RE: Cognitive Mechanisms - Andy Thomson - American Atheists 09
January 10, 2012 at 7:22 am
(This post was last modified: January 10, 2012 at 7:23 am by Whateverist.)
(January 10, 2012 at 4:58 am)tackattack Wrote: So children will spontaneously invent the concept of God without adult intervention? I thought we were all born atheist.. well goes to show you what I know....
Not me. I was brought to church until the age of four or so. After that there was no bible reading or further trips to church. From that and my imagination arose a very strong but eclectic sense of god. In my mind, the point of living was to become a person who would be a worthy companion to god. I pictured this very old, perhaps lonely sentience waiting for people to join him. It always struck me as unlikely that He'd want fawning followers. It seemed to me that the only thing that would count would be that I made my own decisions regarding right and wrong and stand behind them. I though Jesus/God was someone who always knew and did what was perfect. That's probably how I would have defined god. It never occurred to me that there would be a judging. I just figured everyone's mind would persist somewhere else where God was and that He just wouldn't want to hang with people who hadn't become thoughtful.
That mindset lasted until I was about 10 and then, with some regret, I had to concede that a man in the sky wasn't very likely. I can't say that I regret having my early development warped in this way.
Still I suppose I didn't re-invent the concept of God spontaneously. Parent talk and church planted the seed. I just had room to flesh the concept out in my own way without too much interference.
