Can Atheists believe in Animism or Pantheism? nm

[rhett o rick]

[laconicsax]

1. I guess...

We're all atheists about at least one god, so even if you believe in a bunch, you are still technically an atheist about others.

[Deep13]

2. Sure, but they won't be atheists anymore if they do. nt

[rhett o rick]

3. As I see it, Atheists are non-theists. They dont believe in a personal God that is the creator of

the universe. Pantheists and Animists also dont believe in a personal God. Seems to me that Pantheists and Animists are by definition, Atheists.

[Deep13]

4. I guess you're right.

Animists believe in spirits, but not necessarily in gods.

[Warpy]

5. Few people east of Suez believe in personal gods

The concept of a personal god is purely European, while the concept of a god or multiple gods goes across cultures.

I suggest you are in trouble because your definition of a deity is too narrow.

[rhett o rick]

6. I havent defined "deity". Are Shintoists and Buddhists considered Atheists?

They do not believe in a "personal" single God like Theists. Were American Indians Atheists? They didnt believe in a Theist god.

[realisticphish]

7. many of them did

there's no monolithic NA culture. Many tribes did indeed have a great creator.

and by your logic the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian pantheons are atheistic as well

[Warpy]

8. "As I see it, Atheists are non-theists. They dont believe in a personal God.."

You might want to revisit your posts before you deny making them.

Buddha was an atheist. Some folk religions growing up around Buddhism adopted whatever gods were already there, most notably in Tibetan Buddhism. Shintoists have spiritual dimensions to many things but few Westerners would recognize as gods. You'll have to survey Amerindian tribes because there's an extreme divergence of belief systems, although all have reverence for the earth. Having a personal god at one's beck and call, one intimately interested in one's life is a pretty foreign concept to most people on the planet.

[rhett o rick]

9. What? I have not defined "diety". Your quote is about Atheists. nm

[Odin2005]

10. The Norse did not have "personal" gods, either.

In Norse cosmology everything was determined at the Creation, even the gods will die at Ragnarok, the final battle of the Nordic End Times. Norse gods were respected and treated as totems, but one did not have a personal relationship with them. Norse gods were not Omniscient nor Omnipresent.

[Iggo]

11. Pantheists are theists. Atheists, not so much.

[awoke_in_2003]

12. no. neither has been proven. nt