I am curious. I never heard of a rational, skeptical atheist be bothered by the devil or a demon. Did some exorcist ever find an atheist being “possessed” by some demon? And if so, how did this possession manifest itself? Looks like the best “defense” against demons is the lack of belief.
I’m not going to make any statements of who or who cannot be possessed or deceived. From my understanding, all of humanity is beset by temptations to do evil and to become evil, and this basic reality is expressed differently in different faith traditions.
How your mind conceptualizes this basic reality depends upon your culture, faith tradition, and how you were socialized into both as a child. For example, I’ve heard, that if you believe in zombies and people placing evil curses or spells upon you, and that is part of your faith tradition and a deeply held belief, then those curses and spells are real and can harm you. From a psychological perspective that makes sense. If you believe a thing is real, and you are really afraid of it, you can be harmed regardless of how real it is outside of your own imagination.
However, if you think Voudoun curses are imaginary and zombies are myths, then evil spells, curses and entities from this faith tradition will not be able to harm you, in this theory.
Problem is, belief is not a matter of will. I don’t hold that we can just choose to believe something that we do not find credible. We believe things because we have evidence. That credible evidence can be things that we were taught as children by our faith tradition and by people who seem to have no reason to lie to us.
So, I can’t be harmed by monsters from another faith tradition, because I am unable to perceive them as real. I
can be harmed by the evil entities that I
do believe are real.
In that sense, lack of belief is a defense, but a person cannot just choose to not believe or to believe.
And of course, in the Christian tradition, there is an evil one and evil beings who are in enmity with God and seek our individual destruction. These beings are real and exist outside of our own minds. I can’t not believe that on some level, because I was pretty well brainwashed into Catholicism from infancy by my devout family and community! Fortunately, my beautiful, ancient faith contains many comforts and defenses against the forces of evil as well.
