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Can you still be an atheist if you believe in the paranormal?
#1
Can you still be an atheist if you believe in the paranormal?
I'd consider myself an atheist, I don't believe in God and I like to see evidence before I'll accept belief in anything, as most atheists would.

I have had a couple of experiences I can't really explain though, and it's strange to me. I've felt a hand on my shoulder once, I was about 14 years old at the time and it happened in the living room in my house. I'm pretty sure of what I felt, it felt like a hand and was there for about 3 seconds. When I described what I felt to my Mum, she said that my Dad had described exactly the same experience, and in the same part of the house.

On top of this, we regulary hear odd noises in our house. Strange creaks and taps that appear to have no explanation. It is most obvious when one of us is home alone, and we have no pets we could put it down to.

My Mum, who is a very loose non-practicing Christian and a very rational woman, also claims she had a very strange experience as a teen. She claims she was baby-sitting someone's children and had to stay the night at the house. After both she and the children went to bed, she heard all the furniture in the living room moving around. When she went down to investigate, the children were not there so it wasn't that they had come down, and the family dog was too small to make that kind of noise. The dog apparently was in a state of absolute terror as well. She took the dog back upstairs with her, and continued to hear noises throughout the night.

Is this rational for people with very little/no belief in God? I feel like atheists shouldn't believe in this stuff, but I honestly can't think of a better explanation for this shit other than it being paranormal.
"Adulthood is like looking both ways before you cross the road, and then getting hit by an airplane"  - sarcasm_only

"Ironically like the nativist far-Right, which despises multiculturalism, but benefits from its ideas of difference to scapegoat the other and to promote its own white identity politics; these postmodernists, leftists, feminists and liberals also use multiculturalism, to side with the oppressor, by demanding respect and tolerance for oppression characterised as 'difference', no matter how intolerable."
- Maryam Namazie

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#2
RE: Can you still be an atheist if you believe in the paranormal?
(January 12, 2015 at 12:01 am)NuclearJaguar Wrote: I honestly can't think of a better explanation for this shit other than it being paranormal.

Is that not precisely what theists state about god? I honestly can't think of a better explanation for this other than it being god.

It is better to state I don't know than to jump to the insupportable claim that it is paranormal or supernatural.
"Never trust a fox. Looks like a dog, behaves like a cat."
~ Erin Hunter
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#3
RE: Can you still be an atheist if you believe in the paranormal?
Well yes, but the difference here is they've never sensed God

Tbh I probably worded the title of this thread kind of wrong. I wouldn't say I outright believe in the paranormal, I've just had strange experiences I can't explain. If anyone can explain these things rationally I'll gladly accept the explanation.
"Adulthood is like looking both ways before you cross the road, and then getting hit by an airplane"  - sarcasm_only

"Ironically like the nativist far-Right, which despises multiculturalism, but benefits from its ideas of difference to scapegoat the other and to promote its own white identity politics; these postmodernists, leftists, feminists and liberals also use multiculturalism, to side with the oppressor, by demanding respect and tolerance for oppression characterised as 'difference', no matter how intolerable."
- Maryam Namazie

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#4
RE: Can you still be an atheist if you believe in the paranormal?
Is there a god, or god claim, involved? If not, then yes, you can still use your atheist membership card. Atheism is merely a specialised subset of scepticism - skepticism if you really must - dedicated to one single subject. That's all it takes.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist.  This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair.  Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second.  That means there's a situation vacant.'
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#5
RE: Can you still be an atheist if you believe in the paranormal?
(January 12, 2015 at 12:13 am)Stimbo Wrote: Atheism is merely a specialised subset of scepticism - skepticism if you really must - dedicated to one single subject.

[Image: youenglish.jpg?w=462&h=246]
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#6
RE: Can you still be an atheist if you believe in the paranormal?
(January 12, 2015 at 12:05 am)NuclearJaguar Wrote: Well yes, but the difference here is they've never sensed God

Tbh I probably worded the title of this thread kind of wrong. I wouldn't say I outright believe in the paranormal, I've just had strange experiences I can't explain. If anyone can explain these things rationally I'll gladly accept the explanation.

