Atheism and the occult

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An occult thing is something that is clandestine, hidden, or secret. The word comes from the Latin occultus, meaning "knowledge of the hidden". Webster's defines the verb occult thus: "To shut off from view or exposure."[1]

In modern usage, "occult" refers to any one of a number of forbidden supernatural practices.

Atheists with a sociopathic personality structure and the occult

See also: Atheism and sociopathy and Atheism and satanic deception and Atheism and the supernatural and Atheism and life after death

The journal article Atheism and the occult published in the Journal of Social Sciences indicated:

Atheists with a sociopathic personality structure have a greater degree of predisposition to express different forms of occult practice. The results of canonical discriminant analysis have shown that occultist syndrome in atheists is a component of a kind of sociopathic aggression whose latent structure is defined by materialistic-hedonistic orientation, impulsive aggression and asocial aggression in the positive direction, and altruism in the negative direction. Atheists with a sociopathic personality structure have a greater degree of predisposition to express different forms of occult practice.

(Google translated version of the journal article).[2]

A very prevalent view of the occult is that it is Satanic (see also: Atheism and satanic deception).

For more information, please see: Atheism and sociopathy

Irreligion, evolutionary belief, other pseudoscience, UFOlogy and the occult

See also: Atheism and aliens and Evolution, Liberalism, Atheism, and Irrationality

The notions of extraterrestrial life and UFOlogy are fast growing pseudoscientific religions which are perpetuated and/or substantially aided by the ideologies of evolutionists, atheists, liberals and other promoters of quackery.[3][4] However, the ideologies of extraterrestrial life, UFOlogy, exobiology, evolution and abiogenesis are anti-biblical ideas which are not supported by sound science.[5][6]

The agnostic and liberal Carl Sagan, an avid smoker of marijuana who claimed that marijuana gave him scientific insights, was a prominent peddler of extraterrestrial life, evolution and other pseudoscientific nonsense.[7]

Irreligious/atheistic France and the Soviet Union and UFOlogy

Astronomer Dr. Hugh Ross indicates that ninety-nine percent of what people have told him were UFOs, experienced astronomers can identify as a star, cluster, or other object in the night sky. The 1 percent of sightings, which he calls residual UFOs, have attracted his attention.[8] According to Dr. Ross very few astronomers have seen "residual UFOs".[8]

The following Toledo Blade newspaper excerpt[8] summarizes Dr. Ross's findings:

In 1969, however, Dr. Ross met two astronomers who were having regular UFO encounters. Both also happened to be involved in occult activity.

Upon investigation, Dr. Ross consistently found a connection between occult involvement and residual UFO encounters. For example, he said, countries with a high degree of occult activity such as Russia during the Soviet era, France, and certain parts of Brazil also had high percentages of UFO encounters. During Russia's Soviet period when every expression of religion except occult activity had been outlawed, he said, “Russians were seeing UFOs at five to eight times the rate Americans were.

Christian and Library of Congress researcher's explanations for reports of UFOs

See also: Christianity and UFOs and Atheism and satanic deception

The fall of Lucifer by Gustave Doré.

Christian apologists who reject naturalistic explanations of life such as the theory of evolution argue that difficult to explain UFOs are spiritual in nature and not amenable to naturalistic explanation.[9] Gary Bates of Creation Ministries International wrote a book entitled Alien Intrusion which gives a biblical Christian perspective on the unscientific notions of extraterrestrial life and UFUlogy.[10]

Lynn Cato, senior bibliographer for the library of Congress, created a 1600 entry on UFO bibliography for the United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research. After a two-year investigation, in which she reviewed thousands of documents, Catoe stated:

A large part of the available UFO literature...deals with subjects like mental telepathy, automatic writing and invisible entities...poltergeist manifestations and 'possession'....Many of the UFO reports now being published in the popular press recount alleged incidents that are strikingly similar to demonic possession and psychic phenomenon which have long been known to theologians and parapsychologists.[11][12]

Prominent UFO researcher John Keel concurred. After surveying the literature on demonology Keel declared: "The manifestations and occurrences described in this imposing literature are similar if not entirely identical to the UFO phenomenon itself."[12]

Irreligion, superstition and paranormal beliefs

See also: Irreligion and superstition

The Wall Street Journal reported: "A comprehensive new study released by Baylor University yesterday, shows ...that the irreligious and the members of more liberal Protestant denominations, far from being resistant to superstition, tend to be much more likely to believe in the paranormal and in pseudoscience than evangelical Christians."[13]

In September 2008, the Wall Street Journal reported:

The reality is that the New Atheist campaign, by discouraging religion, won't create a new group of intelligent, skeptical, enlightened beings. Far from it: It might actually encourage new levels of mass superstition. And that's not a conclusion to take on faith -- it's what the empirical data tell us.

"What Americans Really Believe," a comprehensive new study released by Baylor University yesterday, shows that traditional Christian religion greatly decreases belief in everything from the efficacy of palm readers to the usefulness of astrology. It also shows that the irreligious and the members of more liberal Protestant denominations, far from being resistant to superstition, tend to be much more likely to believe in the paranormal and in pseudoscience than evangelical Christians....

This is not a new finding. In his 1983 book "The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener," skeptic and science writer Martin Gardner cited the decline of traditional religious belief among the better educated as one of the causes for an increase in pseudoscience, cults and superstition. He referenced a 1980 study published in the magazine Skeptical Inquirer that showed irreligious college students to be by far the most likely to embrace paranormal beliefs, while born-again Christian college students were the least likely.[14]

In 2015, Rodney Stark wrote in his book The Triumph of Faith: Why the World is More Religious Than Ever about secular European countries: "35 percent of the French believe in astrology, 35 percent of the Swiss agree that 'some fortune tellers really can foretell the future'..."[15]

See also:

See also

External links

Notes

  1. http://m-w.com/dictionary/occult
  2. Atheism and the occult, Journal of Social Sciences, 32 (2008), 2; 357-366]
  3. Look Who's Irrational Now by Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, Wall Street Journal, September 19, 2008
  4. https://creation.com/ufology-scientific-religion
  5. https://creation.com/did-god-create-life-on-other-planets
  6. https://creation.com/origin-of-life-questions-and-answers
  7. http://cosmologytalk.tribe.net/thread/7e25b81c-2529-44c6-b388-f926c2475e6a
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Tarjanyi, Judy. "Astronomer links UFOs to Occultism." The Toledo Blade, January 4, 2003. Retrieved November 3, 2007.
  9. http://www.alienintrusion.com/main.html
  10. Authors unknown. "A UFO 2nd Coming." Let Us Reason Ministries, 2007. Retrieved November 3, 2007.
  11. 12.0 12.1 Gleghorn, Michael. "UFO's and Alien Beings." Probe Ministries. Retrieved November 3, 2007.
  12. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122178219865054585.html
  13. Look Who's Irrational Now by Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, Wall Street Journal, September 19, 2008
  14. The Triumph of Faith: Why the World is More Religious Than Ever by Rodney Stark, Introduction section of the book