Are babies atheists?

[ZombieHorde]

Poll question: Are babies atheists?

For the purpose of this poll, a baby is a human who has been born, is still alive, and is younger than one year old.

[Taverner]

1. Well the Evangies would say "A baby is born longing for JAY-SUS"

And that's why they're crying - because they are separated from Gawd.

[ZombieHorde]

3. Babies cry because they filled with so much hatred they don't know what else to do. nt

[Taverner]

6. I thought it was poop, but the two are pretty similar

So I dig :)

[hlthe2b]

2. As a newborn, I'm told I reached out for DOG, DOG was my first

word, and as Buddhists, Native Americans, and many enlightened know, DOG is GOD (as are all living things) So, there! ;)

[tbyg52]

10. My first words were "How much?"

Which worried the heck out of my parents (what kind of little princess did they have on their hands?!), until I continued "How much, how much, how much is that doggie in the window?" (I guess I always liked music.)

[htuttle]

4. Babies are Goddess worshippers

Absolute pagans, babies are.

[lostnotforgotten]

5. The Newborn Brain Is A Blank Slate That Can Be Overwritten With Religion Or Real Enlightenment

eom

[teknomanzer]

7. Babies are true agnostics...

They don't even know that they don't know.

[Warpy]

13. That's very true

because I have a few snips of memories that occurred before I caught on to what speech was.

I also know I couldn't hear the sound of my own crying, odd.

I was able to describe a room, the color of paint, the wallpaper well enough to have the memory confirmed.

[whistle]

8. Probably agnostic

[Warren Stupidity]

9. I like pie

on edit: obviously your average two year old is possessed by the devil itself.

[ZombieHorde]

12. That is probably the reason I love two year olds.

[lostnotforgotten]

11. 1 Vote For Baby Haters - How Can Anyone Hate Babies?

eom

[ZombieHorde]

15. Have you ever eaten one?

[EvolveOrConvolve]

35. Yea, they taste like shit

:puke:

[DesertFlower]

22. i don't hate babies,

but i don't like being around them. don't like being around kids either. they make me nervous.

[HockeyMom]

30. As the mother of 2,

I can say that I didn't like my kids as babies. I couldn't wait until they were walking and talking, and became REAL PEOPLE.

I do know what you mean, though.

To the OP, I think babies are athiests. They don't even know who THEY are, let alone who any supreme being is.

[Liquorice]

14. An atheist is someone who has considered

whether there is a God or not, and has decided there isn't. So I vote no, babies are not atheists.

[BlueCaliDem]

26. Exactly. I voted "no" as well. n/t

[Goblinmonger]

28. Not nec. true

Atheist means A-theist. No belief in god. You're definition is very similar to those that want to make it sound like theism is the default position and that the atheists are in someway rejecting the normal.

[DeSwiss]

32. Absolutely.

- So kind of you to clear that up!!!

[Liquorice]

34. I disagree. Just because babies don't have knowledge

of the concept of God doesn't make babies atheists. A baby is in a state of innocence on the subject. Innocence of the concept of God does not equal atheism (or theism). I'm not arguing a default position in terms of belief/disbelief. Belief and disbelief in God are both conscious choices.

Humans have developed a legal "age of reason" because we know that before a certain age, we are not capable of understanding complex concepts. Not being able to understand a concept, however, does not mean one has a disbelief in the concept. It means we are innocent of said concept. Babies don't know about the concept of mortality either, but that doesn't make them immortal, nor does it mean that they are deniers of mortality. The are simply innocent of it.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

36. That's what "A" theism means

A = without
Theism = belief in God

They are "without a belief in God". They don't have an active belief in God (something like that is impossible for them to even understand), and they obviously don't have the intellectual capacity to decide that there is absolutely no God. The neutral "without a belief in God" is not equal to "disbelief", which can be described as an active belief that there is no God.

You're mostly right, but your definition of atheism misses the mark.

[Liquorice]

37. Well we differ on the definition. To me an atheist is someone

who has thought over the concept and has made a decision that there isn't a God, just like a theist is someone who has thought it over and decided that there is a God. I don't find atheism to be a neutral position. Innocence is not the same as non-belief, IMO.

Babies don't know about the concept of Santa Claus either. For a baby, Santa might exist, or he might not exist. A baby is innocent of the concept itself. You might argue that the baby doesn't believe in Santa or is "A-Santa"; I would argue that the baby cannot understand the concept of Santa, and therefore is innocent and cannot make a decision on belief or disbelief in him. Again, innocence doesn't equal non-belief, and whether or not you believe in the concept of Santa is irrelevant from the baby's perspective.

Also, babies can't speak, so how do we know they don't have some fundamental belief in God? We can't ask them and they can't tell us. I guess we are assuming they don't have belief in God, but nobody can really prove that.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

47. I'm saying that babies completely lack belief.

That is, they are intellectually incapable of making that decision. They are literally "without a belief in God".

Atheism is the neutral condition. Simply because you choose to define atheism from your own religious viewpoint doesn't make it correct.

[Random_Australian]

58. I'd say the discussion has two points, a definition and a conceptual part.

(from what I have seen thus far)

1) Definition: Like you said, atheist means 'no belief in god'. Well, another person mentioned thought and processes and such. If we take your definition (assuming basically tabula rasa), then babies are. If we take their definition, then babies aren't.

Anyway, the important bit is basically a redress of the idea of tablua rasa itself. There is the belief in some circles that everyone knows whatever deity "in their heart" - and people who believe this may well believe that in fact, babies know about their deity.

As far as I am aware, the poll was addressing that point. (Or finding out how many people fall into each category)

[NOW tense]

16. I believe that when we are babies

we are still fully awake. We live in the absolute present it is why we don't remember anything. We cry all the time because we can't believe we just decided to go on this ride again.

