Are all children atheists at birth?

Question

in much the same way as Jesus was Jewish at birth...

Lisa: I like the way you think. Too bad you don't accept e-mails :(

Answer 1

Children are born a blank slate, they have a sense of wonder, but do not know what it is.

Children usually start out with what ever concept of the world is given to them by their parent(s). If they are smart kids, and if their parents love them enough to allow them to be their own people, they later learn to look for the path that speaks to them on their own.

Answer 2

I am told that they are born with the original sin of Adam hanging over their head. There seem to be two schools of thought on this. One is that when the baby is baptized, this sin is washed away. Interesting to note that those who believe this also believe that if the baby dies before being baptized, the baby's soul does not go to heaven. The other theory is that baptism accomplishes nothing until you are "born again". That means that anyone who dies without being born again is likewise not going to heaven.

All this because of this original sin thing.

I have checked this out now, and I believe that children ARE atheists at birth.

a - without
theism - belief in god(s)

Obviously, they are not born believing in god(s) and the supernatural, and atheism is, by definition, the absence of such belief.

They don't get polluted until they are old enough to be crammed full of religious doctrine.

Answer 3

God's nature is in every child that is conceived, because the conception process is guided by God. The soul of a child is formed by God and is placed in the fertilized egg at the moment of conception. God's plan for that embryo is in that soul and determines the DNA makeup of the child to be. Children brought into this world must be taught about God, however, because of the sin nature of this world. The soul is created perfect, but when it passes through the spiritual realm in to the physical realm it is tainted by the original sin of Adam. When a child is born, he/she is exposed to the temptation of this world and must be guided away from it. If it is not guided away from temptation, then the child will acclimate himself/herself to temptation's environment, which is atheistic. Atheism is self-righteousness, which is the environment that temptation promotes. Atheism is a learned philosophy, it is not inherent in the genes or soulical personality.

Answer 4

Children don't "believe" in anything at birth. They function instictively. I would not call that atheism, per se, as most atheists make a conscious rejection of the supernatural based on empirical evidence (or rather, the lack of evidence for a deity's existence).

Answer 5

No as a matter of fact they are just the opposite and have to be taught to lose the holiness, wonder and glory in the things that they see and do.

Looking on the dark side of things is taught! Seeing the light is natural. That's the true meaning of the Adam and Eve story. Adam and Eve naturally saw things as beautiful and wonderous. It took the devil to teach them to see things as ugly and wrong. Think about it.

Answer 6

Children are born with a sense of trust. This trust is for their mother and father, and, in a way, for all adults. They need their parents for care and nourishment, so they have to trust them.
Therefore, children instinctively are prepared to put their trust into a superior being. This is a normal and healthy part of childhood. The painful part is when they realize that people who they trusted in are not able to do everything, or are not willing to do everything for them. This is called growing up. It includes that they realize that fairy tales, Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny are only symbols, but not real.
If, as a child, a human is trained to believe in a god, he or she will accept this faith as part of his or her trust in benign superior beings. In this case, giving up this faith (as part of growing up) is hard and painful as well. If a child is not trained to believe in a god, it will not do so by itself (and thereby lose a bit of childhood warmth, but also be spared the later pain).

Answer 7

No I would say the opposite, all children are believers in unseen causes at birth, it takes an effort of will to give up such childish notions.

Answer 8

that don't make any sense...

some will claim that *all* belief in *any* deity is learned.

but I disagree. while some might have no concept of God whatsoever, naturally, I do not think this is universal.

theres a big difference between someone not knowing the words for a concept, and not knowing the concept.

Answer 9

To be an atheist you ought to have believed in something first and then turned away from it because you donot find it logically appealing.
Children are a work in progress! All they believe in is food and fun!

Answer 10

Not if you mean they make a conscious decision not to believe in a god. If you mean they have an absence of belief, then I guess they are atheist. Depends which definition of 'atheist' you are using. Babies just don't know anything so we can't fairly label them.