What did it?

[pocaracas]

- How does one explain what happened in Portugal at Fatima in 1917, “The Miracle of the Sun” which was witnessed by an estimated 30,000 – 70,000 people? Witnesses included Masons, Communists, Atheists and Christians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_the_Sun

I don't know about the others, but this one is close to home, so there are a number of possible explanations, the one most likely one being a lens effect caused by a localized change in atmospheric density, or difference in temperature.
What happened in reality, I don't know.... all we have are accounts of countryside people from early 20th century Portugal, a few years after the implantation of the republic, in mid WWI..... people were giving up on church en masse, and something had to happen to bring people (and all it entails) back.
Flying machines would be a complete novelty for these people, as well...

---

The reasoning behind our position is one an infant could not form. The position itself - atheism - is the default and fucking babies do not sit there pondering about it, they simply do not believe until they are capable of understanding religious issues or outright indoctrinated.

That's why its absurd to say its a default position. If that's the case then rocks are atheists since no thinking is required. It you as an atheist who should be insulted by saying its a default non-thinking proposition.

A child is genetically predisposed into accepting anything its parents claim as true. How else will this child accept that eating some mushrooms will kill it?
This natural safety mechanism makes every child particularly prone to indoctrination.
The child's default position is to have no concept whatsoever of god. Indoctrination imposes this concept as true on the developing mind and, typically, will remain there throughout all that person's life. If you provide no such concept, the person will lack it and default to having no belief in that thing.
Take one such person, say a modern-day Tarzan, and tell him all about your god... how do you suppose he'll react?