[ZombieHorde]

17. Do you realize your two sentences contradict each other? nt

[NOW tense]

18. it was meant as humor.

[ZombieHorde]

20. I thought I saw something fly by my head. nt

[NOW tense]

24. Sometimes I suck at humor.

It is okay I still get a participation ribbon or something right? A little sad clown trophy? I think that sometimes I need the :sarcasm: but reading :humor attempt:

[ZombieHorde]

25. ":humor attempt:" Now that is funny, I could use one too! nt

[peace13]

19. Babies are innocent beings.

It's the parents who are delusional.

[MADem]

21. They're food and diaper change worshippers. They're not atheists.

They realize if they pray, which they do by bellowing, they'll be fed or their shitty diaper removed and their little asses wiped clean.

After awhile, they come to realize that their God won't keep this crap up forever, and they are forced to learn to do for themselves...and perhaps they become atheists when they have to learn to wipe their own asses....but perhaps not.

[ZombieHorde]

23. Funny.

[laconicsax]

27. Babies are atheists as that they don't believe that gods exist.

[moggie]

29. Perhaps they worship breasts?

If you must have religion, you could do a lot worse than worshipping breasts.

[DeSwiss]

33. I believe breast worshipping goddesses was the first religion....

...but an earthquake flattened their goddess, and after that all hell broke loose. And its been warrior gods ever since.

[Goblinmonger]

40. I think I've been to that church

There was a shiny gold pole up on the altar and it had the sexiest collection plate I've ever seen.

[moggie]

31. It seems unlikely they believe in an unseen god

I don't know much about cognitive development in babies, but haven't experiments suggested that they start out not understanding that things continue to exist when out of sight? If that's true, it would be strange for a baby who hasn't yet overcome that hurdle to have faith in something unseen.

[anonymous171]

38. Babies are born Satanists. nt

[davidinalameda]

39. this is one of the dumbest polls I've ever seen on here

and I've been around for a while

[Goblinmonger]

41. Do you read

boojata's polls?

[Strong Atheist]

42. !

:spray:


:rofl:

[Goblinmonger]

46. thought I could get

somebody to nose some liquid with that one.

[davidinalameda]

43. nope

are they this bad?

[Goblinmonger]

45. I'm just asking

Search through Religion/Theology and check them out. You can decide for yourself.

[davidinalameda]

49. never mind then

I've seen other polls in here

not pretty from my standpoint

[cosmik debris]

50. Here is a sample

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=214&topic_id=75031&mesg_id=75031

[davidinalameda]

57. you all are right

that is the damn dumbest poll I've ever seen on DU

my advice to him/her/it is to put down the crack pipe before posting

[rug]

44. Of course. They're also aphasic.

[ZombieHorde]

48. Babies can learn a little sign language. nt

[knitter4democracy]

51. I voted no, but I think it depends on the baby.

My daughter, a baby who never, ever frackin' slept, loved church and listening to me sing hymns to her and often would slip into a nap peacefully after hearing a few hymns. She only cried at her baptism when he took her out of the water. When she started to be able to talk, she spoke of God and angels like she knew them. My son, though, was fine with any singing, seeming to prefer lullabies and has never liked church much.

[Meshuga]

52. My son never slept either

He seemed to enjoy Bob Marley though and the music calmed him down to sleep. I think my son was a Rastafarian as a Baby. :-)

[knitter4democracy]

60. That's cool!

Anything to get them to sleep, right? :D

[moggie]

53. You're kidding, I presume

My daughter, a baby who never, ever frackin' slept, loved church and listening to me sing hymns to her and often would slip into a nap peacefully after hearing a few hymns.

Even a Dead Kennedys song will send a baby to sleep, if it's sung soothingly and with feeling. I doubt pre-lingual babies parse the theology of hymns.

She only cried at her baptism when he took her out of the water.

I loved a bath when I was a baby.

When she started to be able to talk, she spoke of God and angels like she knew them.

Kids have such great imaginations, and they're not too hot about telling the difference between fantasy and reality (which makes them fertile ground for religion).

[knitter4democracy]

61. Slightly, sure.

I used to test which songs worked best on her to see if it was my voice and tone or if it was the words. Nothing worked on her like the hymns did. Nothing, and believe you me, I tried every song I could think of. With my son, it was obviously my voice and tone, as I could've been singing gobbledygook for all he cared. I always thought that an odd difference between the two.

My daughter's always loved church. Every part of church. When she was a toddler, she'd take her book and go sit on the steps in front of the iconostasis so that the priest had to look for her before he'd start swinging the censer. He called her his little deaconess, and I got many looks from the older women for having such an ill-mannered child. :eyes: Anyway, my son's always been the opposite on that--hates church for the most part, would rather wait in the car and play there if he could, and only occasionally seems to be okay with it. I wouldn't be surprised if he told me he was agnostic or atheist when he's older, but I would be surprised if my daughter said that.

[Feron]

54. Yes. Religion is taught.

We are all atheists regarding the gods of yesterday including Zeus and Thor. The only reason that children believe in Jesus, angels, and other supernatural deities is because their parents taught them these things or they were assimilated from the environment.

A Raelian child, for example, will likely learn that aliens created humanity.

[ZombieHorde]

59. "We are all atheists regarding the gods of yesterday including Zeus and Thor."

My eight year old daughter believes ancient history had many gods, which created everything, and then they all grew old and died. So people who believe in god(s) are sort of right and sort of wrong, and people who don't believe in god(s) are sort of right and sort of wrong.

[mikelewis]

55. Babies are delicious.

[cynatnite]

56. babies are full of shit, they spit up and cry for no reason...

I don't know any atheists like that. I vote no.