Do you agree that we are born atheists and later on environmental influences drive our religious prepositions?

Question

In a previous question a pagan said they did not become pagans, rather they were born pagans.
This response is illogical.
Look at feral children.
How many feral children become pagans or Christians?
nada, zilch.
Logic demands we are born atheists, and as we develop, the pseudo sciences cause us to become religious.
I do not point this out to demonize that pagan, only show how faulty she was.

Jack:
that is because science was not established when civilizations were grew out of our evolutionary drive for survival.
Men of old were afraid of their own shadows, so men invented pagan gods to explain volcanoes and earthquakes.
If science was at its height when man was in its youth, you would have no religion.

Answer 1

Of course. If this were not the case, people would have an abiding passion from early childhood to seek out and become members of whichever religion they were inherently designed to believe in. Since the world has never agreed on any particular theism (or lack there of) it's pretty clear that we are all atheists at birth.

EDIT: To Jack P above - please define "primitive spiritualism." It sounds like a nonsense phrase to me.

Answer 2

Humans are born with a propensity for magical thinking. It's just the way our minds are wired. Children exhibit a stage of cognitive development in which animism runs rampant. Children at this stage will believe that most things are alive, teddy bears, or even rocks for instance. There is also an inclination towards dualistic belief. Even people who aren't religious can say they feel as if they are their body, and some other force or being. Again, this isn't evidence for any sort of soul, or spirit, however it could cause one to believe such things without further inquiry.

In a sense, yes, we are born atheists. We do not believe in any one, or many gods until we are taught to do so. We do however come hard wired to believe such things easily.

Answer 3

We are born ignorant of anything except our own basic needs, so we are totally self-centered. If that is your definition of an atheist, then I guess I'd have to agree with you. Otherwise, no, I don't agree.

Actually, I believe a child is born with a "blank canvas". It's his parents and guardians, teachers and other influential people that put the colors on his pallet into which the young artist dips his brush when he creates the images he sees of life in general, including religion.

Answer 4

You are right but not entirely.
Atheist comes from the French word "athéiste", that in turn comes from the Greek word "atheos". "Atheos" means in Greek: "to deny the gods or godless".
Now, to deny means to refuse to recognize or acknowledge, to state that something declared or believed to be true is not true.
So how a born atheists can deny anything unless he already believe something. So what do you believe when born? Tell you: nothing. You come here and start searching and yes, the environment you live in will influence what you may find.

Now in this environment (let's call it world) you can find all sorts of beliefs. It's your duty to filter them ;)

Good luck!

Answer 5

Jesus said: “Happy are those conscious of their spiritual need.” (Matthew 5:3) Whether you realize it or not, you were created with spiritual needs—including a deep-seated need to know God and to understand his purposes.

GOD created man with a spiritual need—a need to worship. It is not something that evolved. It was a part of man from the beginning.

Sadly, however, mankind has developed many different ways of worship, and for the most part, these have not produced a happy, united human family. Instead, bloody wars are still being fought in the name of religion.

Answer 6

I believe we aren't born to a religion that choice is our own, but i do believe most people are with a need for understanding certain aspects that are not easily explained and therefore turn to religion, which is designed to give answers. So in that sense, i think we are predisposed toward religion in general.

Answer 7

The earliest men were atheists before they came to recognize anything more than themselves around them.

As such, atheism is the most primitive spiritual condition of man.

Something other than logic caused early man to gradually change from atheism to paganism.

Modern atheists have merely reverted to the most primitive spiritual condition man ever occupied.

Answer 8

No I disagree. I think we are born with no beliefs in anything. (Not being a smart-alec here either.) Someone has to hear about God or pagan beliefs or Islam, before they can choose which they will believe, or if they won't believe in anything (Atheism).

Answer 9

You're right.

Certain people are born with more of a "belief complex" than others, though.

And these types of people typically become either extremely religious or extremely political. Whichever is more readily available to them.

Answer 10

The numbers vary during the course of the day. Very early morning to about 7:00 seems to be dominated by the religious.