One thing I always found interesting about how many people could be an atheist and still believe in the supernatural. I mean, the only requirement of atheism is that one believes there are no gods. Which means people can still believe in ghosts, goblins, and all that sort as long as they believe there is no god. So what do you called an atheist that believes in the supernatural?
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I call them several things...unless they have unimpeachable evidence.
@DAVID: "the only requirement of atheism is that one believes there are no gods."
REALLY: Are you that frigging dense? How many times must you "CLEARLY BE GIVEN" the definition for Atheism? Are you completely incapable of learning? Is your mind so clogged up with your religious bullshit that you can not move an inch to meet Atheists on their own ground without creating "Straw Man" fallacies? Are you such an ass that you are just going to insist your version of Atheism is true and everyone on the site who has made an effort to correct you is obviously wrong or lying? It that really the sort of narrow minded person you are?
Atheist: A person who does not believe in god or gods. If you think you have a god that is worth believing in, please provide us with the facts and evidence that support that god.
NO ONE HAS TRIED THIS WITH YOU ... SO HERE GOES..
Imagine we are looking at the stars one night. I tell you that the number of the stars in the sky is even? Do you believe me? Of course not. After all the number of stars in the sky could be odd. We don't actually know. There is no reason to believe the number of stars in the sky is even. So you tell me, "I don't believe you." "Oh! " I say, "so you believe the number of stars in the sky are odd? Can you prove it?" This is a stupid assertion and one you keep making over and over and over and over. All the atheists have told you is that they do not believe in this amorphous undefined thing you are calling god. Can you show us your evidence? Why is that so frigging difficult???
RE: "Which means people can still believe in ghosts, goblins, and all that sort as long as they believe there is no god. "
NO! As long as they do not believe in a god they can believe in all sorts of other shit. Crystal magic, an alien creator race, creator blue bunnies, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, anything, Atheism is a position of not believing in a god. People who assert that there are no gods have adopted a burden of proof. This is not necessary to be an atheist. I can not assert your god does not exist until you define it. Please do so and only then can we examine it.
I would call an atheist who believes in the supernatural and supernaturalist. And just as I ask you to define your God I would ask him to define supernatural and demonstrate whatever Woo Woo it is he or she professes to believe in. (Actually, I have to admit here that it might not be Woo Woo. The person might actually have evidence for their claim. I have not seen any yet, but it could happen.)
You call them just that- atheists. I guess it's safe to say that just because we are all skeptical about one superstition doesn't mean that we're all skeptical about all others.
yes, people can believe in something and be an atheist. It more likely that the answer lies between my-god-only and reject all gods.
I think many atheist get a bumb rap. Most of us are not out to reject any and all gods. There are a large group like that, but its still not most of us. I think most of us just don't see any real evidence of a hands on type god and we can't understand people that teach to my-religion is the only way.