Do any of you believe in luck, magic, superstitions, ghosts, or anything similar?
Has anyone else noticed that theists are almost always the ones posting queries regarding
ghosts,
bad luck from not forwarding chain mail,
Criss Angel-real or demonic?,
black cats and ladders, etc....
Theists, have you ever noticed this? If so, what do you think about it?
2007-12-29 09:01:40 · 32 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I believe in luck, but not in any supernatural way. For example, somebody has to get lucky and win the lottery. I don't think any supernatural entity helped with it, though.
I've noticed that most atheists seem to not believe in supernatural phenomena either. I wonder why that is...
2007-12-29 09:10:59 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
I believe in superstitions, I can easily find a dozen supersitious people from my phonebook...
And I believe in Criss Angel, I've seen a few of his tv shows. Not sure if it's his real name tho. Pretty sure the guy is real.
Never seen any statistics about those things and religious beliefs... could be that neither atheists nor fundies believe in that stuff, so that leaves the lukewarm theists to believe in that :)
2007-12-29 09:18:01 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Nope. No luck, ghosts, superstitions etc here.
I guess some minds are just inclined to believe in a lot of things for which there is no evidence. That type of thing is an all purpose answer that requires no knowledge or investigation.
2007-12-29 09:08:14 · answer #3 · answered by t_rex_is_mad 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I am reminded of Shakespeare's "There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
That's not to say I "believe in luck, magic, superstitions, ghosts, or anything similar".
I knew of a family that was dogged by 'bad luck'.
Far too many things happened to and in that family than seemed 'normal' ... and it wasn't as if they were a 'bad' family in any way.
On the other hand my siblings and I have just seemed to cruise through life and its foibles - sure there've been aches and pains but nothing drastic.
I have found that the more I work towards a goal the more likely I am to attain it.
A Lotto win is not something one should be factoring in as a possibility - Lotto wins are like freak waves.
.
2007-12-29 09:29:14 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I have seen, felt, heard what people would refer to as 'ghosts'.
But of course there is a reason or explanation. I just don't know what it is yet.
I am ethically/morally committed to honest enquiry, and I don't like to 'explain away' things by either jumping to conclusions or latching onto superstition.
I never have a problem saying "I don't know" what they are until I have further evidence or knowledge.
To answer your question about superstitious stuff: No.
Black cats and ladders is all bunk. Placebo effect. Scaremongering. A psychological shackle based upon fear and/or hope, the building blocks of religion.
2007-12-29 09:13:23 · answer #5 · answered by Bajingo 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
What I, as an atheist, think about that is that it would seem the theists do not really understand their religions. If they did, they would not believe in ghosts, or curses for not forwarding e-mail, or talking to dead people the way frauds like John Edward do. Their religions do not support believing in those things.
2007-12-29 09:09:48 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I believe in none of that.
I do use the term luck as shorthand for something that happened despite the low probabilities against it. I do participate in superstitions for the fun of it during games / sporting events and such, but disclaim any belief/hope that it actually affects an outcome one way or the other.
But no, I don't buy any of it. It is interesting to observe who it is that does subscribe to magical thinking and who does not.
2007-12-29 09:07:37 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
I don't believe in any of them with the exception of ghosts. I've seen some weird sh*t when I lived in England to totally deny the existence of ghosts.
And Criss Angel, even though he is just a man, is totally HOT
2007-12-29 09:11:41 · answer #8 · answered by ? 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Luck - no
Magic - no
Superstition - no
Ghosts - no
Anything similar - no
Chain mail curses - no
Criss Angel - just a man
Black cats and ladders - just a creature and a contraption
2007-12-29 09:11:25 · answer #9 · answered by ZER0 C00L ••AM••VT•• 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Im an atheist but I also play poker for a living so its hard to not believe in luck or karma to some extent. Ghosts, ladders, and chain mail are all crap in my opinion but sometimes good things happen to people who aren't greedy.
2007-12-29 09:06:40 · answer #10 · answered by derek w 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