(December 30, 2013 at 6:43 pm)whateverist Wrote: But if newborns lack the capacity for the knowledge, then we can be absolutely sure they are without belief in gods. Same goes for rocks. If by "atheist" it is meant "someone who can and does understand what gods are but rejects them anyway" then I'm no atheist. I do not understand what gods are at all. I have my pet theories of what people who do claim to believe in gods have in mind, but that gets me no closer to knowing what they are. So if newborns can't be atheists I guess I can't either.
I think its a bit simpler than that. No one understands what gods are. Atheists merely reject the claims made by theists regarding their "knowledge" (in real terms: "belief") of what gods are. Of course newborns are without beliefs in gods - they are without beliefs in anything - but that does not make them atheists. Rocks lack the capacity to believe or reject anything.
"If there are gaps they are in our knowledge, not in things themselves." Chapman Cohen
"Shit-apples don't fall far from the shit-tree, Randy." Mr. Lahey
"Shit-apples don't fall far from the shit-tree, Randy." Mr. Lahey