Atheists and Horror Films

[KentuckySkeptic224]

Okay, so I recently saw, The Babadook and it freaked the everloving shit out of me. For the past week or so I've been barring my closet with a chair, looking under my bed, and sleeping with the light on. So, I'm just wondering, even though I'm an atheist and I don't believe in the supernatural, am I being hypocritical in my nonbelief by being spooked by a horror film?

No: human psychology is filled with magical thinking and blind spots, which effective horror understands and preys upon. Being an atheist just means that you don't believe in gods, not that you're this perfectly rational clockwork brain that doesn't afraid of anything. I myself am actually a huge pussy when it comes to horror movies, and so I generally avoid them like the plague, barring a few exceptions; doesn't mean I'm betraying my free thinking roots.

Hell, you could even literally believe that the Babadook is a real entity; just so long as you don't believe he's a god, you'd still be an atheist who is being entirely consistent with the tenets of that label.

Thank's for the reassurance. What bothered me wasn't whether I believed that it was a god or not, it was the fact that I was afraid of this thing despite the fact that there is no evidence for existence, almost like I have faith in its existence.