Are People Born Atheist?

It would suggest you learn religion, if you were born in Ancient Greece , you wouldn't grow up to be a Christian.

reply to post by TheSubversiveOne



There is no such thing as an "atheistic baby" since the term atheist means "against God". Babies are born with a clean slate; they don't have the inherent knowledge to 'know' anything, much less such foolishness as "knowing" at any degree that there is no God, as an atheist would say. This is why Job in the scripture below was talking about the responsibility of raising a child to be a child of God. This world is an insane and ungodly place, and will get worse as time goes along. It’s easy to get confused and lost amongst the many deceptions out there that are designed solely to prevent you from knowing the true God. Job wanted to make sure that he and others remembered that amongst the filth of human life God is still here. That is the "knowledge" that matters.

For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers: For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow: Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart? - Job 8:8-10

reply to post by TheSubversiveOne


I think it all depends on how one defines "GOD". I certainly don't believe children are born with the knowledge that they bare the consequences of "original sin" and are inherently born flawed.

Humanity, like other animals, may be hard wired for spirituality. "GOD" or whatever it is, has embedded it's natural "word" on our very being, but selectively defining how an individual isolates this ideological being we call "GOD" is subjective to environment, in my opinion.

reply to post by BlackManINC

It’s easy to get confused and lost amongst the many deceptions out there that are designed solely to prevent you from knowing the true God.

Theism, christianity, and any other ideological dogma are not exempt from this rule. Like you said – clean slate.

Originally posted by TheSubversiveOne
reply to post by BlackManINC

 

It’s easy to get confused and lost amongst the many deceptions out there that are designed solely to prevent you from knowing the true God.

Theism, christianity, and any other ideological dogma are not exempt from this rule. Like you said – clean slate.

This is exactly what Job was talking about. It is assumed that people inherently know that God exists just by looking at unbelievers who curse God when something goes wrong, as if its “ingrained in the soul” as some would say. The Bible says no such thing, it’s really just a case of someone who heard of the concept of God before and only allows God to exist when it’s convenient for them and when something bad happens, so they can put the blame on God, which is a typical trait of atheists.

We'll never know definitively, but my opinion is that they are not. Not having knowledge of a God does not equal choosing to not believe in a God, which is what atheism is, a choice much like theism. I'd have to say babies are born agnostic, not knowing (or caring) one way or the other.

Originally posted by buster2010

Originally posted by Metallicus
Nature herself has imprinted on the minds of all the idea of God. - Cicero

My personal opinion is that people are born with the concept of God. Much as Cicero believed I think God is a universal concept ingrained in the soul.

Your mileage with this opinion may vary.

Cicero couldn't be more wrong. Humans do not have racial memories nothing that the parent knew is passed on to the child through birth. So technically everyone is born an atheist because they lack the ability to understand the concept of God.

If atheism is defined as lacking the ability to understand the concept of God then no atheist is actually an atheist. Atheists understand the concept, they just reject it.

reply to post by TheSubversiveOne


Atheists don’t have a belief in any god(s) for example I was born into a secular family and a secular society and don’t now and never have believed in any of the god myths

But I think what you might be thinking of anti-theists
en.wikipedia.org...

so I am an atheist – I don’t believe any god myths but I am also a bit of an anti-theist in that I don’t think any of the god myths are a good thing in society


children are born Atheist – they lack a belief in any of the god myths (they haven’t heard any of the myths yet so how can they not be?) but they might come to hold the anti-theist position

Originally posted by H1ght3chHippie
Since a baby does not possess knowledge about any God whatsoever, logic dictates that it therefore can not believe in any god.

That's the basic question I take from this thread. The rest I see is hair-splitting about definitions, completely irrelevant to the main question.

Agree. To take it a step further, if that baby grows up never hearing of gods in today's world then it will never become a theist. In order to become a theist, the belief in a god must be taught or assumed. Assumed, meaning that when people don't understand the cause of events (hurricanes, earthquakes...) they assume a mysterious power caused them.

Originally posted by TheSubversiveOne
reply to post by H1ght3chHippie

 

Are you saying atheism is in our genetic makeup? If it isn't, how is one born atheist?

Atheism isn't the belief that there is no god. Atheism is the LACK of belief that there ARE gods. Babies have a lack of belief in gods.

If I have never heard of fire-breathing dragons, how can I be a believer in them? But, by never hearing of them I would consider myself a non-believer.

