Author Topic: Can atheists believe in life after death?  (Read 2175 times)

SteveH

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Can atheists believe in life after death?
« on: November 23, 2019, 12:07:12 PM »
Logically speaking, they can: belief in God and belief in life after death are logically independent: you can believe in both, either or neither without falling into a logical contradiction. I doubt if many do, though. Do any atheists on here believe in, or think there may be, a life after death?
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Roses

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Re: Can atheists believe in life after death?
« Reply #1 on: November 23, 2019, 12:10:55 PM »
Logically speaking, they can: belief in God and belief in life after death are logically independent: you can believe in both, either or neither without falling into a logical contradiction. I doubt if many do, though. Do any atheists on here believe in, or think there may be, a life after death?

One would be silly to completely dismiss the idea of a god or afterlife existing, even if it seems highly unlikely.
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Nearly Sane

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Re: Can atheists believe in life after death?
« Reply #2 on: November 23, 2019, 12:15:25 PM »
I lack a belief in life after death.

SusanDoris

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Re: Can atheists believe in life after death?
« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2019, 01:26:51 PM »
One would be silly to completely dismiss the idea of a god or afterlife existing, even if it seems highly unlikely.
No, not silly; it is simply not adhering to the standard of precision of language required. There must be a gap left for the possibility that either might exist or be established one day. Since this has shown absolutely no sign of happening so far , the gap is minute.
As far as I'm concerned the gap isso vanishingly small, and I'm so old, that I totally lack any belief in either of the two choices!
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Bramble

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Re: Can atheists believe in life after death?
« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2019, 02:13:06 PM »
Buddhists (at least traditionally) believe in past and future lives. Many neo-pagans also believe in some kind of afterlife without any attendant belief in God. But the two groups represent rather different positions on this in at least a couple of respects. First, most neo-pagans (from my experience) seem to view a future life as something to look forward to, whereas Buddhists (in theory) view further births as a nightmare from which they want to escape.

Second, although the whole idea of 'me' having another life would seem to be premised on a belief that what 'I' am is independent of the body and enduring (if not eternal), Buddhists hold the view that there is no enduring self even within a single life. This causes quite a lot of confusion when it comes to explaining past and future lives and different traditions try to explain the mechanics differently.

There is a long tradition in Buddhism of using the idea of rebirth to terrify people into being good and committing themselves to practice, but at the more 'thinking' end one does sometimes find acknowledgement that whilst the new being inherits the karmic stream of the former, the new 'I' is quite different and in no meaningful sense the same person (effectively someone else gets your dirty washing). In practice, I've noticed that it is not uncommon to find Buddhists who engage a peculiar sleight of hand here, relishing the sense of meaning and purpose conferred by a belief that their practice is undoing the awful ties of samsara whilst at the same time enjoying the comfort of knowing that there's little risk of enlightenment any time soon - rather like the sentiment expressed in St Augustine's prayer: 'grant me chastity, but not yet.'




ProfessorDavey

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Re: Can atheists believe in life after death?
« Reply #5 on: November 23, 2019, 05:49:20 PM »
An atheist is merely someone who does not believe in god or gods.

So yes it is perfectly possible for an atheist to believe in life after death, provided that this isn't inextricably linked to the notion of god or gods. And that is also perfectly possible, as for instance the concept of reincarnation has no requirement for god.

That said I suspect most atheists don't believe in life after death (I certainly don't) for the same reason they do not believe in gods, namely the lack of evidence.
« Last Edit: November 23, 2019, 05:52:59 PM by ProfessorDavey »

Udayana

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Re: Can atheists believe in life after death?
« Reply #6 on: November 23, 2019, 06:01:54 PM »
hmm..

I was just reading the New Scientist website that currently has an article suggesting, rather unconvincingly, that some work at the University of Otago (NZ) shows that most people believe in life after death, including atheists and up to 30% of people who claim not believe in it!

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24432570-500-why-almost-everyone-believes-in-an-afterlife-even-atheists/

(the site is firewalled though)
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SteveH

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Re: Can atheists believe in life after death?
« Reply #7 on: November 23, 2019, 06:05:15 PM »
hmm..

I was just reading the New Scientist website that currently has an article suggesting, rather unconvincingly, that some work at the University of Otago (NZ) shows that most people believe in life after death, including atheists and up to 30% of people who claim not believe in it!

