I was wondering about this fun question.

Scenario 1.

A stranger approaches you and offers $1000 for your soul. All that is required is a drop of blood on a rolled up paper contract where you also sign your name. The contract simply states that you have offered your soul willingly and that soul is now in the possession of the stranger who has full right over it, in this life and the next.

Scenario 2

You have been drinking heavily all night and see a ghostly figure not so much as a person but it could be as if someone dressed up as a ghost and in your drunken state take it as a joke. Same deal as above! Sign the contract with blood?

Scenario 3

You have been taken hallucinogenic drugs all night and now find yourself mediating about he universe. A ghastly black demon appears before you out of black smoke in the corner of the room. Pointing at you with a bony finger, it gargles "YOUR SOUL..I WANT YOUR SOUL". You reason that you are hallucinating but see the money (splattered with dark blood) been slide over at your feet. Do you sign the contract with blood?

I'm generally hesitant about trades that involve sanguine signing rituals.

Pfft....it's a $1000 hard cold cash for something an atheist doesn't believe he has. You guys are free rolling on every scenario.

So the thread title is misleading, this isn't actually a question?

Also, this premise is incorrect. There is nothing about atheism that denies belief in souls (or demons for that matter).

I just assumed atheists would dismiss the existence of supernatural beings (and put it down to drink/drugs) and dismiss the very notion of a human soul and jump at the chance of an easy $1000. I can't see any downside for the atheist here.

Can you give a reason not to sign?

Why did you assume that? There is nothing about atheism that implies not believing in souls or supernatural beings.

A soul is highly linked to the religious subject of God, heaven and hell.

(is it just the word god you guys get upset about? or the properties of god?)

Is God a supernatural being?

I actually think its an interesting question, and similar to one DS asked recently. I dont believe in a soul, have never seen one or sensed one in any way. But I would certainly by thrown by these scenarios. This doesnt mean I believe in god ( or even in a soul), but that I have at least been affected by the major memes and beliefs of society

As robin says, it should be an easy $1000 for any atheist. Would you hesitate if someone come up and offered to buy your invisible pink dragon for $1000? I dont think I would. So why would I hesitate to sell my equally non existent soul? Does this mean I secretly DO believe in a soul?

Atheists afaik don't believe in god / gods / karma all those things not neccessarily souls.

That said I sighn and take the cash

Those beliefs often include belief about souls yes, but belief regarding souls is not exclusive to them by any means.
Not, that is not given. It can be.

Regardless, this is irrelevant to this discussion. Lack of belief in "God" does not imply lack of belief in supernatural beings.

I'd do it without hesitation, I'd even use my own blood...

I think I know your train of thought now. You can vehemently say that no evidence as yet been produced to show if God exists or not but in the same breath believe in the tooth fairy, pink flying unicorns and the such like and require no evidence for those other things. Okay cool

We need a name for these types of people, like Wacko-wockoa-atheists or dam-bo-dumbo atheists or something clearly marked as to how they think when assessing the world around them.

If they assess God in such a manner (requiring evidence) but require no evidence for belief in other supernatural. Aren't they just as bad as believers in God?

I love your enthusiasm like a shaggy dog hanging out of the car window, tongue wagging.

An atheist is a person who lacks belief in a god / gods, nothing else. It has nothing to do with how a person "assesses" evidence.

Many religions and /or personal spiritual beliefs are atheistic in nature. That you want to call these "wackos" is on you, but I think that to sarcastically claim that they have to be hypocrites if they don't believe in "God" is absurd.

I don't believe in God either that's not my point. I'm not trying to convince them that they should believe in God, I personally couldn't care less if they did. But if I ever meet such a person who at the same time believed in other supernatural beings I would have to question why they believed in other supernatural things and find them clutching at straws just like a theist does. I would pretty much laugh at their whole existence.

That's a category error. Disbelief in a car named Ferrari should not lead to disbelief in cars. Disbelief in cars in cars, on the other hand, should lead to disbelief in a car named Ferrari.

Questioning the idea of "supernatural" is not atheism. It might lead a person to become an atheist, and it might be something that is typical of certain atheistic groups - but that still does not make it a prerequisite for atheism.

To answer your question: I would not "sell my soul" for $1000 for the same reason I would not go to a church and sit down in prayer for $1000. Can you guess what that reason is?

I would easily go to church for $1000. But I would not sell my soul. Not even when I do not know what my soul is or what it does or even if I had one or not.

I find that odd about myself and I can't explain why!

I thought this was a good question.

I would suggest one change in the original question: I would delete any reference to "this life" and restrict the question to the "next life". The meaning of soul in this life could imply some sort of control over will or freedom. By restricting it to the next life (ie. after death) that takes any such confusion from the contract.

Under those circumstances, isn't this a test of strong versus weak atheism. A strong atheist should certainly reject any concept that involves an afterlife. If you accept a possibility of an afterlife I do not see any rational consistency in categorically rejecting the concept of God. I suppose someone could do that, but if you do you are not very bright imo. If you do not take the money, then you are not a strong atheist.

A weak atheist on the other hand has a more difficult question. That person, although not possessing a commitment that could be called a belief in God does acknowledge a possibility that God and/or an afterlife could exist. Taking $1000 to surrender something that could have immense value under some scenarios becomes a difficult question. The value could be essentially infinite from our current point of view so refusing $1000 is logical unless the probability of God/afterlife could be reduced to identically zero. That of course is strong atheism.

Good starting question.

Pretty much this. Thanks for posting neeeel.

I have been reading up on Hermeticism (check out my other thread) and it dawned on me as I was reading. Would I be willing to sell my soul in exchange for some truth about the universe? Is it possible to dabble in dark occult magic and not fear an afterlife in hell? If I could conjure up a demon should I?

This is road I find myself going in as I appear to be attracted to Hermetic principles and teachings.

I would assume the whole thing was some kind of elaborate con job, and not get involved.

To be that guy; Even a strong atheist can believe in an afterlife and souls. Some forms of shamanism and paganism could qualify.

It's not odd at all. These are powerful cultural artifacts and symbols. Why does burning a flag differ from burning a piece of cloth (not necessarily to you)?

Now *THAT* is confirmation bias.