Mystical Angels

Why are Atheists MORE likely to believe in?

ghosts? The Wall Street Journal provided the following report: “From Hollywood to the academy, atheists are convinced that a decline in traditional religious belief would lead to a smarter, more scientifically literate and even more civilized populace. The reality is that the New Atheist campaign, by discouraging religion, won’t create a new group of intelligent, skeptical, enlightened beings. Far from it: It might actually encourage new levels of mass superstition. And that’s not a conclusion to take on faith—it’s what the empirical data tell us. “‘What Americans Really Believe,’ a comprehensive new study released by Baylor University yesterday, shows that traditional Christian religion greatly decreases belief in everything from the efficacy of palm readers to the usefulness of astrology. It also shows that the irreligious and the members of more liberal Protestant denominations, far from being resistant to superstition, tend to be much more likely to believe in the paranormal and in pseudoscience than evangelical Christians … “While 31% of people who never worship expressed strong belief in these things [dreams foretelling future, existence of Atlantis, haunting, necromancy, Bigfoot and Nessie], only 8% of people who attend a house of worship more than once a week did … In fact, the more traditional and evangelical the respondent, the less likely he was to believe in, for instance, the possibility of communicating with people who are dead. “This is not a new finding. In his 1983 book The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener, skeptic and science writer Martin Gardner cited the decline of traditional religious belief among the better educated as one of the causes for an increase in pseudoscience, cults and superstition. He referenced a 1980 study published in the magazine Skeptical Inquirer that showed irreligious college students to be by far the most likely to embrace paranormal beliefs, while born-again Christian college students were the least likely. “Surprisingly, while increased church attendance and membership in a conservative denomination has a powerful negative effect on paranormal beliefs, higher education doesn’t. Two years ago two professors published another study in Skeptical Inquirer showing that, while less than one-quarter of college freshmen surveyed expressed a general belief in such superstitions as ghosts, psychic healing, haunted houses, demonic possession, clairvoyance and witches, the figure jumped to 31% of college seniors and 34% of graduate students.” Hemingway, Mollie Ziegler, Look Who’s Irrational Now, The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 19, 2008, p. W13 Guess they like sky daddies too. cs - ad hominem attacks are a diversion. Your lack of response demonstrates your lack of any evidence to the contrary. Thanks for playing, you lose.

Public Comments

1. I know that writer. And she is FAR from being unbiased against atheists. She is a bitter, close-minded fundie. Take her opinions with a grain of salt.
2. The more highly educate the more likely to believe in the paranormal. Yet they discount the supernatural. Too funny.
3. Because Atheism is about not believing in a Deity
4. Well, I cannot speak for all atheists, but I don't believe in any of that silliness. One possible explanation is that the basic need for believing in something beyond this mundane existence is very powerful, so that when people reject the "normal" nonsense of Christianity, they consider other types of nonsense to make life more interesting.
5. If this research is just based on the population of the USA it is hardly a good basis for drawing conclusion about how rational populations would behave. As 95% of people in the USA say (for one reason or another) that they believe in god, there is obviously a problem with the gene pool (not surprising considering they started out as the dregs of British society and have been "enhanced" over the years by all the quitters who wouldn't stay and argue/fight for reform in their own societies, but ran away to the land stolen from British, Native American and Mexican peoples.
6. Oh you're talking about USians writing about USians . . well we both know they can't say anything positive about atheists . . they'd lose business. ~
7. The only people I know that believe in the paranormal are theists, atheism normally comes from scepticism so atheists by nature sceptical of the paranormal. If they weren't they'd probably go with the theist section of society and believe in gods.
8. hi there vilage atheist I have to say "Challenge!" to that one unless the 'holy ghost' doesn't count. the spiritual atheist
9. That's not a real study.