What makes somebody atheist and not a theist?

[PureX]

What makes somebody atheist and not a theist?

Arrogance, mostly.

Atheists think that if any gods exist, they would know of it. They don't know, so they assume gods don't exist.

 

[ChristineM]

What makes somebody atheist and not a theist?

I can't answer for anyone else but in my case it was christians and actually reading the bible

 

[Subduction Zone]

All YEC's are theists. Not all theists are YEC's.

 

[Heyo]

All YEC's are theists. Not all theists are YEC's.

Also: all YEC are conspiracy theorists but not all conspiracy theorists are YEC.

 

[Secret Chief]

Think? Think what? Think how?

Apparently the ability to have arrogant and blinkered thoughts.

 

[Secret Chief]

The letter 'a'.

*nods sagely*

This place is just a fund of wisdom.

 

[Secret Chief]

Definitely agree.

This is really just a smallish subset of people who are working with a particular brand of bible literalism.
Majority of theists are certainly not YECs, and even within Christian and Jewish traditions (which tends to be where they reside) I don't come across many, personally.

Can't speak for @Audie though, we don't always align on these things. But I'm an atheist...definitely not an anti-theist.

So are you an atheist or an Atheist?

 

[Secret Chief]

My chosen philosophy

There is nothing that makes someone an atheist, it's the default condition, you are born with it.

So you're saying a newborn baby has chosen a philosophy?

 

[Audie]

Apparently the ability to have arrogant and blinkered thoughts.

Probably not.
Creationists are like that though they display no
evidence of thought.
Putting out n paste nonsense from dishonest sources
might be the opposite of thought.

 

[McBell]

Arrogance, mostly.

Atheists think that if any gods exist, they would know of it. They don't know, so they assume gods don't exist.

 

[LuisDantas]

So you're saying a newborn baby has chosen a philosophy?

Atheism isn't a philosophy, nor is it clear that it can consistently be chosen (or chosen against). It is just a trait - or rather, the absence of a certain trait.

Newborns are indeed atheists, far as anyone can tell. So are rocks.

 

[Gargovic Malkav]

What makes somebody atheist and not a theist?

... God?

 

[Secret Chief]

So are rocks.

So Mars is a very big atheist then?

 

[Heyo]

So you're saying a newborn baby has chosen a philosophy?

Read again. Small "a" atheism is not a philosophy, it isn't even a position.

 

[PureX]

Also, they're very inarticulate! @McBell

 

[Audie]

In circles, endlessly, arriving nowhere? But then, we can all do that.

Why would I want to think in circles
about " god"? I've seen where it gets the
god- thinkers.

But maybe there is a intellectual religion.

Tell me if you hear of it.

 

[Secret Chief]

Read again. Small "a" atheism is not a philosophy, it isn't even a position.

OK I read your post again, I see nothing different. Imo, a newborn baby is not (and cannot be at that time) an atheist (or an Atheist). It has made no evaluation, it has not been persuaded, it has not been indoctrinated...
I certainly consider A/atheism to be a position; it is a position (denoted by the a- ) in regard to a specific idea. And so obviously - for me - the idea that a rock or a stone is atheistic is frankly ridiculous. On that basis, all the matter in the universe (except that currently constituting theists) is atheistic.

 

[Altfish]

What makes somebody atheist and not a theist?

Science and lack of evidence.

 

[Subduction Zone]

OK I read your post again, I see nothing different. Imo, a newborn baby is not (and cannot be at that time) an atheist (or an Atheist). It has made no evaluation, it has not been persuaded, it has not been indoctrinated...
I certainly consider A/atheism to be a position; it is a position (denoted by the a- ) in regard to a specific idea. And so obviously - for me - the idea that a rock or a stone is atheistic is frankly ridiculous. On that basis, all the matter in the universe (except that currently constituting theists) is atheistic.

To be an atheist one has to have at least the ability to reason. Now using that a baby may not be an atheist because reasoning is beyond it.. And since the ability to reason is an emergent process as we grow it is hard to say when a person can first reason, but it is likely before they can talk. So by that standard at that point a baby would be an atheist. Though perhaps one could argue that adults and especially their parents would be "god" to them. But perhaps the argument should just be dropped.

 

[Altfish]

The theist believes in, professes faith in and often has a codified system around a faith in a god or group of gods.

The atheist lacks any of that.

Atheists don't have faith, agreed. They need evidence instead.