Chesterton, "When A Man Believes In Nothing - He Will Believe In Anything."

Most atheists and agnostics BELIEVE in the supernatural and ‘underlying forces of good and evil' despite rejecting religion in favour of science, study finds

• Agnostics and atheists also believe in the supernatural says a new report
• Those beliefs range from 'good and evil' to 'supernatural beings'
• One the whole Japan had the staunchest 'unbelievers' and China the most open
• There was still philosophical crossover between religious and non-religious

By JAMES PERO FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

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Even most atheists can't entirely shake their belief in the supernatural, says a new study. 

According to recent research, even those who purport not to believe in any organized religion accepted at least some supernatural sentiments.

The study comes from the Understanding Unbelief project, which is sponsored through the University of Kent in the U.K. and was based on thousands of atheist or agnostic respondents.

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The crossover between general populations and those who describe themselves and agnostic or atheist may be greater than people think. File photo

'Unbelief in God doesn’t necessarily entail unbelief in other supernatural phenomena,' write the report's authors. 

'Atheists and (less so) agnostics exhibit lower levels of supernatural belief than do the wider populations. 

'However, only minorities of atheists or agnostics in each of our countries appear to be thoroughgoing naturalists.'

Just what exactly those beliefs are vary, according to the experts' research. 

In the U.S., a little under 20 percent of Americans reported believing in 'supernatural beings,' while about 50 percent of self-described atheists in China reported believing in 'underlying forces of good and evil.'

Relatively speaking, among general populations U.S. those rates jump to 60 percent in the U.S. and 70 percent in China.

Most commonly accepted beliefs among atheists, who are classified by firmly not believing in the existence of God and agnostics, who say it can't be proved one way or another, are the sentiment that are ‘underlying forces’ of good and evil; that ‘there exists a universal spirit or life force'; and ‘most significant life events are meant to be and happen for a reason.' Mail.