Are all people who do not believe in ghosts or psychic powers,Skeptics and/or Atheists?

Question

Are all people who do not believe in ghosts or psychic powers,Skeptics and/or Atheists?

Answer 1

No. I happen to know an acknowledged atheist (this means he does not believe in God) but does believe in an afterlife and surviving spirits. He is very skeptical of evidence and is careful when he draws his conclusions.

For example Dr. Ian Stevenson (deceased) that personally believed in reincarnation after years of research on the subject was skeptical and called his results "suggestive of reincarnation"

Most scientist take a skeptical stance but this does not prevent them from exploring possibilities.

What most people call skeptics are what Martin Truzzi - co-founder of CSICOP who left in disgust of the poor science and dishonesty practiced by the organization call psuedoskeptics,

This is when people reach a conclusion based on their beliefs (and seldom with any observations) before any investigation.

A true skeptic and scientist would apply the standards of his field (in social science this is p>.05 (less than 5% due to chance) and accept those findings. Of course methodology has to be considered and it is when evaluations are done that consistently show the same methods of inquiry that are acceptable in all other experiments (many people fail to mention this) In other words psychic powers need to produce the same results by the same standards of anything else (this has been done).

A psuedoskeptic says "extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence" and somehow never define what that requirement would be.

A skeptic says meet this criteria and I will accept the findings.

Another example is that psuedoskeptics only attack what they don't believe. There is no ESP evidence (except by the standards of every other social science and medicine)

Where a skeptic would question if p>.05 is appropriate for any conclusion to be drawn in science.

I know well reasoned answers seem to hurt many YA skeptics so let the thumbs down begin.

Psi

Answer 2

i am.

but if you believe in the bible, you should also believe that psychics are leading you astray from jesus christ. The whole ghost thing doesn't work very well with the whole heaven/h**l/resurrection thing.

so you can be a chrisian and NOT a skeptic and disbelieve in ghosts and psychics on religios grounds. of course, then you'd believe that stuff is tricks played by the devil to tempt you away from god.

lesson in logic for you:

all skeptics and atheists do not believe in ghosts and psychics.

not all people who disbelieve in ghosts and psychics are skeptics and atheists.

Answer 3

Na, they just haven't  been unlucky enough, to meet up with one.

Answer 4

Pick up the book - The Promised Power.

This book is by a Christian Minister and teacher. It states we are promised the power and abilities, and states it in the bible.

Blessings,

Ed Shanahan

Answer 5

I think this is a very good question, since we tend to get lumped into those categories. As anyone who has read my answers knows I do not believe in ghosts or psychic powers. However, I am a Christian and believe that the Bible is the word of God. Believing in that means I believe in spiritual beings, as God is one of them, and so are Angels. Of course, I need to believe in Demons and Satan as they are deeply integrated into the Bible, even in parts which were meant to be litteral.

But I think the key thing to remember is that the YA! population is not representative of the population of the real world.

Answer 6

Atheists

Answer 7

well I am not sure about that, why don't you do some research on that.

Answer 8

I'd say not necessarily, but they are probably highly correlated. For me personally, I don't believe in ghosts or psychic powers, and I do analyze things from a skeptical perspective so call me a skeptic. As far as belief in god, I'm more agnostic than anything else. That is actually a form of atheism, though most people don't call it as such.

The great thing about skeptics (as opposed to cynics and religious zealots) and even scientific-minded believers is that they are not afraid to investigate. In fact, skepticism is inherent in the scientific method itself. Experimental investigation is inherently a skeptical exercise, and skeptics arrive at their beliefs based exactly on investigation and the evidence it provides. I think a number of the resident skeptics here exemplify that very well.  Because this is so, there is nothing stopping a skeptic from becoming an all-out believer in ghosts or psychic powers if the evidence they find justifies it. Unfortunately, the objective scientific evidence for these things are poor, and a experimental P-value alone itself tells you nothing about the experimental method or the veracity of the statistical analysis. The P-value is a valid and useful metric but unfortunately it is often used to misrepresent the facts, and what's actually far more important to discuss is the methods by which that value was obtained. A lot of people don't understand that.

Answer 9

Not all of them.  Although I am.

Being skeptical about ghosts, psychics, and bigfoot is a result of not having any evidence for them.  That easily extends to god as well.  Skeptics and atheists don't say 'there's not god/ghosts/psychics anywhere and there never will be'; we're saying that there doesn't appear to be any evidence for them so we're going to assume they aren't there.  We're happy to examine new evidence, but everything so far has been a let down and we're not all that optimistic about the next 'proof'.

Answer 10

What a silly question!

Since nobody can have met ALL THE PEOPLE who do not believe in ghosts or psychic powers, sceptics and/or atheists, the question cannot be answered!