prosequence

I assumed that aheists did not believe in souls or spirits. As assumptions go, I was wrong. Just a quick poll, if you don't mind contributing to ease my curiosity.

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Lebell

Just a question:

You're saying that you met an atheist who said they had a soul?

I don't quite understand that.

Did they elaborate? And if so, would you care to share?

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"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis

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bennyb

I am atheist. Yes, i believe i have a soul. Forgive me if I am wrong, but people of faith believe that the body is the "transport" of the soul in this world correct?

One who does not have a soul would be stamped as soul-less? I do not think of myself as soul less, i just believe that my soul exists in my, in no way definiable, almost like a concious(sp?). I do not believe that my soul will travel to the heavens after i die, because i believe in no heaven. My soul will die with me when i die.

Mael

according to my catholic friend a few years ago, i work for the devil and have no soul. see, being jewish, i work for the devil, and seeing as how i was never baptised i have no soul. sounds like i got the raw end of the stick or some shit. oh well. hell sounds nice in the summer time.

Stiltzkin

Religion makes life complicated. Coincides with what the Architect and what agent Smith talk about in the Matrix movies. I know I will be hated for alluding to those movies, but there are some truisms expressed in the the movies. People like making things pointlessly complicated, and religion is one of the many tennets through which this is accomplished. Did I misuse the word "tennet"? Spank me if I'm wrong

Now don't get me wrong. I know that there are many good things about religions. Some religions encourage people to become virtuous, which can only be a good thing. It is when it comes down to issues of faith and the existence of God or whatever other deity, that things become hairy.

I am undecided on all accounts. I don't know if there is a God, but I am open to the possibility. I don't know if I have a soul or not, but I am open to the possibility.

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rogue49

None of the above.
I'm not religious at all.
but I have faith...and I do feel have an essence of myself...thus a soul.

CSflim

Great poll. Intreseting to see the stats on this one.

Souless atheist here.

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lurkette

Can you add a category somewhere in between "religious" and "atheist" for rogue and me and others who fall in the gray area in between? I don't think you have to be religious to believe in some kind of spiritual existence. However, that doesn't really fit the definition of atheism, either.

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sapiens

Seems like it depends on your definition of soul. If you mean something immaterial, existing separate from the body, and existing after you die (a typical definition of soul?), I would have to say, "No, I don't have a soul." If you mean something of myself that is unique to me, I would say, "Yes, I have a soul".

I also agree with Lurkette that your poll choices are limited (and heavily biased toward atheism). There are likely many people who feel that they fall outside of your categories. (Don't consider themselves religious, but believe in "god", don't believe in "god", but consider themselves religious, agnostics, etc.). You might want to check out Hal's thread on how to construct a survey: http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...highlight=poll

Regardless of the poll, it is an interesting question.

The_Dude

Atheist w/ no soul.

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anti fishstick

i'm an atheist and believe i have a soul. its not heaven, it's reincarnation :-D

of course, in a greater existentialist sense, i know that i ultimately DON'T know and when i die, it won't matter. but that things like these are just a coping mechanism to make life seem the more redeeming.

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Mr. Spacemonkey

I'm religous and i believe in souls, that was easy.

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CSflim

God does not equal a soul.
They are two independant things. You can perfectly well believe in a divine creator, without the belief that he bestowed you with an immortal soul, and that when you die, you die.
Similarly it is pefectly reasonable to believe that you have an immortal soul, without the need to believe that it was given to you, by a God.

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Lebell

I'm not trying to be irritating here, but this really doesn't make sense to me.

I thought that the primary arguement atheists have against God is that you can't prove He/She exists (wasn't it you with the purple Llama analogy?)

How is believing you have a soul any different?

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"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis

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CSflim

Sorry, just to clarify, I wasn't putting forward MY belief. I don't believe in a soul or a god.

But I don't see the two as insperable.
There are plenty of atheists...i.e. they don't belive in a God, who believe in a "mystical" soul, that cannot be explained by physics/biology. This belief is reffered to as mind/body dualism. And is essentially the belief in a soul.

Similarly, you could perectly well claim that a conscious being (God) created the universe, but dodn't give you an immortal soul, i.e. there is no afterlife or reincarnation.

Also, as people have mentioned, the restrctiveness of the options, I would put forward that we need an option to distinguish between an "immortal" soul, (i.e an afterlife/reincarnation whatever) as opposed to a soul completely tied to the physical body. i.e. dead body = dead soul. (Most atheistic mind/body dualists would believe in the latter type).

Further more, you would claim that the reason that you believe in a God is due to experiential evidence. You have expericed things which make you convinced that
a)You have a soul,
and
b)that god exists.
Is it inconcievable, that someone could experience something which allowed them to come up only with a?

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debaser

I define the soul as the thoughts and emotions of the person, so yes, I am an atheist and I have a soul.

Does it survive after my death? Only in the memories of those who knew me...

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sixate

I obviously don't believe anyone has a soul. It makes no sense to me at all. When we die, we're dead.

Lebell

Thanks for the clarification, CS.

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"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis

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Pheatius

Your "friend" needs to read up on his religion. Catholics do not believe that the Un-Baptized do not have souls, nor do they believe all non-Christians "work for the devil". The line he was laying on you might have worked five-hundred years ago, but it does not represent mainstream Catholicism today.

MacGnG

i wanna believe we have a soul, something that still lives when we pass on.

prosequence

I now see others had made the same wrong assumption I did. Aparently some do and some don't.
The person I talked to kind of described it as an "energy with a conscience".

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And now here I stand because of you, Mister Anderson, because of you I'm no longer an agent of the system, because of you I've changed...

krwlz

The thing with any religion... Its just somethnig to comfort our feeble minds, because we have no idea what happens when we die, and we dont like the idea of living for nothing.

No way to prove anything, anyway.

That said I'm somewhere between atheist and agnostic, but I do believe I have a soul.

ForgottenKnight

I'm religious, and I have a soul.

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