We are born Atheists...

@whywiki (6066)
Canada
July 3, 2008 2:52pm CST
At the moment we poke our wee heads out of our mothers we are Atheists. It is after that that we become what we will be. It is the outside influences and experiences and soul searching that lead us to our beliefs. I was born Atheist and after experiencing life have come to the conclusion that that is what I am. My mom was from an Anglican family and I was sent off to an Anglican church as a kid and found out that was not what I believed. My father was from a seventh day adventist family and he was pretty well an agnostic. His family showed me that lifestyle and that too wasn't up my alley. I have remained an Atheist and will always be one unless god himself sits down next to me and buys me a Starbucks. So I am curious. Did you get your religion from your parents? Did you decide on your religion after some soul searching? Are you still searching for your truth?
4 people like this
18 responses
• India
4 Jul 08
Let me first say that I DON'T KNOW. So, you may be right. However, I have read so many contradicting views that my head is in a whirl. I have read of little children remembering past life incidents. That certainly means they are not born "blank." They bring something with them. But, yeah, a vast majority of us are born "clean," with no beliefs and no knowledge, and a lot of it is forced on us. So, what am I up to at present? Simply seeking the truth! I wonder what it is and what I am. Cheers and happy mylotting
1 person likes this
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
4 Jul 08
I think kids that have these "memories" have been influenced by outside forces. I also think that memories are nothing more than dreams. I may be wrong, I don't think so though. Happy searching...
@Drumman (305)
• United States
4 Jul 08
"Are you still searching for your truth?" There are not separate truths for everyone. There's only one truth. That's what makes it the truth.
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
4 Jul 08
I've found my truth. No heaven above us and no hell below. Above us is only sky.
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
4 Jul 08
He does indeed....
@Drumman (305)
• United States
6 Jul 08
Whywiki, again, if you are correct then it is not YOUR truth. It is simply THE truth. There are not multiple truths.
@alokn99 (5717)
• India
4 Jul 08
Our choice of religion goes through two phases, the first one being what are we made to understand,these expereinces start from our childhood days, from what our family, our teachers make us understand and follow. The second phase is our own experiences as we pass through various stage of life. Many of us go through some experience or the other to reinforce our earlier beliefs, the others like me base our beliefs based on experience and soul searching. To me the existence of a supreme being is paramount and the discovering so much about what we do not know is what my soul searching is about.
@Bugsey (775)
• United States
8 Jul 08
So true. I actually think that it is child abuse when parents teach little kids to be good or they'te going to "hell". I know some people will disagree with this but it is not psychologically sound to use fear on kids so that they'd follaow their own parent's belief system.
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
8 Jul 08
It is a form of child abuse you have got that right. If we told our kids if they were bad they would be eating by godzilla, people would frown upon it.
@jimbomuso (950)
4 Jul 08
Great discussion Wiki! I think we are born free, and influnential forces slowly indocrinate us or we completely reject the information and start to wonder and question. I've had a constant struggle with my spirituality for many years, I'd describe myself as agnosticky( I stick with cos its a safe bet). I am completely disollusioned with religion as a whole, words like 'love, compassion, integrity get banded about then from the very same mouths pours prejudice, bigotry, and hate in a torrent of vileness. Apperently because of my liberal attitude,I'm going to hell or I'm not worthy. Their is no religion around that appeals to me other than Buhdism, but that too has massive problems. I'd like to find a religion that is centered on people, not deities that that do or dont exsist.I'm still searching basically. I'm soul sick with this world.
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
6 Jul 08
If there was a natural calamity god would be the last thing I would turn to. If he did exist why did he let a calamity happen in the first place. No I would go out and forage for myself. Knowing it is up to me and me alone to look after myself.
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
7 Jul 08
No I don't have the answer. Why worship a god that creates sadness on earth by floods and such?
@Drumman (305)
• United States
4 Jul 08
What you're looking for is not a religion. Religions center around dieties. Organizations centered on people are self help groups, therapists, alcaholics anonymous, monarchies, dictatorships, etc... I want to be clear on my use of the word "center". Even though a religion believes in a diety its message can still be to love and to help people. Christianity's main point of focus is Jesus Christ, but he loves everyone and so should his followers.
• India
4 Jul 08
Hi Whywiki!! Is atheist a religion too?Do you know why and how this name ATHIST comes from? well ill answer you for this leter,ill just ask you a simple question but think deeply, you will be amaized!!answer it to yourself then kindly tell me!! When you are in a big troubble, and you are going to die and you see no human being nor can you hear a voice of a living thing you have completety lost the hope of survival whome should you cry or call to?what would you must be thinking at that time?what feeling you must be having at that perticular moment?
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
4 Jul 08
I won't know the answer to this question until it happens to me but in the past when I feel really down and thing k there is no hope I find that I look deeper into myself and find the strength from within and don't pray to a mythical figure in the sky. Where is heaven by the way? Why have no astronauts seen it? How much room is left?
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
4 Jul 08
If god is so almighty then why doesn't he show himself? Is he too busy listening to billions of prayers every second?
