An Atheist From Birth

[nbarrett100]

I was talking to by grandad about religion and he told me that even when his parents took him to church as a small child he never once believed in god. I have never heard anything like it, has anybody else? He said "well I never saw god so never believed in god, ever"

An atheist toddler with church going parents! I did't know anyone could be born so skeptical.

 

[MachineSp1rit]

that's not skepticism, that's lack of imagination.

 

[ImprobableJoe]

that's not skepticism, that's lack of imagination.

Really? Because I've been an atheist since I was a little kid, and I was a generally imaginative kid. I just didn't believe, and imagination doesn't require belief. Or do you think people who write fiction actually believe everything they write? You can imagine gods, or Santa Claus, or the Easter Bunny, but that doesn't make you believe it. I was skeptical as a little kid, I set a trap for the Tooth Fairy, and caught my mom with it. That's when we had "the talk" about how magical stuff wasn't real, and that adults pretended for the sake of their kids. When I stumbled across Bible stuff, I automatically put it in the same category.

 

[MachineSp1rit]

yeah really. imagination and reality are really close things for a child. i caught my mom on putting presents next to my bed at new year eve, i didn't sleep several hours to see who was doing it, so what?

imagination doesn't require belief

yes but belief does requite imagination (for child that is). about that science fiction and other nonsense u mentioned, just stop fooling around, we are talking about kids not adult writers. as for being "skeptic geniuses" in childhood, u don't see something doesn't mean it can't exist, that is lack of imagination, u need to it see to imagine it.

 

[PuppetXeno]

that's not skepticism, that's lack of imagination.

I can imagine thousands of gods with metaphysical abilities, powers and mindsets that go well beyond anything published in fiction so far - I have designed a plethora of worlds in fantasy and science fiction and am still working on several projects that call on my creativity, yet I do not believe that any these fantasies are or resemble realities. They're inspiring, yes, but other than a product of neurons firing in my brain - they are detached from the natural, physical world.

I have never believed in a god or spirits or ghosts, even though I was interested and willing to experience their existence. And I have participated in seances and other "paranormal" experiments, but I've always known that it just couldn't be true, that it had no place in the world because the question "How?" could not be solved.

My grandmother has the following view: It doesn't appear god cares about the people, so why should the people care about god? The whole idea is silly.

She, too, claims to have never believed.

 

[MachineSp1rit]

yeah really. imagination and reality are really close things for a child. i caught my mom on putting presents next to my bed at new year eve, i didn't sleep several hours to see who was doing it, so what?


yes but belief does requite imagination (for child that is). about that science fiction and other nonsense u mentioned, just stop fooling around, we are talking about kids not adult writers. as for being "skeptic geniuses" in childhood, u don't see something doesn't mean it can't exist, that is lack of imagination, u need to it see to imagine it.

 

[PuppetXeno]

yeah really. imagination and reality are really close things for a child. i caught my mom on putting presents next to my bed at new year eve, i didn't sleep several hours to see who was doing it, so what?


yes but belief does requite imagination (for child that is). about that science fiction and other nonsense u mentioned, just stop fooling around, we are talking about kids not adult writers. as for being "skeptic geniuses" in childhood, u don't see something doesn't mean it can't exist, that is lack of imagination, u need to it see to imagine it.

Try to trick my niece aged 4 into believing something without evidence. She won't buy it!

But she is also very creative (almost forgot to mention that)..

 

[ImprobableJoe]

yeah really. imagination and reality are really close things for a child. i caught my mom on putting presents next to my bed at new year eve, i didn't sleep several hours to see who was doing it, so what?


yes but belief does requite imagination (for child that is). about that science fiction and other nonsense u mentioned, just stop fooling around, we are talking about kids not adult writers. as for being "skeptic geniuses" in childhood, u don't see something doesn't mean it can't exist, that is lack of imagination, u need to it see to imagine it.

I'm not fooling around. You are just wrong. You don't have to see something to imagine it, and you don't have a lack of imagination if you don't believe in things without evidence. You instead have a lack of gullibility. I had a killer imagination as a kid, but I wasn't a mark for any and every made-up thing people tried to feed me, including religion.

 

[MachineSp1rit]

okay fine, on second thought i guess u are right.

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

that's not skepticism, that's lack of imagination.

No, not a lack of imagination. On the contrary, believing in things that are not there is TOO MUCH imagination if indeed imagination is the cause of that. It is more likely that it is a lack of imagination that lets people accept nonsense - a lack ability to imagine the consequences of a thing if it were true and to create the correct questions to ask of the world to discern its nature.

Also, believing things just because people tell you things is a lack of curiosity, a lack of attention to reality, and a lack of trust in your own opinions and observations.

 

[MachineSp1rit]

spare me, i said that he was right what the fuck do u want now?

 

[Ozymandyus]

Everyone is an atheist from birth.

Your grandpa's uniqueness is that he was a skeptic from birth, or at least from a young age. That is relatively rare, as skepticism isn't really one of our tendencies - we usually learn it.