Are babies born atheists?

[beam me up scottie]

6 votes, 2 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Of course not, what the fuck is wrong with you?
	1 (17%)
	Why are you teaching your children to hate believers?
	1 (17%)
	No. *Redefines atheism*
	1 (17%)
	No. *Word salad*
	0 (0%)
	No. *Pathetic Obfuscation*
	0 (0%)
	ARGLE BARGLE BMUS AND HER BFFS HATE MICHELLE OBAMA!
	0 (0%)
	Shut up bmus and tell me how to get to those "several offsite chatrooms".
	0 (0%)
	I like pie.
	0 (0%)
	DawknIz!
	3 (50%)
	2 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[bvf]

1. From what I've read around DU,

a baby can't be atheist until understanding the concept of god.

And that's from a religious scholar, so it must be true.

[beam me up scottie]

2. So lemme see if I understand this...

I'm born without a belief in gods, but I'm not an atheist until I know what gods are and make a conscious choice to deny them?

[bvf]

6. That seems to be the argument, yes.

By that yardstick, babies are also bank robbers until they know that they aren't. Stupid babies.

[beam me up scottie]

7. LMAO!

"Stupid babies"



Are you actually saying that religious belief isn't some special way of knowing?

[bvf]

18. I'm not saying that at all.

It's extraordinarily disingenuous of you to argle-bargle hoo-hah Deuteronomy 2:17.

Ha! Made you look!

[beam me up scottie]

26. *posts several paragraphs of something from somewhere with pictures of ancient religious stuff*

Leaves room satisfied that they've enlightened the rubes.

[bvf]

39. Sort of like this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1218195045

Copy-and-paste seems to pass for erudition in some areas nowadays.

[beam me up scottie]

40. !

I'm sigh-kick.

[Lordquinton]

72. Let's see...

17 the Lord said to me, 18 “Today you are to pass by the region of Moab at Ar.

Um... This is one of those metaphors that we anti-theist bigots just don't get, isn't it?

[bvf]

73. Well, hearing disembodied voices

sure as hell had better be a metaphor for something, or else we've got a huge problem with well over a billion people on this planet in need of immediate help.

[A HERETIC I AM]

20. Babies aren't stupid.

They are conniving, manipulative, scheming little layabouts who suck up resources at an alarming rate.

[bvf]

22. But you must admit they are mighty tasty, too. n/t.

[A HERETIC I AM]

23. Well....yeah.....but

I've known people that could screw up a bowl of cornflakes, so it's all in how you prepare them.

[onager]

33. Eat them before they eat you!

[beam me up scottie]

36. Have you actually seen those?

This is how I picture all of us spending the upcoming primary season: drinking home brew in our newly built home theater watching movies onager recommended MST 3000 style.

[nil desperandum]

44. MST 3000

indeed the bots would ask if the baby on the cover of movie #2 was English...because of the teeth...

[beam me up scottie]

61. LMAO!

Yes they would.

[onager]

45. You guise HAD to mention MST3K...

TL;DR, usual argle-bargle, bla-bla-bla...

Well, of course I saw the original It's Alive movies! How could I resist? When the third one came out, I remember thinking: "What could possibly be better than a demonic killer baby? Holy crap, an entire ISLAND of the little buggers!"

I have NOT seen any of the direct-to-DVD "Alive" remakes from 2008 and up. Might have to check those out.

For other MST3K nuts like me: the MST3K Digital Archive Project (DAP) is worth a Google for anyone who doesn't know about it. Originally posted to obscure corners of the Internet as a D/L of about 37 DVDs. Archived everything from the very first episodes on local Minnesota TV, to the end. Then the lawyers and other assholes got involved, I think...

I thought I was a big MST3K fan. But this must be the Greatest MST3K Fan Ever:

[AtheistCrusader]

49. I refuse to believe that isn't just a sharpie tattoo.

No one is that cool.