Originally posted by dollukka
Intresting
I see it this way. If child as i hope many and most of them are born to believe in " Good " they are surrounded by good things and secure environment. Feel of "Good " around us is also pre birth experience. Mother´s care of unborn child caressing the belly and talking to unborn child and not only mother usually the father too.

I don´t believe they are born atheist.. they are born to be and believe in Good.

Though this is a nice thought, it's just not true. Children are born only with the capacity to mimic those around them. If they are exposed to a society that shames women for giving birth to females instead of males, they too will look upon female babies with shame. And they will think of it as 'good'.

I see Atheists as people who have educated themselves and made the decision not to believe in a God. I see babies as blank slates who haven't decided what to believe in or not believe in. That may not technically be correct .. but that's the way I see it.

reply to post by jiggerj

Atheism isn't the belief that there is no god. Atheism is the LACK of belief that there ARE gods. Babies have a lack of belief in gods.

Says what dictionary?

Also, maybe you can explain how someone can HAVE a LACK of something. I am perpetually without pixie dust. Does that mean I somehow possess the lack of something that I do not possess? I don't understand how that works.

Originally posted by TheSubversiveOne
One difficulty with this claim is that the very words “atheism” and "atheist", with their use of the suffixes “-ism” and "-ist", imply ideologies or principles.

I think you have misapplied the linguistic point.
The words "Theism" and "theist", with their suffixes, do imply ideologies or principles.
However, the words "atheism " and "atheist" are simply the negation of "theism" and "theist"- thay are formed by attaching the privative prefix "a" to the other two words.
So the ideology is part of what they are negating.

It's like describing someone as "non-religious"; it would be a mistake to argue that such a person must be "religious" because the letters of "religious" are part of the label which describes him.

By the way, I am not an atheist. Not nowadays. I am not arguing their viewpoint.

reply to post by DISRAELI

However, the words "atheism " and "atheist" are simply the negation of "theism" and "theist"- thay are formed by attaching the privative prefix "a" to the other two words.
So the ideology is part of what they are negating.

I agree. But I'm arguing that in order to negate theism, or anything for that matter, one must know what it is they are negating. A newborn cannot negate theism, simply because they have no clue what theism is.

reply to post by TheSubversiveOne

I'm not sure this follows, not if the negation is simply "absence of".
An emotionless person does not need to know emotions, a thoughtless person does not need to know thoughts, and perhaps a religionless person can be religionless without knowing religion.

But I would agree that the atheist case you quote is over-stated. The most they could really claim is that a new-born is a blank sheet on the matter.

P.S. From the psychological viewpoint, there might be a better case for arguing that every newborn is a solipsist.

reply to post by DISRAELI

I'm not sure this follows, not if the negation is simply "absence of".
An emotionless person does not need to know emotions, a thoughtless person does not need to know thoughts, and perhaps a religionless person can be religionless without knowing religion.

But I would agree that the atheist case you quote is over-stated. The most they could really claim is that a new-born is a blank sheet on the matter.

P.S. From the psychological viewpoint, there might be a better case for arguing that every newborn is a solipsist.

Being born without wings is not a negation of birds. I have an absence of hooves but it does not mean I am negating hoofed animals. Being born without a belief in Gods is not a sign of atheism, but of ignorance. If being ignorant defines atheism, then we are at an impasse.

reply to post by TheSubversiveOne



The only thing anyone is born with is the knowledge of previous incarnations and the lessons they learned, religion and the lack of are merely man made issues that we are forced to navigate in any existence on this planet that we are in human form....you are taught religion/atheism you are spiritual and of a divine energy independent of your human condition and environment.

Originally posted by TheSubversiveOne
reply to post by jiggerj

 

Atheism isn't the belief that there is no god. Atheism is the LACK of belief that there ARE gods. Babies have a lack of belief in gods.

Says what dictionary?

Also, maybe you can explain how someone can HAVE a LACK of something. I am perpetually without pixie dust. Does that mean I somehow possess the lack of something that I do not possess? I don't understand how that works.

edit on 31-8-2013 by TheSubversiveOne because: (no reason given)

You are really splitting hairs here.

Culture is a learned behavior! You don't acquire knowledge about a religious canon a priori - you learn about it by means of indoctrination/proselytization or self-study.

The propensity to hold a belief in a god might be a nonadaptive side-effect during the developmental stages of this three pound cantaloupe-looking organ in our cranium.