Belief in God or the devil?

[Darkstar]

That being said, atheism itself is the disbelief in gods. It is possible to have atheists that do believe in other supernatural claims.

Last year in a philosophy class I was taking, the professor asked the class who believed in various things such as gods, ghosts, maybe some pseudosciences (I can't remember why he asked, but I'm pretty sure it was relevant to the topic). Only two people (myself included) raised their hand when the class was asked who didn't believe in god. A few questions later, the other atheist admitted to believing in ghosts, to which my professor expressed disappointment in her lack of skepticism. So, yeah, atheists can believe in the supernatural, though it is uncommon.

On that note, said (theistic) professor openly mocked the fact that almost a third of the class admitted to believing in ghosts, until he realized that they were dead serious...and he promptly put his foot in his mouth, clearly bothered by what he had just learned.

[itsjustintyme]

Or are these just psychological situations that can be explained away by science as hoaxes?.

A person may sincerely believe themselves to be possessed. In those cases, it is clearly not a hoax. Neither does it lend evidence to the existence of demons.

Boru

Boru, I'm confused. You say it's clearly not a hoax as though you have some belief people can actually become possessed? Or are you just referring to these cases to be serious due to the psychological nature of the situation? Please clarify.

---

Atheists don't wrestle with the concept of god. All atheists, lack a belief in any and all god(s).
All of those things are the result of a few things: mental disorders, lies, mistakes and tricks. Sometimes a combination of all of them

Thanks Bad Wolf. I'm interested in knowing how you made up your mind there is no God?

Regarding the other, thank you for the explanation. I often wonder about this as exorcism stories seem to hold more common place in American popular culture than other potential evidences for a spiritual aspect of our world. Sometimes I find atheists who are spiritual but not religious atheists, however it seems atheism dismisses spirituality altogether? Sometimes I get confused about this though as nearly every major civilization in history has had some form of spirituality. I often woner if there is anything to this.

[Cyberman]

Thanks Bad Wolf. I'm interested in knowing how you made up your mind there is no God?

That's not what he said; he said that atheists lack a belief in gods, not that we believe they don't exist. It depends on how you're defining the word god. If we're talking about capital-G "God", the one described in the bible, it's so incompatible with reality that we can be pretty sure that god doesn't exist.

[Tonus]

I know most atheists either wrestle with the concept of a God or feel inclined to dismiss it all together and would figure this goes for demonic activity also. However I've never directly asked, do most atheists believe there is anything to demonic possession, ghosts, psychic mediums, weigi boards or the like? Or are these just psychological situations that can be explained away by science as hoaxes?.

Devils, demons, and ghosts are in the same category as gods for me. Until such time as any of them are demonstrated to exist I will remain skeptical. I take the same approach towards such creatures as Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster or in phenomena such as UFOs.

[Bad Wolf]

Thanks Bad Wolf. I'm interested in knowing how you made up your mind there is no God?

I didn't say that there is no god, I said I lack a belief in god. If you are asking me why I don't believe god exists, answer this question and you should have your answer:
Do you believe in fairies? If not, why not?

[Alex K]

I know most atheists either wrestle with the concept of a God or feel inclined to dismiss it all together and would figure this goes for demonic activity also. However I've never directly asked, do most atheists believe there is anything to demonic possession, ghosts, psychic mediums, weigi boards or the like? Or are these just psychological situations that can be explained away by science as hoaxes?.

Ok, as for myself, I grew up in milquetoast christian surroundings with my dad, officially catholic, being somewhere between deist-ish and atheist-ish depending on mood, was send to confirmation lessons, didn't find the idea convincing, like at all, so I didn't adopt the belief. As far as struggle with the concept is concerned, does head shaking and face palming count as "struggle"? If
you think you have a consistent definition of your God, be my guest.

There is a type of new-agey atheist who believes in all kinds of spirit forces, but not in a personal creator god. I think some adherents of "alternative" religions would call themselves atheists. I don't know whether some types of Buddhism don't feature supernatural stuff without there being a creator god figure.

I agree with Tonus, and I'd say that there is no clear separation from God, to Gods, to ghosts and demons, to very advanced aliens. Barring omniscience and omnipotence and authorship of the universe, which many god figures in past myths didn't have, it's really not clear where something/someone stops being a God. Catholicism for example to me appears like a type of Polytheism on par with the old Greek and Norse myths, with one of them, teh God, being particularly powerful, being the creator and all.

[FreeTony]

I know most atheists either wrestle with the concept of a God or feel inclined to dismiss it all together and would figure this goes for demonic activity also. However I've never directly asked, do most atheists believe there is anything to demonic possession, ghosts, psychic mediums, weigi boards or the like? Or are these just psychological situations that can be explained away by science as hoaxes?.

Depends what you mean by a hoax. The person involved may believe they are possessed, just as some mediums believe they are the real deal.

Demonic posession: No evidence of any supernatural occurences, despite the fact it should be fairly easy to video an "The Excorcist" style posession. Tends to occur in psychologically disturbed teenage girls.
Ghosts: No evidence of anything that . Lots of hoaxes too.
Mediums: None have been scientifically shown to do anything other than guessing. Lots have been exposed as frauds.
Ouji Boards: Same concept as the medium table trick. It's just a magic trick. Different pressures applied by different people causes the movement. It would be a boring game if no one touched the circle bit as it would never move.

If you are interested, James Randi's book deals with many of these. He has had hundreds of people claim to have these powers. Some of these people have even fooled some scientists. However they were all using simple magic tricks.

So to sum up. Lots of solid evidence for hoaxing and lots of scientific understanding of the psychological processes at work in those who do believe*. Zero evidence that anything supernatural has occured.

*There's a good reason why people tend to hear ghosts at night in houses when they are on their own, and most importantly when it has been suggested to them a ghost lives there. Well actually there is more than one - Sleep Paralysis explain why both Alien Abductions and Ghost sightings occur most often when people are in bed.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

[Simon Moon]

A person may sincerely believe themselves to be possessed. In those cases, it is clearly not a hoax. Neither does it lend evidence to the existence of demons.

Boru

Boru, I'm confused. You say it's clearly not a hoax as though you have some belief people can actually become possessed? Or are you just referring to these cases to be serious due to the psychological nature of the situation? Please clarify.

You are positing that the only 2 possibility for possessions are that they are really demon possessions, or they are hoaxes.

There is at least one more possibility. The person allegedly possessed, their family, and friends sincerely believe it to be real, but it is not.

[Intimae_Hasta]

I don't believe there is a god, therefore there is no afterlife. Humans do not have a soul or an everlasting spirit, just a personality that is part of brain function. If there are no souls, there cannot be any ghosts or mischievous spirits, neither can there be such thing as demonic possession. Well that's my take on it, anyway.