Atheism, spirits and gods?

[David19]

First, congrats on getting the new forum, and maybe you can also help me understand.

It's been mentioned a few times on Mystic Wicks, that some atheists don't believe in God(s), but can believe in spirits, but I was just wondering, how it was possible as I always considered atheism to be a belief that there was nothing spiritual that existed (like ghosts or whatever), but it seems I was wrong on that point, but I'm a little confused, how you seperate what makes a god, and what makes a spirit, or how you choose to believe in one and not the other.

Anyway, any help you can give me in understanding it a bit more would be great.

Thanks :).

[~NightFire~]

Well, if you look up 'Atheism' in the (Little Oxford) Dictionary it says; 'Belief that no God exists'.
So all Athiests don't believe that any Gods/Goddesses exist, but that doesn't mean that they don't believe in anything at all (that's the way I see it anyway).

Personally I am an Atheist-but I am also very spiritual, & I do believe in things like Magic, spirits/ghosts, the paranormal, & the supernatural.

To me a God/Goddess & a Spirit/Ghost are two completely different things...
It's hard for me to explain really, so I'll use the dictionary again;

'God'; 'Superhuman being worshipped as possessing divine power/creator & ruler of the universe.'
:hailmol:

I don't believe that there's a being like that, & I don't believe that a being like that created the universe either.

'Ghost'; 'Apparition of dead person.' :ghost:

I do believe that Ghosts/Spirits of dead human beings (or animals) exist, & can often be seen/felt/contacted etc, by those who are still alive.

I hope I'm making some kind of sense here! :lol:

Some Atheists might agree with me, some might not-It's all just my personal views on the matter. :)

[gwendar]

Well, I define atheism as a lack of belief in gods, which is just slightly different than believing gods do not exist.

I lack a belief in god. I wouldn't say god does not / cannot exist.

I suppose whether an atheist can believe in other spiritaul beings depends on their reason for not having god-beliefs.

Personally, I am an atheist because I have seen no evidence to suggest that a deity exists. Because my stance is evidence based, I also lack belief in other supernatural entities = no reason to believe.
Other people's personal experiences have no meaning for me. Hell, I've had my own personal experiences.
I was raised Pentecostal and did the whole Spirit-filled thing, and even experienced what I called a healing when I was a Christian.

Really, all atheism means is no god-beliefs.