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Think about it: do you honestly believe that any baby was born with the idea that "humans must be saved through Jesus Christ"?
Now, think further: if that baby was never told the story "humans must be saved through Jesus Christ", do you think he can come up with that idea?
Think even further: if someone told that baby later after he grew up a bit "humans must be saved through Jesus Christ" for the first time, what would his reaction most likely be:
[A] "What?! Saved from what?! I don't have any 'sin'!"
[b] "Yeah right -- humans must be saved through Jesus Christ."
Now, are you convinced everyone in the world is a born-atheist or what?
Location: where the moss is taking over the villages
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Babies are born with a desire to "belong" & usually it seems people rely on family for guidance on beliefs & behaviour.
Myself, I was born a skeptic with no trust in stated beliefs of others. Maybe if my parents hadn't divorced early in my life, I could have been more malleable. However, I enjoy being heretical & skeptical.
I don't believe anyone is "born" an Atheist or Religious for that matter as both ideologies result from an awakening of consciousness but I would classify myself as pretty close to that as I never had any belief of any kind from a very early age.
My Father is an Atheist and everyone else in my family is Christian ( many different denominations) but moderate. My Father believed things like Religion and Atheism should come from a personal choice and not be pushed and he made sure I was taught about many world religions, taken to Temples, Mosques, Synagogues, Churches etc... and I got to meet many people of different faiths as well as humanists from an early age.
I think he wanted me to think for myself and made a personal decision based on my ideas not someone elses and I owe him a great deal for this.
Religion never made sense to me at any stage . I used to look at people in Religious places and listen to my Grand-Parents for example as a small child and wonder why they "made believe" about something which was obviously so not true.
It defied logic to me and I was never in the slightest a believer even as a Toddler. I used to pester my Family with questions about God and Jesus etc... and none of the answers even made the blindest bit of sense.
I never had to reject Religion as I never accepted it in any ways. I did however always find it fascinating the sheer variety of Religion and rituals and I think it did awaken in me a great interest in Social Anthropology. Human beings are fascinating in the way they deal with big issues like life and death and the meaning of life and being exposed to so much from toddler-hood definitely whet my appetite for collecting and learning about various people's stories and how they thought.
My Father used to buy me different illustrated children's encyclopaediae and I used to spend hours poring over their Mythology and Religion sections. Fascinating stuff and some of it really quite entertaining too as a kid....
All my schools bar one were Catholic ( mostly boarding) schools , most of them progressive ( Catholic school offering the best academic standards) but of course by that stage I was always "ruined" for the Nuns and having a mind of my own I was never indoctrinated into anything.
We need to respect Children and allow them the Freedom to think . In a way being presented with a world of Religion on a plate allowed me to see them as equally absurd, a fact I am sure did not escape my Father so maybe there was manipulation there but a very subtle one. The sheer variety of faiths and rituals makes all of them look utterly absurd in many ways. It allows a much broader view of the world and a more cynical approach to fairy-tales and mythology.
I am so grateful that my Father had enough respect for me to let me make my own mind up. As an Atheist he could have pushed me towards it and never did so. I felt able to make my own mind up by a process of logic and the acquisition of knowledge. I guess he thought knowledge was power and trusted me .
I am confused. Atheism is not an "ideology", nor is it something that "results from an awakening of consciousness." It is just a word used to describe those who are without a belief in god. We are all born without a belief in god. If you are exposed to a particular religion/god and are convinced of its truth, then you become a believer. Otherwise, you remain without a belief in god.
I was born without a belief in god (atheist) and have never been convinced, due to lack of convincing evidence, to leave this state of unbelief. I did not "become" an atheist or choose to be an atheist, I have always been one. Heck, I never even knew there was a word used to describe my unbelief until I heard it from one of my christian friends when I was about 10. Just because there is a word used to define a state of non-belief in deities does not mean that a person "consciously declared themselves an atheist." You can call me a non-theist, non-believer, unbeliever, etc......but hmmm, there happens to be a word in use that already defines the lack of belief (atheism), so why not use it?
my parents where raised extremely religious but became less and less when they grew older, so religion was never hammered into my brain like it is to other kids so it was a lot easier for me to rid myself of the the idea of heaven, hell, god and devil once i reached highschool, where you couldn't turn in a paper if it didn't have sources or evidence. I remember thinking, "i got a bad mark because i didn't show enough evidence to my not so extraordinary claims." so if you presented the bible as a work in gr8 you would get a zero, thats the mark it gets in my head.