[Act_of_Reparation]

59. Yeah, I don't know about that.

I know my way around the receiving end of a tattoo needle. A black tattoo should be pretty uniform in color. Could be the lighting is strange, but that definitely looks like it was drawn on with a felt-tip.

[AlbertCat]

74. looks like it was drawn on with a felt-tip.

Which of course would be AWESOMELY appropriate!

[beam me up scottie]

62. MST3K was the greatest thing evah!

What a wonderful way to revisit all of those delightfully cheesy sci-fi movies you were watching when you were supposed to be doing your homework.

So happy to find other fans, my s/o just doesn't get it.

[Act_of_Reparation]

76. Damn straight

[OriginalGeek]

58. THIS is now my new and overarching bucket list goal.

all other wants/needs/wishes are secondary to drinking home brew in my newly built home theater watching movies onager recommended MST 3000 style.

[beam me up scottie]

63. I'm trying to get the hosts to give us space for a game room too.

Add that to the restaurants, bars, free day care and chapel, there will be no reason to ever leave here again.

[Rob H.]

51. "By that yardstick, babies are also bank robbers until they know that they aren't."

Ha! Perfect!

[progressoid]

54. Rec!

[Promethean]

3. Sadly my response is kind of a word salad.

Atheist has been redefined so many times that one cannot assume any definition until someone gives it for themself. At this point the most common definitions require some forethought and knowledge to come to.

So in some definitions are babies atheist (no beliefs, including those of gods)? Yes.
Are they Atheist (consciously choose to examine the information surrounding gods and rejected it)? No.

[beam me up scottie]

4. So why not use the original definition instead of letting theists redefine atheism?

consciously choose to examine the information surrounding gods and rejected it

That's actually #3, redefining atheism.

Before christians redefined atheism in their dictionaries, atheism meant without belief in gods. In the last few years most dictionaries have evolved to show multiple definitions.

I was born an atheist, I only learned there was a word for it when I got older.

[Promethean]

34. Original definition?

You mean the one applied to the christians for not making the proper offerings to the Roman gods?

[beam me up scottie]

35. The term "atheism" originated from the Greek (atheos), meaning "without god(s)"

The term "atheism" originated from the Greek ἄθεος (atheos), meaning "without god(s)", used as a pejorative term applied to those thought to reject the gods worshiped by the larger society.[12] With the spread of freethought, skeptical inquiry, and subsequent increase in criticism of religion, application of the term narrowed in scope. The first individuals to identify themselves using the word "atheist" lived in the 18th century.[13] Some ancient and modern religions are referred to as atheistic, as they either have no concepts of deities or deny a creator deity, yet still revere other god-like entities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

That one.

[AlbertCat]

75. Of course babies are not born blank slates

There may be genetic dispositions that makes one more inclined or less inclined to be religious.


Of course the environment will either encourage these genetic traits or not.

[bvf]

77. Nature / nurture.

"There may be genetic dispositions that makes one more inclined or less inclined to be religious."

I don't think so, anymore than I think preference for domestic automobiles is innate.

My two cents.

[AlbertCat]

78. I don't think so

Well, we know there are series of genes that do things like..oh... makes one concentrate harder on tasks for longer. The sequence can be seen in the genome. If someone with this sequence smokes, they are at a greater risk of cancer and adverse effects.... because when they smoke, they more likely smoke the whole cigarette and more deeply.... so are at a higher risk. See...genetic inclination, mixed with something the environment encourages, effects in ways that seem impossible or absurd.

There may be genes that lean one towards gullibility or skepticism.... that then manifest in behaviors and results that at 1st seem outrageous.

[Binkie The Clown]

5. Babies are born without beliefs of any kind.

Therefore, all babies are born atheists. Only after indoctrination by whatever fairy tales their parents believe in, do they become corrupted by faith.

What we do know for sure is that children raised to take the Bible seriously have a lower ability to distinguish fantasy from reality in other areas of life as well.

