Do you believe babies are born as believers (having some kind of belief in God) or as atheists (no belief)?

Question

Please state if you are a believer or an atheist when answering.

Thank you

SonoranDesertGril - Yes, at some point. But not tonight.

P.S. My appologies to the agnostics.

I did not want to bias the question much with my opinion so I'm giving it here as I chose the best answer (not that their really was on - everyone just gave their opinions).

I'm an atheist.

I believe people are born with an innate sense of seeing an animator behind things, even when their is none. This has been experimentally confirmed in psychological tests with babies. We humans are also born with an innate sense to see patterns where their are none.

I believe this delusion is the largest part of what leads people to believe in God. This is of course later reinforced through culture.


So it was interesting to see the opinions of both believers and non-believers and how their beliefs shaped or reflected their views.

Thanks everyone.

Answer 1

You realize that babies are born with two separate brains, don't you?... it takes a few years for them to combine to form your left and right hemispheres.... ergo.... babies are not born with any 'higher level' cerebral capabilities.

Might as well ask if babies are born with algebraic equations in their heads, or not.

PS... there are many other 'believers' and 'non-believers' out there.

Signed,

Agnostic

Answer 2

I am a Christian I became one at 34 years old about 11 years ago (added so you would not think I was "brainwashed" in my belief) I think that most people as children have have belief in God and they also believe in an "afterlife" . my reason for believing is because almost all little kids will at some point say things like "when I come back I want to be___" (fill in the blank) I think that children and animals are very aware of the spirit world, that is why kids fear ghost etc...but as we grow up we lose our sense of the spirit realm because we start "reasoning" about everything.

Answer 3

Kids are kind of like a clean slate when it comes to beliefs ... but they're born with a curious nature. Children eventually will ask 'someone' what makes the sun rise every morning, how it rains, where we come from, what happens when we die ... They want to know, but they need someone to tell them. And kids will generally accept the answers to these questions as being truth if they come from a trusted adult.

If belief in God was innate, children would already know and assume that God was in control of these things.

Answer 4

Well an atheist is said to be a person that doesn't have a god-belief. So human babies are born without god-belief, right? So they qualify as an atheist base on the definition.

I'm an atheist .

Answer 5

Religion is a cultural and social expression. Babies, bless their little booties, are born free of all those ideas which we give them as they grow up; it's part of their social training just like learning to say please and thank you.

I don't think a baby can be born anything - much less Muslim at birth, or even Christian. They are raised in whatever religion their parents hold and, as we all know, children are generally quite malleable.

Raised a Catholic, but now an atheist.

Answer 6

I'd think the logical answer would be that they're born with no religion...ask a toddler that has grown up in a family where god is not discussed nor is disbelief in god and then see what he/she says...they probably dont know what the heck you are talking about. I wish babies were born as non believers because then we wouldn't have to spend money building more churches, and we'd have smarter people

Answer 7

Atheist.

Okay, babies are born without such knowledge, because they are not capable of that ability. They cannot be taught at an age so early, so how would it know anything? How would it comprehend language? It's not in the DNA. That's just silly. This is where religion takes its brainwashing tactics. You tell your child as soon as you can what religion is true, because kids always believe what they are told.

Answer 8

I think they are born as non-believers.
I am an atheist.

I think it is interesting, & to me surprising, that some Christians are saying it is a learned behaviour. I would not have expected that.

Good question. I am guessing there will be a follow up question at some point?

Answer 9

I am a believer.

I don't think there is any way to know. I don't know of anybody that can honestly tell me what they thought of or believed when they were born.

If I had to guess, I would say that probably we are born with a sense of a higher power (even if that higher power is nothing more than our parents) and that is refined into our religious beliefs (or lack thereof) as we age. This is, however, only an opinion, as I have no way to prove or disprove it.

Answer 10

The bible says that people are naturally aware of God, but also naturally in a state of rebellion against God. I don't think that babies, strictly speaking, believe anything, but they don't specifically disbelieve anything either. It takes time for the thought process to mature, but at some point everyone is aware of God, or as the 1st century Greeks called him "the unknown God".

I am a Christian.

Answer 11

People, for the most part, begin to develop their belief system from their family and society. Later, as they grow, they may find other beliefs that make better sense to them or decide there is nothing to believe in at all.