# Are atheists who aren’t materialists truly atheists?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-atheists-who-aren-t-materialists-truly-atheists/1030197>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [May 19, 2026, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-atheists-who-aren-t-materialists-truly-atheists/1030197 "2026-05-19T00:20:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 235

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**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2026, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-atheists-who-aren-t-materialists-truly-atheists/1030197/235 "2026-06-26T20:07:45Z")

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I would not claim that athiests _can’t_ believe in ghosts. Belief in ghosts, broadly, is not downstream of religious (theist) beliefs; even if it were, my claim is that it is reasonable to _assume_ an athiest rejects such downstream beliefs.

~Max

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