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Is God constantly trying to convince us of His Existence?

Magic Man

Magic Man

Reaper of Conversation
Popeyesays said:
What child has ever been raised in an environment without concept of God as part of his/her education?

Is it ethical to raise a child in a "lab rat" environment?

How can your postulate be tested?

Regards,
Scott
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You love to go off on tangents and avoid the real question, don't you?

You don't know about France until someone tells you about it, right?

Aren't there plenty of deities from the past and present that you don't believe in, but you also haven't even heard of them?
 
Popeyesays

Popeyesays

Well-Known Member
mball1297 said:
You love to go off on tangents and avoid the real question, don't you?

You don't know about France until someone tells you about it, right?

Aren't there plenty of deities from the past and present that you don't believe in, but you also haven't even heard of them?
Click to expand...

Watch out for the ricochets, folks!

Regards,
Scott
 
Magic Man

Magic Man

Reaper of Conversation
Jeremy Mason said:
Defined by Wikipedia

wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism
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OK, can't access that link, but let's go with Dictionary.com's definitions.

"The belief that there can be no proof either that God exists or that God does not exist." This is agnosticism. How can a baby say they believe there is no proof that God exists or that God doesn't exist? They don't know what God is yet.

"the doctrine or belief that there is no God. " This is atheism acording to them. A baby can't deny what it doesn't know possibly exists. You can't say "There is no such thing as Glubernogsten", if you haven't been faced with the idea of its possible existence. Therefore you fall back to "disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings", which is another definition of atheism on Dictionary.com. You just completely lack the belief at all.
 
Popeyesays

Popeyesays

Well-Known Member
mball1297 said:
OK, can't access that link, but let's go with Dictionary.com's definitions.

"The belief that there can be no proof either that God exists or that God does not exist." This is agnosticism. How can a baby say they believe there is no proof that God exists or that God doesn't exist? They don't know what God is yet.

"the doctrine or belief that there is no God. " This is atheism acording to them. A baby can't deny what it doesn't know possibly exists. You can't say "There is no such thing as Glubernogsten", if you haven't been faced with the idea of its possible existence. Therefore you fall back to "disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings", which is another definition of atheism on Dictionary.com. You just completely lack the belief at all.
Click to expand...

What does a baby innately "believe?

Regards, Scott
 
Jeremy Mason

Jeremy Mason

Well-Known Member
mball1297 said:
Nothing, therefore there is the lack of belief.
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Atheism, as a philosophical view, is the position that either affirms the nonexistence of gods[1] or rejects theism.[2] When defined more broadly, atheism is the absence of belief in deities,[3] alternatively called nontheism.[4] Although atheism is often equated with irreligion, some religious philosophies, such as secular theology and some varieties of Buddhism such as Theravada, either do not include belief in a personal god as a tenet of the religion, or actively teach nontheism.
Many self-described atheists are skeptical of all supernatural beings and cite a lack of empirical evidence for the existence of deities. Others argue for atheism on philosophical, social or historical grounds. Although many self-described atheists tend toward secular philosophies such as humanism[5] and naturalism,[6] there is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere.[7]
The term atheism originated as a pejorative epithet applied to any person or belief in conflict with established religion.[8] With the spread of freethought, scientific skepticism, and criticism of religion, the term began to gather a more specific meaning and has been increasingly used as a self-description by atheists.
 
Popeyesays

Popeyesays

Well-Known Member
mball1297 said:
Nothing, therefore there is the lack of belief.
Click to expand...

No, there is a lack of communication. You cannot know what a baby believes until it speaks to you or communicates in a meaningful manner. At that point it is no longer an infant.

A new child is a dry compressed sponge of unknown capacity dropped in an ocean of input. No one has total control over what is absorbed.

Regards,
Scott
 
Magic Man

Magic Man

Reaper of Conversation
Jeremy Mason said:
Atheism, as a philosophical view, is the position that either affirms the nonexistence of gods[1] or rejects theism.[2] When defined more broadly, atheism is the absence of belief in deities,[3] alternatively called nontheism.[4] Although atheism is often equated with irreligion, some religious philosophies, such as secular theology and some varieties of Buddhism such as Theravada, either do not include belief in a personal god as a tenet of the religion, or actively teach nontheism.
Many self-described atheists are skeptical of all supernatural beings and cite a lack of empirical evidence for the existence of deities. Others argue for atheism on philosophical, social or historical grounds. Although many self-described atheists tend toward secular philosophies such as humanism[5] and naturalism,[6] there is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere.[7]
The term atheism originated as a pejorative epithet applied to any person or belief in conflict with established religion.[8] With the spread of freethought, scientific skepticism, and criticism of religion, the term began to gather a more specific meaning and has been increasingly used as a self-description by atheists.
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So, what are you saying? I see that the bold part supports my argument.
 
Father Heathen

Father Heathen

Veteran Member
It seems pretty simple to me. Atheism is a lack of belief in god(s). Babies hold no belief in god(s) because they have no concept of such. People are rejecting this notion merely because they find it emotionally unpalatable.
 
Storm

Storm

ThrUU the Looking Glass
Father Heathen said:
It seems pretty simple to me. Atheism is a lack of belief in god(s). Babies hold no belief in god(s) because they have no concept of such. People are rejecting this notion merely because they find it emotionally unpalatable.
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I reject the notion because I find the attempts to claim babies inane and a cheap ploy.
 
Father Heathen

Father Heathen

Veteran Member
Babies don't collect stamps either, so does pointing that out mean that everyone who doesn't collect stamps is trying to "lay claim" to babies?
 
Storm

Storm

ThrUU the Looking Glass
If they try to use it in an argument over whether or not people should collect stamps, yes.
 
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