A question about Atheism…
July 2, 2006 8:47 pmI have lately been having a lot of thoughts and questions about Atheism… Its kind of confusing but here they are…
Is belief in God and belief in the existence of soul(s) different?
My thinking is that if one believes that each person has a soul, then (s)he believes in a (finite/infinite) cycle of life(and death) or believes in heaven/hell which I feel are very close to the belief in god. The definition of god is very vague(omnipotent, omnipresent etc.) but then why is it much easier to accept the belief in a soul(which is pretty vague in its definition too).
2 Responses to “A question about Atheism…”
Belief in gods and belief in souls are logically distinct; this means that it’s logically possible to believe in either one without also believing in the other. There are atheists who believe in “souls” of some sort. Some believe in ghosts, for example. Other are Buddhist in perspective and believe in reincarnation.
On a practical level, though, the two beliefs do typically go together. Most atheists you might encounter in the West don’t believe in souls any more than they do gods, elves, or UFO abductions. Religion and theism are also logically distinct - you can have one without the other, but on a practical level it’s rare for them to separated (at least in the West).
I absolutely understand ppl that dont believe in either a soul or god. I was just wondering about the thinking of people who believe in a soul but shy away from the belief in god.
Care to comment?