Born atheist?
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 8:44 pm
I've run into quite a number of so-called atheists who actually believe that we are born atheists. Where does this nonsense come from? When I said that nobody can be born an atheist because babies haven't the ability to process the god concept and hence cannot reject it, I got a bunch of these laughing face emojis meaning "Haha! We're laughing at you!"
Their line runs that babies have no belief in god and are therefore atheists until brainwashed out of it. I asked for evidence. In fact, here is the explanation verbatim:
"A baby has no notion of any religion until it is BRAIN WASHED into beleif.....is that not enough evidence? Which means that a baby IS an atheist until the brainwashing occur!"
It seems to me if we are born as atheists and have no notion of the god concept then who was the first theist? And how did this theist convince 93% of the world's population, of all people who have ever lived, to believe it? That's the stat I found--only 7% of the world's population is atheist. That less than half a billion out of 7 billion total. Half of that 7% live in China. With numbers like that, I would say that they human race is wired for theism or polytheism. If we were all born atheists, then it should be the default condition of the human race but it is not.
If atheism is an exercise in intellect then why would babies, with no intellectual development, be atheists only to lose it as they grow older and more intellectually intact?
What I am saying is that just because we are born holding no belief in gods doesn't mean we are atheists. We are, in fact, wired to be theists, and it kicks in as we grow older and more cognizant of things. Only a small portion reject theism at a young age. Most who kick it did so when they were much older and able to think things through. Some, like me, had no religious upbringing to speak of so as I aged, I saw no reason to believe--I had no emotional attachment to it. But was I born an atheist? I don't think so. I could have as easily become a fervent believer if my parents raised me that way.
We're not brainwashed out of our atheism as children--that's a silly idea. We're brainwashed into theism because we have no convictions whatever at such an early age. We are not born atheists or theists but we are wired towards theism. We want to believe that some benevolent, powerful entity is watching over us. It's comforting in a world where it is clear there is no such benevolent, powerful entity.
Do you think that humans are born as atheists?
Their line runs that babies have no belief in god and are therefore atheists until brainwashed out of it. I asked for evidence. In fact, here is the explanation verbatim:
"A baby has no notion of any religion until it is BRAIN WASHED into beleif.....is that not enough evidence? Which means that a baby IS an atheist until the brainwashing occur!"
It seems to me if we are born as atheists and have no notion of the god concept then who was the first theist? And how did this theist convince 93% of the world's population, of all people who have ever lived, to believe it? That's the stat I found--only 7% of the world's population is atheist. That less than half a billion out of 7 billion total. Half of that 7% live in China. With numbers like that, I would say that they human race is wired for theism or polytheism. If we were all born atheists, then it should be the default condition of the human race but it is not.
If atheism is an exercise in intellect then why would babies, with no intellectual development, be atheists only to lose it as they grow older and more intellectually intact?
What I am saying is that just because we are born holding no belief in gods doesn't mean we are atheists. We are, in fact, wired to be theists, and it kicks in as we grow older and more cognizant of things. Only a small portion reject theism at a young age. Most who kick it did so when they were much older and able to think things through. Some, like me, had no religious upbringing to speak of so as I aged, I saw no reason to believe--I had no emotional attachment to it. But was I born an atheist? I don't think so. I could have as easily become a fervent believer if my parents raised me that way.
We're not brainwashed out of our atheism as children--that's a silly idea. We're brainwashed into theism because we have no convictions whatever at such an early age. We are not born atheists or theists but we are wired towards theism. We want to believe that some benevolent, powerful entity is watching over us. It's comforting in a world where it is clear there is no such benevolent, powerful entity.
Do you think that humans are born as atheists?