Atheism and Paranormal Activity

[Arbee]

Yeah. This is a religious topic, so be prepared for a little dose of religion.

If you can't handle it, please don't read any further than this.

Yeah, you should know by now that if it's in here, and I started it, you should click on it knowing that you'd better be able to handle it, so I'm going to dive right in.

From what I understand, atheism is basically the denial of a higher power (God, or dieties) in favor of what can be readily explained by logic, reasoning, and concrete, tangible results. If I'm wrong, I apologize, but this is the impression I've gotten from my own research and what others have told me. If you would like to discuss it further, please shoot me a PM, as I'm always happy to keep my knowledge up-to-date. Please don't post it in this thread, however, as this thread is not about what defines atheism and its subscribers.

I'm interested to know whether atheists--both hardcore and general followers--believe in paranormal activity, especially the strange and fascinating activity that revolves around hauntings. Does atheism allow any room for ghosts and spirits, or other phenomena of the sort?

I'm just a curious critter, haha, so forgive me if I'm coming off as rude. I'm just interested to know, is all.

[Sandwich]

It seems to me like they (or some of them, since Atheists all have a wide range of beliefs) would pass a "ghost" off as some sort of other phenomenon that science has yet to discover. So not "wandering spirits" but "afterimages of previous times" or "the mind projecting a glimpse of one's memory into the 'material' though only they can see it" or things like that.

[McNinja]

Ghosts, UFOs and the like fall under misc. phenomena, hallucinations or lies for me.

[Sandwich]

Wouldn't UFOs be considered possible to Atheists, though? Unless you're just saying you don't believe in them. XD

[McNinja]

Aliens being on earth is highly improbable, and most sightings are usually proven to be fakes.

[Sandwich]

Agreed about the fakes. Though, the reason I believe aliens have visited this planet a few times is because, in the entire universe, there have got to be several species of aliens who've lived far longer than we have--the universe has been around for...a while, but we haven't. That time would give them greater technology, thus enabling them to perform feats we couldn't even imagine doing with modern science. High-speed space travel, quick adaptation to climate, etc. And, like humans, those aliens probably wanted to explore and find other life. So they stumbled upon our planet, laughed at us, then left.

At least that's what I think. XD