[beam me up scottie]

8. Yup, just like my parents didn't raise me to be an atheist.

I was raised to be a skeptic and encouraged to make up my own mind.

[deucemagnet]

9. Nobody else likes pie?

I like pie. Why do you hate pie? Why do you hate my like of pie? What's wrong with me liking pie? WHY MUST YOU PERSECUTE ME FOR LIKING PIE???!!11DWAKINS111!!!

[beam me up scottie]

10. You seem angry.

May I call someone to counsel and/or pray for you?

I have several DU therapists on speed dial and they don't even charge.

[deucemagnet]

11. Well, that would just let the anti-pie crowd off the hook, wouldn't it?

I'd rather put every web page that doesn't like pie on an RSS feed and let them know how WRONG they are how even holding that opinion is a THOUGHTCRIME and offensive to me personally and BIGOTED AGAINST THE PEACEFUL, PIE LOVING PEOPLE OF THE WORLD11!!KEYLIME!! How dare you have bad thoughts against me!!!rhubarbstrawberry11!!

[beam me up scottie]

12. What?

I can't hear you, I'm too busy stabbing a sacred body of pie with an icepick.

Die, Pie-man, Die!

[deucemagnet]

15. I'd expect nothing less from a rabid anti-pie-ist.

I suppose you harbor similar bigotry against tarts, turnovers, cobblers and custards, but it's okay if you make fun of baklava. I mean, really, baklava? That shit's crazy! Ha! Silly baklava-ists! Fuck them!

[beam me up scottie]

17. *bmus' sock puppet steps in* DESERTOPHOBE!!1!

I heard that this place was full of desertophobes but I had no idea they were so shamelessly persecuting innocent after dinner sweet treats.



I just thank Cob that you're here to warn people about this.

[deucemagnet]

19. Watch out, two people like pie now!

It's a movement! Battenberg is beautiful! Power to the petit-fours! Scones suck, though. Scones and baklava. Fuck them. Crazy bastards!

[beam me up scottie]

25. SAVE OUR PiES!1!

Those anti-pie haterz had better stop trying to turn Amurka into a Secular Buffet.

We will not stand for it!

[onager]

31. Please send me an Internet psychiatrist/theologian AND...

...a happy, grinning young woman, gleefully extending 2 middle fingers to religious believers.

On second thought, delete the Internet psychiatrist/theologian.

[beam me up scottie]

32. !

You need to remember to put a disclaimer on your posts in here, onager. I'm surprised this one hasn't gone POOF! yet...

To potential jurors: onager is NOT really asking for us to send them a young woman.

[Rainforestgoddess]

41. You're right,

Onager just wants her fingers. Less shipping cost that way.

[beam me up scottie]

42. Cheap bastard.

[onager]

46. Hmph! Well, YOU'RE not a teenage girl!

That line cracks me up every time I think about it. Like many of the Daily Poutrage posts I see in Other DU Groups. As often happens, I find myself shaking my head and asking: "Well, what does THAT have to do with anything?"

Point taken though. I'll watch myself closely, here in our Safe Haven. And if I say anything believerist, racist, sexist, atheist-ist or otherwise Double-Plus-Ungood, I promise to immediately ban myself.

[beam me up scottie]

64. I'll have to remember to put that option in future polls.

It was one of the worst (or best depending on your pov) moments in that forum's history.

What's your excuse?

[LostOne4Ever]

13. Damned Michelle Obama!!! (nt)

[beam me up scottie]

14. Ah, another hater of transparency, the democratic process and cute children.

I guess that means you (insert barely coherent, snotty accusation here), too!

*poster declares victory and proceeds to strut around DU crowing about how they showed LO4E for the lying infiltrator they really are*

[beam me up scottie]

16. Message to all those who have recommended this:

There is not one scintilla of data presented by this author to substantiate the claim that "babies are born atheists". Not one.

