Scientific proof there is no Satan?

[new atheist]

Hi! I am a new atheist!  I've found a lot of books saying there is no God, and just a brief mention that if there's no God, there's no Satan.  I was hoping there was a book that shows there's no Satan or Devil.  I grew up with a lot of fear of the Devil, and as an adult I developed a bad phobia of being attacked by the Devil.  The fear is so strong that even if I read that there is no God, that doesn't make me feel any safer from the Devil.  I suppose this fear is reinforced by all the other religions and spiritual paths that believe in demons, possession, and spirits that can attack people.  I have been working with a therapist, but I'm still having difficulty, which is why I am seeking scientific proof, or at least rational arguments.

Rationally, atheism makes sense to me.  Unfortunately, I have been brainwashed by both fundamentalists and occultists in my early life, so I was hoping there were resources that could help reassure me there is no devil.  Or if there are resources for people trying to unbrainwash themselves.  

Thank you!!

[pinkocommie]

That's a really good question.  My history is that I was raised in a secular home, so for me the concept of a devil - essentially a demi-god whose job it is to torture people who a supposedly 'loving' god has deemed unworthy of salvation for eternity - makes even less sense than the concept of a god itself.  I guess I would ask if you have as strong a belief in angels?  If not, isn't the devil supposed to have been a fallen angel anyway, so you already don't believe in the devil as completely as you may have thought.  It seems to me like you are more struggling with what the devil represents - punishment for displeasing god.  It's just something you might have to work on for a while.

When I was a kid, I logically knew that there was no monsters under my bed, but I still had to work on not being afraid.  I don't think you're going to find a specific scientific explanation which disproves the devil just like you most likely won't find scientific explanations disproving the existence of elves or unicorns, but maybe that's not actually what you need anyway.  Maybe you just need to spend some time really convincing yourself that it's OK not to believe this stuff that you've been told to believe for a good chunk of your life under the threat of hell and the devil?

Anyway, good luck and welcome to the forum!  I hope someone else has some book suggestions for you, sorry I couldn't really help.  

[Velma]

Hi! I am a new atheist!  I've found a lot of books saying there is no God, and just a brief mention that if there's no God, there's no Satan.  I was hoping there was a book that shows there's no Satan or Devil.  I grew up with a lot of fear of the Devil, and as an adult I developed a bad phobia of being attacked by the Devil.  The fear is so strong that even if I read that there is no God, that doesn't make me feel any safer from the Devil.  I suppose this fear is reinforced by all the other religions and spiritual paths that believe in demons, possession, and spirits that can attack people.  I have been working with a therapist, but I'm still having difficulty, which is why I am seeking scientific proof, or at least rational arguments.

Rationally, atheism makes sense to me.  Unfortunately, I have been brainwashed by both fundamentalists and occultists in my early life, so I was hoping there were resources that could help reassure me there is no devil.  Or if there are resources for people trying to unbrainwash themselves.  

Thank you!!

In christian theology, Satan is a fallen angel.  Angels were created by God, so no God - no angels.  You may want to delve into the history of christian theology or just the theology and doctrine regarding Satan.

As for books, you may want to check out these:

God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist, Victor Stenger
Why People Believe Weird Things : Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time, Michael Shermer
How We Believe : Science and the Search for God, Michael Shermer
The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins
The End of Faith, Sam Harris
Breaking the Spell : Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, Daniel Dennett
Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Shermer's books are actually not so much about god, but about how people come to think the things they do.   I found them helpful as a former christian fundamentalist and former catholic.  Infidel is an autobiography - in it she tells how she goes from a muslim to an atheist.  Maybe getting a glimpse at her thought processes as she freed herself from religion will help you as you seek to brush off the last clinging vestiges of religion.

[Tank]

Welcome aboard.

As an innate atheist who has never been possessed by religious memes I tend to see things a little differently to yourself. Religion is just institutionalised superstition created to protect us in the night when there are strange noises and visions (dreams) that seem to make some sense and scare the living daylights out of us. As the supernatural is basically a myth all its creations are mythical and can be dismissed as such.

The Devil is as real Santa Clause and about as dangerous!

Regards
Chris

[Whitney]

I think you can look at it this way:

As already said, if the Biblical God is not real then Satan can't be real either.

Going further, if Satan were to exist without god and had all the power that one fears when thinking of Satan then Satan would be god and all arguments against god would still apply.  Remember, gods don't have to be good in order to be gods.\

and for what it is worth:  Who killed more people in the bible; god or satan?  Answer - God


You might also find this post helpful: It's like cancer viewtopic.php?f=2&t=235

[The Magic Pudding]

Even considering only people who go to beaches, a person's chance of getting attacked by a shark is 1 in 11.5 million, and a person's chance of getting killed by a shark is less than 1 in 264.1 million.[10][11] In the United States, the annual number of people who drown is 3,306, whereas the annual number of shark fatalities is 1.

I don't fear the devil that would be irrational.
Sharks I think cause nearly everyone some concern.
They shouldn't if you look at the numbers, but reason doesn't always keep gruesome thoughts at bay.
I don't like crowded beaches, but it is reassuring to have a few other potential targets bobbing about.

Good luck overcoming your fears New Atheist.
Those who load young people with these fears have a lot to answer for.

[Sophus]

By 'new atheist', do you mean a fresh new atheist or a New Atheist?

As for the Devil, I would just point to how people who were thought to be "possessed" really just had illnesses.

[tymygy]

Well, for starters, welcome :bananacolor:  :bananacolor:  :bananacolor:  :bananacolor:  

[new atheist]

Thank you so much for all of your posts!  Sorry for the lag in time, I wanted to read some of the suggestions offered here.  I'm currently reading Dennett's "Breaking the Spell."  

I also found a really good site logically arguing against hell.  It talks about how the early Church didn't even believe in hell and a bunch of scriptural reasons not to believe in it, such as a mistranslation of the Hebrew word for "grave."  http://www.tentmaker.org/articles/ifhellisreal.htm