Me me. I can do it.

The brain is a complex experiencing machine. If anything unusual happens to the mechanism, the experience become unusual. And then whoever has those unusual experiences calls them "spiritual" or "paranormal."
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#7
RE: Can you still be an atheist if you believe in the paranormal?
Sure. You're not being a very good skeptic, but no problem with being an atheist in the strictest sense
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition

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#8
RE: Can you still be an atheist if you believe in the paranormal?
(January 12, 2015 at 12:01 am)NuclearJaguar Wrote: Is this rational for people with very little/no belief in God?

This implies that people who don't believe in God are inherently rational, which isn't true. It absolutely is possible to be irrational and not believe in god.

(January 12, 2015 at 12:05 am)NuclearJaguar Wrote: If anyone can explain these things rationally I'll gladly accept the explanation.

As with many situations, each "thing" could be caused by something different. There's no one answer to why people feel like they're abducted by aliens - each case, or instance, could have a different explanation, like sleep paralysis vs a fantasy prone personality vs implanted memories from hypnotism, etc. It's likely that you won't find a satisfying answer, but that doesn't mean that what's left is something paranormal - especially as no one can observe the event now since they all happened in the past and are subject to the fallibility of your memory.
[Image: Untitled2_zpswaosccbr.png]
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#9
RE: Can you still be an atheist if you believe in the paranormal?
I've heard of plenty of things that sound weird or 'eerie,' but I don't necessarily think 'supernatural' is the answer. As has already been said, "I don't know" is a perfectly acceptable answer

That said, I know that there are atheists who believe in all sorts of non-material, supernatural, or even spiritual claims. There are atheists who believe in life after death--that there is some form of the body that transcends death and that these 'souls' can either congregate (some form of heaven), inhabit single places (hauntings), or even jump back into the cycle for another round (reincarnation). The common theme for atheism is that, regardless of the beliefs, we don't see that there is any need for a god at the helm.
Celebrate Reason ● Think For Yourself
www.theHeathensGuide.com
[Image: heathens-guide.png]
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#10
RE: Can you still be an atheist if you believe in the paranormal?
(January 12, 2015 at 12:01 am)NuclearJaguar Wrote: I'd consider myself an atheist, I don't believe in God and I like to see evidence before I'll accept belief in anything, as most atheists would.

I have had a couple of experiences I can't really explain though, and it's strange to me. I've felt a hand on my shoulder once, I was about 14 years old at the time and it happened in the living room in my house. I'm pretty sure of what I felt, it felt like a hand and was there for about 3 seconds. When I described what I felt to my Mum, she said that my Dad had described exactly the same experience, and in the same part of the house.

On top of this, we regulary hear odd noises in our house. Strange creaks and taps that appear to have no explanation. It is most obvious when one of us is home alone, and we have no pets we could put it down to.

My Mum, who is a very loose non-practicing Christian and a very rational woman, also claims she had a very strange experience as a teen. She claims she was baby-sitting someone's children and had to stay the night at the house. After both she and the children went to bed, she heard all the furniture in the living room moving around. When she went down to investigate, the children were not there so it wasn't that they had come down, and the family dog was too small to make that kind of noise. The dog apparently was in a state of absolute terror as well. She took the dog back upstairs with her, and continued to hear noises throughout the night.

Is this rational for people with very little/no belief in God? I feel like atheists shouldn't believe in this stuff, but I honestly can't think of a better explanation for this shit other than it being paranormal.

1. the laws of the universe work the same way whether you personify them as God figure or you see the world as impersonal and one body of energy and laws

2. if you have a conditioned "rejection" of God or a "projection" of God, that is an issue of bias against people or groups you don't view as equal or fear don't include you equally. That is a separate issue of bias or preference, and has nothing to do with the ways of life and nature that go on regardless. This mainly affects your relations with other people if you let it be a problem. If you can forgive these differences, they can co-exist with no issues except what we make of them.
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