• India
4 Jul 08
A good and innocent question! No eyes can cath him but he knows everything,If he wanted to show himself he would have shone himself and all the people would follow him!! He is too great for the people to see him,he is not like us but the creature of all of us,and a creation cannot see or know its creator. The word busy doesnot apply on him,nothing can make him busy,the whole world is busy in thinking about him even you and me,he is much more greater then what ever think! Howmuch you know about him you will come to know you will never know him,even all the prophits were amazed and surprised in his almightiness.We all believe in him its our ego who makes us and tells you not to believe in him. We can say that not believing in him is but believing something else!atheist are but the believers, their believe is, not to believe.And not to believe is not a believe in fact. My dear friend whywiki Its just the ego that stops to in beliving in him.and if you are believing in something then that something is created by him as he the creator of everything!one believes it ot not
@Cley_CJ (105)
• Malaysia
4 Jul 08
I beg to differ. In a way you can say newborn babies are atheist but it's still not entirely correct. Partly because atheism has no specific ideology. Every atheist has his/her own interpretation, which require some form of knowledge and logical thinking, that newborns do not have until they reach childhood. So, it's more proper to say that newborns are absolutely pure and devoid of practically anything. If you say newborns are atheist, then are atheists the same as newborn babies? If yes, then what you say may be right, but, for now I think the answer is no.
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
4 Jul 08
I often look at a newborn and think about how innocent and pure they are but from the moment they are born they suck in info like sponges and I think if no religion was ever spoken in front of them and they never heard of god they would not believe.
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
4 Jul 08
So you think that if no outside influence ever spoke about any god or religion at all that the child would one day stand up and say god is real and talking to them? That is like saying if a kid is never exposed to lets say eggs. Then one day he comes across an egg. He is going to automatically know what to do with the egg? He will look at it and say oh I should scramble this and fry it before I eat it.
• United States
4 Jul 08
I still don't think it's true that if nothing about God was spoken to a child, they wouldn't know or seek God. I don't think there is any proof of that.
• United States
8 Jul 08
Sorry Whywiki, but we are not born atheist... an atheist 'denies or disbelieves in the existence of a supreme being', and babies are not born philosophizing and theorizing and making up stories about creation. A newborn baby is God incarnate, even as his parents and society teach him or her otherwise.
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
8 Jul 08
Ahh but if I had titled it we are born with a clean slate it would have been a boring topic with dull responses this way I stirred up some passion in people.
1 person likes this
• United States
9 Jul 08
Hahahaha, just as I suspected, you were using the word as bait! Yeah, I would have to say you did a little stirring!
@Bluepatch (2476)
• Trinidad And Tobago
4 Jul 08
Children, like all young creatures in this world, need to be taught. You wouldn't know a thing about anything unless you were taught. So why this conclusion about religion ? You need to be taught that too. No one is born with built in knowledge. Only animals have instincts. So you need to be taught.
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
4 Jul 08
The question is are they taught or forced into their parents religion with no choice for themselves?
• Philippines
8 Jul 08
good day...Yes what you said is true, we are indeed born atheists and we shall ever find the truth until we meet God personally. Despite of this amidst the confusion and battle of the religions I still do good and continue doing it the best I can. Maybe freewill to do good or evil is the core of being born and reaping it's fruit is the consequences.
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
8 Jul 08
I think the basic thing all humanity should do is good and good deeds and helping each other out no matter what the religion.
@ynigz1 (472)
• China
8 Jul 08
I 'm a atheist. I think to believe one is good for my life. Because I always loose my aim of life, I don't know what I work for and I live for. So I don't work very hard now, I worked very hard about four year to my study and work. But after my father is gone, I really don't know what I'm living for. I just live with no sense of every thing, if I belicve god, I maybe have other kind of mind about life. But I don't know why should I believe it.
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
8 Jul 08
We don't need "god" in our lives to find the way. We need to find what makes us happy and makes us complete on our own terms. It is hard when one loses a parent but we can find comfort in the lessons learned from them.
@celticeagle (157593)
• Boise, Idaho
8 Jul 08
I certainly am. And I tend to disagree with atheists at birth. I think alot of families follow the traditions set down by generations. I am an agnostic.
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
8 Jul 08
I think a lot of people are born into a predestined religion chosen by their parents. Is this fair of parents? Or do we all have the right to make our own choices on our own time?
@gabrifvg (167)
• Italy
4 Jul 08
i don't see how anyone can affirm that we are born "tabula rasa". there is absolutely no way to determine the state a person is in when they come to life. starting from plato, to cite a philosopher and up to jung, if we want a psychological view, many have actually sustained the opposite. obviously this lack of knowledge works both ways, and there is no proof of us having anything but sensory perceptions either. but the point is, there is no way we can know anything about the topic in question, at least not without some knowledge of the saecular discussions it has created. and even then, all we will have is a personal opinion, nothing more
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
4 Jul 08
No no one can affirm it but it is an interesting thought to get people to think.