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24432570-500-why-almost-everyone-believes-in-an-afterlife-even-atheists/

(the site is firewalled though)
That was the article, in the print version, that caused me to start this thread.
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Udayana

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Re: Can atheists believe in life after death?
« Reply #8 on: November 23, 2019, 06:14:14 PM »
That was the article, in the print version, that caused me to start this thread.

Ah OK. This issue seems to have a lot on death - one mentions alkaline hydrolysis for disposal of bodies, which seems very eco friendly if it were available.
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Sassy

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Re: Can atheists believe in life after death?
« Reply #9 on: January 19, 2020, 02:01:56 PM »

Why can man exist not knowing where he came from and yet not accept the possibility of a different plain after death?
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Outrider

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Re: Can atheists believe in life after death?
« Reply #10 on: January 20, 2020, 09:00:43 AM »
Why can man exist not knowing where he came from and yet not accept the possibility of a different plain after death?

There is a vast gulf between accepting the logical possibility of some form of life after death and considering that it's actually the case.  It's feasible that the moon landings were faked, but I don't believe that's the case.  It's possible we're all in the matrix, but I don't believe that's the case...

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ippy

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Re: Can atheists believe in life after death?
« Reply #11 on: January 20, 2020, 02:22:19 PM »
The idea of an after life looks and sounds so infinitesimal to me, no, sod it I'll go for there's no such a thing as an afterlife, in the vastest inestimable chance or possibility that I'm wrong I'll apologise there wherever this most unlikely of places is.

ippy.   

Sassy

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Re: Can atheists believe in life after death?
« Reply #12 on: January 22, 2020, 06:37:56 AM »
There is a vast gulf between accepting the logical possibility of some form of life after death and considering that it's actually the case.  It's feasible that the moon landings were faked, but I don't believe that's the case.  It's possible we're all in the matrix, but I don't believe that's the case...

O.

Do you have evidence to support what you believe?  Seems to me we would already have trips to moon and holidays in space of moon landings real.  No vast gulfs as opinions do not lessen or add to what possibly exists after death. But many have died and come back believing their is.
We know we have to work together to abolish war and terrorism to create a compassionate  world in which Justice and peace prevail. Love ;D   Einstein
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Outrider

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Re: Can atheists believe in life after death?
« Reply #13 on: January 22, 2020, 10:45:15 AM »
Do you have evidence to support what you believe?

I don't operate on faith - if I have evidence it's not belief, in that sense, it's conclusion.

Quote
Seems to me we would already have trips to moon and holidays in space of moon landings real.

Sorry, are you suggesting that the moon landings were faked?  I've fired lasers at the reflectors they placed on the moon to measure the distance, I have first hand evidence that we've been to the moon, therefore I conclude that we've landed there - belief, in the sense you mean, is not required.

Quote
No vast gulfs as opinions do not lessen or add to what possibly exists after death. But many have died and come back believing their is.

And your evidence for thinking that anyone has 'come back' is...?

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jeremyp

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Re: Can atheists believe in life after death?
« Reply #14 on: January 22, 2020, 07:55:12 PM »
I don't operate on faith - if I have evidence it's not belief, in that sense, it's conclusion.

Sorry, are you suggesting that the moon landings were faked?  I've fired lasers at the reflectors they placed on the moon to measure the distance, I have first hand evidence that we've been to the moon, therefore I conclude that we've landed there
How do you know that the return signal came from the Moon? What if it was just clever circuitry created by NASA?

Only joking. I think that must be almost the coolest thing anybody on this forum has done.
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Outrider

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Re: Can atheists believe in life after death?
« Reply #15 on: January 22, 2020, 09:02:34 PM »
How do you know that the return signal came from the Moon? What if it was just clever circuitry created by NASA?

Only joking. I think that must be almost the coolest thing anybody on this forum has done.

I don't want to oversell it, I was part of a large group at university in the Engineering school (studying Aeronautical Engineering) that did it as part of a sequence of events commemorating the 25th anniversary of the first moon landing (which wasn't even the one that dropped the reflectors, if I recall correctly).  As it was, atmospheric inteference meant that we had an enormous error range on our measurement, but we definitely got something back.

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splashscuba

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Re: Can atheists believe in life after death?
« Reply #16 on: January 22, 2020, 09:52:28 PM »
An atheist is merely someone who does not believe in god or gods.

So yes it is perfectly possible for an atheist to believe in life after death, provided that this isn't inextricably linked to the notion of god or gods. And that is also perfectly possible, as for instance the concept of reincarnation has no requirement for god.

That said I suspect most atheists don't believe in life after death (I certainly don't) for the same reason they do not believe in gods, namely the lack of evidence.
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