Aren't all children really animists and not atheists?

Question

I see a lot of atheists on here claiming that we all used to be atheists, and that atheism is the default position. I have a hard time accepting that belief, because I don't think it's true.

If we were to ascribe a belief system to children, I would think animism would be the best one. Animism is simply the belief that all things have souls.

Most children seem to attribute a "will" to inanimate objects, and I think it's therefore reasonable to classify them as animists, if we're going to classify them as having a belief system.

To all: Read what Novangelis said. He basically said what I was trying to say, only he phrased it much better.

Answer 1

It's one of their few semantic deceits -- equating implicit atheism (not having a concept of God) with explicit atheism. Although it is difficult to keep from introducing the idea of God to children, they do seem to conceptualize animism spontaneously.

Answer 2

Hmm I'm not sure about animist, but I agree that they are not atheists.

To be an atheist, one must first have a concept of god, and then say that he/she doesn't believe in the existence of it. I think the default position of children would be unaware.

edit: awareness comes early. Surely by the time one is writing about god or the absense of god in a journal, one has a concept of god.

However, if we are talking about very young children in regard to the idea that "all people are born atheist", then I would suggest that this is not atheism, but a lack of awareness of the concept of both theism and atheism. Once a child is told about god, that level of unawareness goes away and never returns.

Answer 3

I claim children are born atheists. What they become, and when they become it, are seperate subjects.

If atheism is "lacking a belief in a god," newborns fit that perfectly. If you redefine atheism to mean "non-belief in a concept of a god that has been presented and rejected," that is a different definition.

Answer 4

Interesting, I told my 5 and 7 year old that if trained at a young age it is possible to move an inaminate object such as a spoon across a table (we saw a program on telekinesis) and they believed in that "magical" possibility of moving objects with "will" alone which correlates to what you're saying....

Answer 5

We are All Born "Lost". With a messed up Spirit that Seperates US from GOD Almighty.

We cannot "Believe" Spiritually UNTILL we get our Spirits Recreated (Saved, Born-Again).

But we can Mentally Agree (in our Souls) untill we Do Accept Jesus as our Saviour.

There are no Baby's in Hell.
GOD Recreates their Spirits and Takes them to Heaven.
No Children Under the Age of Accountability either.

What Ever you want to Call It, EveryBody is Born "Dissconnected from Jesus".

So there.
Don't Blame GOD (Jesus) thank Adam and satan for this Thing.

Answer 6

Sorry, I journalled from the time I was first able to write.
When I was a kid I was an atheist.

Even when I was 8 I was writing stuff like "Why does Tommy believe in god?"

Answer 7

Atheism means absence of belief in gods. Children are NOT born believing in anything supernatural. They are, by definition, atheist-agnostics.

Atheism is the OPPOSITE of a belief system.

Answer 8

I would call Apathetic Agnostic the default.

You cannot be an Atheist untill you are aware of the concept of God.

Just my personal view.

Answer 9

Good point. I don't know about children, but I wouldn't label babies specifically as atheists because they don't posses the knowledge of what god is to either believe or not believe in him. I just think of babies as non-religious.

Answer 10

All children are animals.