• United States
4 Jul 08
I understand that difficult experiences allows us to doubt the existence of GOD. We tend to search for the so called "truth" therefore we shy away from the reasons of the elders, more likely the religion. The "truth" should consist all aspects of life and not just the selected few. I hope that you should consider the truth that there is a Living GOD rather than no GOD at all. Well that's just my opinion.
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
4 Jul 08
It is just your opinion as my opinion is definitely no god. I think these differences make the world go around and keeps us all guessing...
@xushanna (78)
• Philippines
4 Jul 08
I got my religion from society, being born and raised in the Philippines which is a catholic country, every kids born were baptized catholic unless you are member of other religion of course. Most people get married in catholic churches. Growing up I see my neighbors going to church every sunday. I had a teacher who always told us that if we don't believe in CHrist we would go to hell. While I never disagree nor agree with the catholic belief, I wonder what will happen to people of other beliefs like Hindus, Buddhist since they grew not knowing Christ. As I became more expose with people from other culture, from books of other religion, I realize that religion is just a school of though, that we don't have to box ourselves in one religion, we can study other religious belief and get what is good from their teaching and apply it to our daily lives. I can say up to now I kind of confuse as to what to believe in, but I believe that there's higher being out there that made us. What is he and who is he I don't know. In the meantime I'll just do what I believe people should do and that is not to do any harm to other people regardless of whether he or she may or may not agree with my opinion.
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
4 Jul 08
One of the great things about the world of today is our exposure to other cultures and religions and with the internet we have such choices of belief. It gives us the knowledge to choose what is right for us. I respect others beliefs but for myself I just remain unbelieving.
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
22 Aug 08
You can say that about anything. "We are all born idiots, it is after that we become what we will be." "We are all born Libertarians, it is after that that we become what we will be." "We are all born hate-filled sociopaths, it is after that that we become what we will be." The fact is, we have no idea what neonates are thinking. We don't know enough about our minds to understand what is learned behavior and what is natural tendencies. We have even less understanding about what age the people around us start influencing the thoughts and opinions that will affect the rest of our lives. One of the biggest frustrations to our religious leaders today is, "how do we keep the kids". In other words, when the kids grow up and move out on their own, they aren't necessarily bringing "that old time religion" with them. On the other hand, I've personally seen the change come over people who were raised atheist or agnostic. Just a question for you. You say you would believe in God if He sits down next to you and buys you Starbucks. Can I put that to the test the other direction? Do you accept the existence of Element 111, even if you don't know anyone who has ever seen it, or done the experiment that produces it? We often say that we only accept proof, but it's interesting to note how much we accept with no proof at all. One of the most respected leaders in the Firefighting profession (Vincent Dunnonce) stated that he had never heard of a steel structure being destroyed by fire. Yet in Apr 2007 what Fire Chief Dunnonce said couldn't happen "sat down and bought him a Starbucks." ;~D
• United States
3 Jul 08
WhyWiki, I was raised very conservative southern pentecostal. Some of those ingrained fears remain with me even though I have sought out truth for myself. You are right when you say we are born a blank slate. our lives grow and what our mind holds is the experiences of each sense of our environment. For me I never feel I have learned enough I continue to evolve spiritually and mentally. Seeking truth is an on going adventure for me. I no longer hold my parents religion as truth. Only what I have come to know in my own quest and hunger for knowledge. For my children I have tried to let them explore at their own pace, and I never wanted to impression them with untruth as far as spiritual matters. They will make their own way. I encourage faith with out setting limits.
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
3 Jul 08
That is the way it should be with kids I think. Let them explore and learn and decide for themselves. Life in itself is the best learning experience.
@paroloza (140)
• United States
3 Jul 08
Perhaps you should better say: We are all born ignorants, meaning that we are born only with sensorial perceptions, but with a mind like a white board, nothing at all on it. Of course, education is the way we are led to believe this or that, or to not believe that or this. My grandparents were Jews, Catholic and Protestant. My parents were freethinkers. When about thirteen I formed my first worldview, an atheistic one and confirmed by philosophy and literature. So for about three decades in my life I stuck to my convictions... until, yes, until I had a personal "soul searching" experience and atheism didn't answer anything for me any more. Now I am Christian and believe that my life's purpose was given by God through Jesus Christ. That is what I decided to believe in after confronting myself and I'm very much in peace about it. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life.
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
4 Jul 08
Yes a blank slate is how we are born. I am interested in how people find their truth, what lead them there or were they just born into a family religion.
• India
19 Sep 08
we are all born with a clean neat empty book. but as we grew up, everyone around us - parents, friends, neighbours, the entire society starts to influence us in various ways. sometimes we get attracted to this and sometimes to that. depending on ones likings and choices. when we find they are all wrong and they try to force their will on us, some of us rebel and move to an entirely new camp who are branded athiests. athiests also have their own beliefs and systems. some become a socialist, a communist or something else. but truth, each one of us has to find it out ourselves. truth realised by the individual is the real truth and not the one dished out by holy books, prophets, church and god.