Are Babies Atheist?

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New blog post from Jimmy Akin on the question “Are Babies Atheist?” which kind of broadens to ask what atheism is.

Thoughts? Especially the atheists of this forum.

ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/are-babies-atheists

Also, Mods. I understand discussing atheism is a banned topic, but I figure that since this isn’t directly about the truth/distruth of atheism, but of what the definition is, it would be allowed. However, if my assumption is flawed, feel free to close the topic.

Also, note to everyone. This is to only discuss about the blog post and what the definition of atheism is, and not whether it is right or not. So, please do not post about your thoughts about whether it’s right or wrong; only what the definition is. (and no “definition = false religion” stuff either)
 
I personally think that nobody can perceive the shining forth of God through men more than babies…just look at their eyes as they smile to their mom and dad…is it not the Lord whom he sees reflected in his parents? The Scripture says that the earth is filled with the Lord’s glory, and who sees this more clearly than infants?

Seriously, I think we all need to take a look at smiling babies before we argue any further about this 😉
 
I’m pretty sure that properly speaking, they are heathen until they are baptized. Atheism implies an active lack of belief in a god.
 
aemcpa said:
I’m pretty sure that properly speaking, they are heathen until they are baptized. Atheism implies an active lack of belief in a god.
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Yes, and like all humans, babies are born with that same restless desire that can’t be satisfied until they rest in God. Probably an instinct that they are not sophisticated enough to ignore.
 
R_C said:
I personally think that nobody can perceive the shining forth of God through men more than babies…just look at their eyes as they smile to their mom and dad…is it not the Lord whom he sees reflected in his parents? The Scripture says that the earth is filled with the Lord’s glory, and who sees this more clearly than infants?

Seriously, I think we all need to take a look at smiling babies before we argue any further about this 😉
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Spot on! High five! 👍

Do we really think that belief in God is only on the intellectual level? That is sad. In Orthodoxy we have saints known as “Fools for Christ”. Basically these are people who, simply put, are crazy. Yet even with issues with their mental health, they are able to demonstrate holiness and love for Christ. God is perfect, He transcends our limitations.
 
Babies dont have the concept of rationalisation, They neither believe or disbelieve things, thus how can they be atheists?
 
I tend to think of babies as agnostic, although I also think there’s something to the idea of a sensus divinitadus that generally tends to bring discomfort to people who settle for too long in agnosticism. For the duration of the baby stage in life, however, I think of babies as happy little agnostics that still have a lot to learn and figure out one way or another.

An agnostic would say that we either don’t know or can’t know about God’s existence one way or the other. As I read the article by Akin, I didn’t see him say anything different than that about babies.
 
to me their technically to young to grasp any concept so to me its kinda yes AND no
 
God has written on their hearts and I believe the Church places the age of reason at age seven.
 
God has written on their hearts and I believe the Church places the age of reason at age seven.
 
No.

Atheism is a **conscious **choice to **reject **God and/or any other entity they believe is presented as a deity.

A baby, naturally embraces its creator.
 
bzkoss236 said:
New blog post from Jimmy Akin on the question “Are Babies Atheist?” which kind of broadens to ask what atheism is.

Thoughts? Especially the atheists of this forum.

ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/are-babies-atheists

Also, Mods. I understand discussing atheism is a banned topic, but I figure that since this isn’t directly about the truth/distruth of atheism, but of what the definition is, it would be allowed. However, if my assumption is flawed, feel free to close the topic.

Also, note to everyone. This is to only discuss about the blog post and what the definition of atheism is, and not whether it is right or not. So, please do not post about your thoughts about whether it’s right or wrong; only what the definition is. (and no “definition = false religion” stuff either)
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This thread shows how useful it would be to lift the “temporary” ban on discussing atheism (3+ years!). The amount of misunderstanding is just too much.

Simple definitions:

Theism: The belief in the existence of some god or gods.
Atheism: The lack of belief in the existence of some god or gods.

They have nothing to do with conscious rejection of the god-concept. Those people who
  1. never heard about gods
  2. are unable to understand this concept
  3. find this concept incoherent
  4. actively reject this concept
    are all atheists. Of course, due to the prevailing belief that “atheism” is sinister, evil, despicable, nihilistic, etc… if one points out that small children are by default - atheists - will bring forth a “righteous indignation”: how dare you equate those small, beautiful, innocent babies with the evil brethren of Stalin, Mao, etc…
Yes, indeed. It is high time to dispel the ignorance.
 
As a baby cries out for its mother and father, for food, for comfort, for safety, for rest, so do they cry out for the Creator who has placed man and woman over the child. As the woman joins the man in the beauty of the procreative act they mimic, in an imperfect yet sacred way, the actions of the Creator, when God said unto God, let Us make man in Our image. So too, does the man say to the woman, let us make a child in our image. This pleases God, for He has called it good. To assert that a baby does not believe in God, is to assert that a baby does not believe in its mother or father. When a baby smiles it is the perfect smile of the Angels as they looked down upon their Creator, the Word made flesh, the Holy Infant Jesus.
 
Tyrion said:
Simple definitions:

Theism: The belief in the existence of some god or gods.
Atheism: The lack of belief in the existence of some god or gods.
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No. The word is from the Greek for “without a god”, not “without belief”. So a better simple definition would be:

Atheism: The belief in the lack of existence of some god or gods.
 
Pilgrim_333 said:
As a baby cries out for its mother and father, for food, for comfort, for safety, for rest, so do they cry out for the Creator who has placed man and woman over the child. As the woman joins the man in the beauty of the procreative act they mimic, in an imperfect yet sacred way, the actions of the Creator, when God said unto God, let Us make man in Our image. So too, does the man say to the woman, let us make a child in our image. This pleases God, for He has called it good. To assert that a baby does not believe in God, is to assert that a baby does not believe in its mother or father. When a baby smiles it is the perfect smile of the Angels as they looked down upon their Creator, the Word made flesh, the Holy Infant Jesus.
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Well said:thumbsup: A baby or a little child does’nt try to rationalise things like us adults do.
“Let the little children alone, and do not stop them coming to me: for it is to such a sthese that the kingdom of Heaven belongs” (Mt 19:14)
 
I think that if Roman Catholics get to define what ‘Roman Catholics’ believe, atheists get to define what ‘atheists’ believe.

And atheists, from all my experience, are fairly united in stating that atheism is the lack of theism, that is to say the lack of a belief in God rather than a positive assertion that God does not exist.

Further Jimmy Akin is playing word games in contrasting statements that the ‘natural state of humanity’ is not believing “there is a God”, or not believing “There is no God”. Both are true: the natural state is having no particular beliefs about ‘God’ whatsoever until someone has introduced you to the idea. And having no particular beliefs about ‘God’ would be atheism.

(Devil’s advocate: Then again define God. I doubt that babies believe in a sentient being who initiated the Big Bang, but a vague enough definition of God could include what babies believe of the nice lady who brings them lunch.)
 
aemcpa said:
No. The word is from the Greek for “without a god”, not “without belief”. So a better simple definition would be:

Atheism: The belief in the lack of existence of some god or gods.
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Exactly, I think lack of belief fits more with agnosticism. If you use ‘lack of belief’ then you include agnostics as atheists, but this isn’t the case; it is something different. This is because you can have a cross of agnosticism and atheism or theism. So:

Atheism says “No”
Agnostic Atheism says “I don’t know, but probably no”
Agnosticism says “I don’t know”
Agnostic Theism says “I don’t know, but probably yes”
Theism says “Yes”

This is my understanding of the terms based on their roots.
 
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