Why do people say everyone is born atheist?

Question

You're not an atheist until you learn the concept of God and reject it.

What the hell are you talking about? Atheism is a belief. Just because you're too young to have beliefs, does not make you automatically atheist. That's stupid.

You're not born with the belief that God does not exist either.

Just shut up geniusjack.

TECHNICALLY we are born agnostic.

a·the·ism /ˈeɪθiˌɪzəm/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ey-thee-iz-uhm] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1.the doctrine or belief that there is no God.
2.disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings.

Well here's stretch of the mind, maybe babies are born without any sort of belief or disbelief? I mean, you might as well animals are atheists.

Answer 1

Yes, it is after birth that one is brought up in an Islamic home or Christian home or a Jewish / Hindu / Buddhist home which influences his thought process in-deliberately. Gradually he grows with out a choice as a believer of the same faith of the elders amidst whom he /she grows up.

But that does not mean that a child is born with a disbelief for God; rather faith in God is carried from his previous births as a being; and loss of faith is due to the interplay of his /her ego born out of spiritual ignorance.

Answer 2

As in, you think that people AREN'T born atheists? What then? You think that we're born otherwise completely devoid of information, but that somehow our brains contain the dictum "God exists?" No. That's silly.

Atheism is an absence. There is no belief in an atheist. Likewise, the newborn infant has no qualitative judgments. Non-belief is the default: when I offer a postulate, like, "Jupiter has six arms," you begin a priori with nonbelief. You need some reason to believe: in children, that reason is usually because "[authority figure, usually mommy and daddy] say so," which isn't really reason per se, but automatic obediance certainly has evolutionary benefits.

Anyways, the idea is that, God is a piece of data: God and his qualities are input, and a newborn infant has no input, and does not have the necessary brain material to process input stimuli until several hours after birth. That vacuum is synonymous with non-belief: atheism is the default position. God is introduced in extreme youth, but it is certainly not present from birth. God is a piece of data, a synthetic, artificial idea created by humans that is instilled as a social value. He does not exist except as something that preachers and parents want kids to believe.

I am an atheist and an ex-believer. I know this. Atheism is a default position: your question has the answer. When you say "you're not an atheist until you learn the concept of God..." what do you think happens before that "until?" There is no God present in the mind by default. It's just data that authority figures enter into you before you're old enough to think about it [this would be a disaster].

Answer 3

Saying you're born an atheist is solid support for the ideal. That's why a lot of people run around claiming it.

In truth, however, I have to agree with you. Atheism is a religious stance, and when you're not even developed enough to understand the concept of a concept, when you're nothing more than a bundle of reactions and noise, then labeling you with a religious status is rather ludicrous.

That and if you think about it, if atheism is the religion of infants, isn't that just the most grandiose insult to a belief system one can deliver? What do people believe in when they're devoid of any intelligence, maturity, experience, guidance, or the ability to communicate beyond a howling scream? Athiesm, apparently...

Answer 4

Unfortunately, you don't seem to understand the definitions you quoted:
"1.the doctrine or belief that there is no God.
2.disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings."

Let me explain them for you...

The theistic statement is "I do believe that God does exist."
There are two ways to negate this statement:
1. I do believe that God does NOT exist.
2. I do NOT believe that God does exist.

Both are atheism, and the second seems to be the one you don't understand. "Disbelief in the existence of a supreme being" is called out in your 2nd definition BECAUSE it is different from the first -- "belief that there is no God." Otherwise they wouldn't need that 2nd bit. It is not denial, it is a lack of belief, which makes sense given the prefix...

Atheism means "without-belief-in-god". It's not anti-theism! "A" means without, just like in apolitical (without political beliefs), achromatic (without color), anorexic (without appetite), aphonic (without voice)... etc etc... The denial of god is a SUBSET of atheism, but not the whole thing. When someone asks you "Do you believe god exists?" -- You have one theistic answer (Yes), and a host of atheistic answers, (No, I don't know, I don't care, I'm not sure, What is "god"?...etc)

And please don't say agnostic. That's really bastardizing the term. Thomas Huxley would be turning in his grave. Agnosticism is a position on the KNOWABILITY of God, not the existence. In technical terms, that means it has to do with epistemology, not metaphysics. Do you know what those terms mean?

I would suggest you study this stuff and try again. Your condescending attitude is really inappropriate. To someone who's actually studied this, you just sound like an arrogant idiot.

Answer 5

Atheism is defined as being without belief in the existence of a god or gods, so TECHNICALLY, we're all atheistic at birth as we possess no belief in gods.

Agnosticism is NOT simply "being without belief in gods". Break down the word and it means "without knowledge". It basically means that the agnostic believes either they personally or humanity at large will NEVER absolutely KNOW whether or not gods exist. If an agnostic believes in a god or gods anyway despite their concession that they can't absolutely KNOW if one or more exist, they are an "agnostic theist". If an agnostic doesn't believe despite the fact that they assert an inability to be certain, they are an "agnostic atheist".

Atheism isn't always a rejection of the god concept. You can be a strong atheist (asserting a belief that no gods exist), a weak atheist (simply being "without belief" while not professing a positive assertion), you can be an explicit atheist (one who is familiar with the god concept and is either a strong or weak atheist for whatever reasons), and you can be an implicit atheist (one who has never been introduced to the concept and is, as the title suggests, implicitly atheistic in that they are without belief in deities by default).

Implicit atheists have never been presented with the concept of a god, are not aware of any concept to be rejected but are nonetheless atheists.

Answer 6

Ah but god knew you before you were born who's to say your soul wasn't with God up iuntil you were born, we don't remeber being in the womb, not unless there is hypnosisinvoloved in which case people have recalled conversation between parents while int he womb and there is no way that they could have ever known about the particular conversation. Also who's to say that humans aren't born with memory ingrams such as some animals and insects are? Think about it some people believe they were reincarnated well looking at it from a scientific point of veiw who's to say the person they believe they were is actually a distant relative or a distant relative read about the person they think they are etcetera...The human mind is an amazing thing.

You can't say that there isn't an ultimate creator, even with the theory of evolution there had to be a creator because the possiblity or things happening are like asrotnimically astornomical. So therefore there has to be a God and how do you explain near death experiences, ghosts, etcetera...

Answer 7

You're so wrong it is almost terrifying you had to even ask this question. We are taught hate. We aren't taught love, we feel it. We are taught to be racist. We aren't taught to practice love, we feel it. We are taughty to believe in a specific god, whatever the household brings. If none of us were taught anything about any god we would not believe in anything at all......mainly because there isn't a god, but mainly because you just wouldn't know. Those whom I met whom never have been taught to worship a god are the most happy, content and calm people I have ever met in my entire life. And, by the way, being an atheist doesn't mean "rejecting god," it means that you've come to your senses about being brainwashed that there is a god and you no longer believe in any such entity. be well, Jack

Answer 8

People do not naturally believe that there is a man living in a cloud because he never shows up to prove his existence. People believe in God because a religion tells them to. Without religion pounding it into everyone's head, people wouldn't say ,"I think that there's a man living in a cloud". Religion is a $3 billion dollar a year belief busiiness. There are so many religions because religions create beliefs and then sell them for money and power.

Answer 9

We are born without the concept of god. So we don't even know what god is to begin, so we can't accept or reject that. Most values, religions and believes are just being taught to you by ones around you.

Answer 10

Well you're not born with the belief there is a God naturally. These are views which are given to the child by outside influences... nothing instinct about it.

Answer 11

Athesim is one WITHOUT the belief or the existence of a god/goddeses,gods,or goddess. When you are first born, you have no belief in anything, so technically, you are an atheist.