I recently received a comment about the quote over to right by Ernestine Rose to the effect that it couldn’t possibly be true because religion wouldn’t exist if children were atheists.
This is simply not true. To say a child cannot be an atheist because religion exists is to say a child cannot be apolitical because Liberalism exists.
My daughter who has never seen the inside of a religious building is an atheist. Why? She does not believe in gods. True, she has not rejected the idea of gods – but she has not accepted such either. And that’s what it’s going to take to make her a theist. She has to accept the idea that there is a god and she has not.
The fact of the matter is that religion, like many other ideas, are things created by adults and taught to children. Children adopt various beliefs and ideas from their parents and their societies – they are not born with them.
Blogged with Flock
{ 9 comments }
Your daughter is not an atheist. She is probably best termed a weak agnostic because she has yet to explore whether a god or gods exist.
An atheist has already examinied the question and come to the conclusion that no god exists.
Someday she is likely to reach a point where she will look into whether a god or gods exist. Nearly every person of normal intelligence does so. At that point she will likely a) Come to a conclusion that a god or gods exist-Theist b) Determine there are not gods-atheist c) Determine that that question cannot be answered.-agnostic
It is quite possible she will never be an atheist. The largest influencer is likely be be the beliefs of her parents.
I’m reading your blog with great relish!
Stay groovy
By definition, if someone has no belief about God they are an atheist, not agnostic.
If someone has no concept of what God is, that is a lack of belief in it.
It’s like the classic example of the Chinese Teapot orbiting the sun. It could exist, far mor likly then an all-powerful god, but nobody believes it is there (I hope), we are all atheist about the chinese teapot, majority have never even heard about it. Those that have not heard about it are not agnostic about the teapot.
Atheism quite literally means “without theism”. Thus, anyone who lacks belief in the gods (aka theism) is an atheist. Agnosticism does not fit my daughters position because it requires familiarity with theism in order for judgment to be suspended. No, atheism is the correct term.
From George Smith’s book:
Prior to this passage, Mr. Smith speaks of two categories of atheists of which one is implicit atheism which I think applies to my daughter and other people in her position. From pgs 13 & 14 of the same book:
The fact of the matter is that religion, like many other ideas, are things created by adults and taught to children.
But this defintion this would have to include atheism as if you’ve already admitted as much when you say:
True, she has not rejected the idea of gods
All you’ve proven is that children are ignorant. Was that your intent? If so, it’s nothing new. Truth remains true, whether it is embraced or not or whether it is known or not.
Brad
I think that the point of the comment is that at some time in history (before religion) there must have been a child who grew up without being taught religion and yet discovered (or made up?) it for themselves, therefore the quate is not true (in that there has been at least one child for whom it was not true!).
I don’t know how old your daughter is, but I believe most children go through a fase of animism. That in itself usually triggers the bigger questions later on. I don’t think it’s an accident that peoples who have had no contact with organised religion, ascribe higher powers to animals and to nature in general. I think it is part of the human experience to question the validity of religion. You can make sure your child does not learn anything about the different religions in our world, but you can’t keep her ignorant forever. She will meet people with different beliefs and she is bound to go exploring.
Great blog keep up the good work!
I haven’t noticed such in my daughter, but I can understand and see how such ideas could arise as you can see these ideas in “adult” ideas like enviromentalism. They seem to be more explainations than answers which is what I think seperates them from religion.
As to keeping her ignorant, only if she goes deaf or runs screaming from the room as she gets older.
Religion has been an interest of mine since I was a child myself and though my mother was extremely religious as the years went by – religion was a major topic of discussion. I can’t imagine a house where such subjects weren’t open for debate.
When I state my daughter won’t be “taught” religion that is in the sense that I will not allow her to be “targeted” by recruiters. I will actively disagree with anything any religious person wants to teach her, just as a religious parent would actively disagree with anything I tried to teach their child, ya know?
Comments on this entry are closed.