I was born into a family of believers who made church attendance mandatory. And in the summers, I had to attend "Bible school." Even as a child, the total mideastern setting and focus of the Bible story made me very skeptical. I'm not middle eastern. No one in my family is middle eastern. It just didn't make sense that this middle eastern myth would have any real connection to anyone I knew.
In view of the conditions in the middle east over the past century, I don't see how anyone could consider it a "holy land."
I'd have to say I was born an atheist, as I think all of us are. We're pretty much coerced into the religious faith of our parents. I was forced to attend church in my youth. But I was just incapable of believing those stories, even though I tried. So I've never had the faith and remain an atheist.
I see a lot of common patterns here: people were skeptical of the entire religious thing, and escaped it.
My parents are both Christian, but only in the loosest sense of the word. They aren't really religious, don't go to church, but still buy into the "Jesus Christ" and "God" thing. I find that highly amusing. Perhaps the smartest thing they've done for us four children was not take us to church. We're all very skeptical and "science-minded," all college educated, and three of us (that I know of for sure) are atheist. I believed Jesus saved me from my sins and that I would meet God after I died. I occasionally prayed, sometimes for stuff (dear God I want a new bike), and sometimes for other people so that they would live better lives.
I remember clearly my "eureka" moment. I was 16 on the way to work with my father when I realized that Zeus threw lightning bolts. Zeus, great Titan, God of Gods, threw lightning bolts. It hit me that Zeus was an invention of the Greeks to explain natural phenomenon that they didn't know at the time. There was no way the Greeks knew of atmospheric static electricity. Over the next five minutes, I realized Yahweh (just God at the time) was the same way: an invention to explain the unexplained. Over the next six years I learned all about Christianity, and become very motivated against the Christian Evangelism that is sweeping the nation. I'm fairly convinced that a polarization of Christianity occurred after 9\11\01.
Several people here had the same problem I did with atheism. They didn't know what it was called! It wasn't until I was 18 in college did someone ask me my religious belief.
"I don't believe in God" I said.
"Oh, so you're an atheist."
"...sure."
Recently, I spent a bit of time thinking about religion when I was growing up. A friend of mine recently went through a divorce because she came out as an Atheist. Her husband was very disappointed, tried to get her back into church and they ended up divorced. He's 26, she's 23 and they have two beautiful little girls.
Talking with her about the divorce was amazing for me. Religion in my area (which maybe odd, considering I live in California) is VERY popular and VERY evangelical. Basically, there is a whole giant subculture of Christians where I live, and I didn't realize it was as much of a clique as it is until recently. She said they sucked you in, and made you feel like a terrible human being if you didn't go to church enough, or didn't memorize enough of the bible, or didn't volunteer at Hume Lake (lots of Christian camps) etc etc. I had NO idea it was like this. On the outside, they were a cheery bunch of people, seemed wonderful, and I was friends with many of them. However... there was a lot going on in that group that was horrible. Just the amount of mental anguish they caused each other is amazing.
She has now been completely ostrasized from that group of people, and ended up moving out of the county because they make her feel unwelcomed, and it's the only life she knows.
This may seem like kind of a random story, but just seeing her through her religious anguish was very cleansing for the both of us. I was the only Atheist she knew, and the only one she could talk to without fear of being cut off. Very fickle, those Christians.
I do believe that you are born an Atheist, and you are brainwashed into believing. Friendship, family etc. is a very strong motivator. That's the only reason my friend stayed Christian as long as she did. 23 years wasted, and those are her words, not mine. It's terrible the things that religion does to force people to stay involved.
Everyone is born an Atheist. Mental illness is taught by bad parents, and church attendance. Some realize they are deluded by the hype, and sanity returns them to their atheist state.
Yeah, I've never understood how a person couldn't be born an atheist. When you come out of the womb, do you start believing in God? If no one had ever told you about God, how long until you would've concluded on your own that there was one? I know there are people who truly believe they've felt or spoken to God. I'll take their word for it, but I think most people have to be told about God before even being able to wrap their minds around such a concept.
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The sheer variety of faiths and rituals makes all of them look utterly absurd in many ways. It allows a much broader view of the world and a more cynical approach to fairy-tales and mythology. 
Atheism is not an "ideology", nor is it something that "results from an awakening of consciousness." It is just a word used to describe those who are without a belief in god. We are all born without a belief in god. If you are exposed to a particular religion/god and are convinced of its truth, then you become a believer. Otherwise, you remain without a belief in god. 
Born an Atheist or became an Atheist later?
