RE: 13 Questions
June 6, 2011 at 5:07 am
(This post was last modified: June 6, 2011 at 5:08 am by Anymouse.)
(June 2, 2011 at 12:51 am)Statler Waldorf Wrote: Remember, I am a Reformed Christian, so my views on the reasons why people do and do not believe are going to be way different than yours and we will most likely miss one another.
However, I do not agree with your premise that babies are "atheists" just because they lack a belief in God. The dog turd I saw "sun bathing" on the sidewalk on my way to work this morning also lacks a belief in God, is it an atheist? This is why I think that atheism is more accurately defined by several encyclopedias of philosophy as a positive belief in the non-existence of God or gods.
I am afraid your agreement is not required in this. An atheist is one who does not believe. "Why" is not part of the definition.
A Christian is either inculcated in that religion as a child, or adopts it later themselves. So too a Muslim, a Hindu, a Wiccan. Before that, a baby does not believe; that is the definition of atheism. Age is not a requirement. Agnostics are also atheists by definition: they do not believe, either.
Babies are atheists until inculcated with religion. If the baby is born in the USA, it will likely become a Christian through rote learning. If the same baby were born in Yemen, that would not be the case.
Christianity (or any other religion) is not inherent in a baby's makeup.
"Be ye not lost amongst Precept of Order." - Book of Uterus, 1:5, "Principia Discordia, or How I Found Goddess and What I Did to Her When I Found Her."
