Larni writes:
Once the child cottons on to the fact that it is not the only thing real in the universe it has the capacity to learn about gods and spirits and make a value judgement.
Then, naturally the toddler will tend to inherit their parent’s worldview, and included in that is their Parent’s religion.
The God or Gods you believe in is, in the majority of cases, simply a matter of to whom you were born. As an Atheist I have a hard time reconciling ”Truth’ and religion, when what god you believe is the ”One True God’ is usually made through accident of birth.
If you were raised by Christian parents, think on this. Had you been born to Muslim parents instead, you would be praying to Allah instead of Jesus.
If you are one who claims to have had an epiphany that confirmed your religion to you, then in this alternate universe, your epiphany would have simply confirmed Allah as undeniably real.
If Belief in any one god is as flimsy and arbitrary as this then that is a very weak foundation to assert absolute truth for any of them.
For me Atheism is a belief. I believe that the God/s do not exist. It has to be a belief as I cant actually prove it to be 100%true. But the lack of solid evidence in the God/s’ favour (and not through lack of people looking) makes me reasonably confident in my belief. There is the big difference between a Theist and an Atheist:
The majority of Atheists would honestly state:
I Freely admit that my belief in the non-existence of the God/s could be wrong. As I can’t prove 100% their lack of existence it would be dishonest of me to say other wise. Though I firmly and resolutely BELIVE that the God/s do NOT exist, IF I was to come across some evidence that was UNDENIABLE, that proved the existence of the God/s then I would have to re-adjust my world view accordingly.
You would be hard pressed to get the majority of Theists to honestly state:
I Freely admit that my belief in the existence of the God could be wrong. Though I believe God to exist, it would be dishonest of me not to acknowledge as a human I am not infallible. Though I firmly and resolutely BELIVE that the God/s Do exist, IF I was to come across some evidence that was UNDENIABLE, that undermined his existence, then I would have to re-adjust my world view accordingly.
That, either way you slice it, is the difference between Atheistic , and Theistic belief.