beliefs such as the existence of ghosts and the spiritual realm that they inhabit.
so its this or that? realy?
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Old 01-28-2008, 07:12 PM
Status: "just passing through" (set 18 days ago)
 
708 posts, read 1,290,676 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steffan View Post
I was just wondering about what defines an athiest
\

Well, if an athiest happened to see, or hear or feel a ghost then they wouldn't have to believe anymore. Belief is not knowing. Knowing is accomplished through your senses with regard to experiencing this world (or the world beyond).
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