The inability of the average web reader to actually get past headlines and be able to analyze information is probably one of the most dangerous trends in the world right now. People will believe anything they are told if it suits their agenda.

[Heddi]

21. Can someone point me in the way to those Chat Rooms?

Firstly. I am having trouble with the computer machine. I can't find the "enter" key. I see return but no enter. Also, yes. Which button is the left mouse button? I drag the mouse across the screen and all it does is leave a streak on the screen. Also, again. Does the TV have to be on 02 or 03 or 04 to get the computer channel to come through?

Yes please thanks. In advance. And also my printer, if that helps.

[beam me up scottie]

24. Nice try. Butt I see what your duing!

Can someone point me in the way to those Chat Rooms?


Firstly. I am having trouble with the computer machine. I can't find the "enter" key. I see return but no enter. Also, yes. Which button is the left mouse button? I drag the mouse across the screen and all it does is leave a streak on the screen. Also, again. Does the TV have to be on 02 or 03 or 04 to get the computer channel to come through?

Yes please thanks. In advance. And also my printer, if that helps.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT???

I just demonstrated that the Several Other Chat Rooms do exist, so stop trying to confuse me, I mean everyone else.


You'd better stop hiding your true intent or you will be smited and/or defriended.

[Heddi]

27. why I oughta....

Peeps be jelly of our liberry. And all the books is off the hooks

[beam me up scottie]

28. I think the peeps have Internet Chat Room envy.

They be Whinning!

[Heddi]

29. they're totes jelly they didn't see the cleavage post I made last night

Most popular thread since that time we spent days roasting you-know-who on a spit. Good times!!

[beam me up scottie]

30. I'm just glad no one can see your posts now.

That new electronic scrambling device the hosts installed seems to be working.

[AtheistCrusader]

48. They already know about our facebook bat signal.

[Heddi]

57. Oh darn

I'll get Mr Blah to start designing a new one right away. One that is more stealthy!!

[greendog]

37. Yes, but just to be sure one should place a framed photo of Professor Dawkins...

...above the crib and within the sight line of the baby. It's also a good idea to read from "The God Delusion" a couple times a day. And the Atheist Baby's first solid food should be Theist Baby.

[beam me up scottie]

38. oooo, that's good advice.

We'll have to add it to the list of helpful directions provided to parents of newly spawed atheists.

[skepticscott]

43. Boy, I'd hate to be trapped in one of those safe havens

where they have no sense of humor at all. Says a lot about a group when they're not able to have any fun or laugh at themselves about who and what they are.

[onager]

50. Atheist Amen to that!

That's one of my favorite things about this group. We make fun of everything, including ourselves. Most of the time, especially ourselves.

Seems like I spend much of my DU time peeking into Other Groups, looking for the source of in-jokes. Though our latest encryption protocols help with that.

It's really entertaining to compare the ways certain subjects are covered in Other Groups vs our little loony-bin (ALERT: ABLEIST LANGUAGE!)

Other Groups: "You're mocking Eternal Truths held sacred for centuries!"

This Groups: "Nah. We're mocking Shit People Made Up centuries ago and trying to figure out why other people still believe it."

[skepticscott]

52. Yes, it would be so tedious

to sit around and reassure each other that we were so much more mature and grown up than those other posters. I can't imagine how pathetic your life would have to be to do that.

[nil desperandum]

55. Well

the reality is that those safe havens under religion don't seem to have too many people in them...besides "Religion" this safe haven is the only one with any real activity...and much of what goes on in religion is folks here making points there...

[skepticscott]

56. But of course

If the people there had a sense of humor, that would still be a reason to go there, even though the non-existent regulars have nothing in the way of intellectual engagement and actual discussion of issues to offer (despite their endless claims to want that, without distraction from the mean ol' atheists). But they don't even have that. People who are so stiff about making fun of themselves can't really be trusted...

[nil desperandum]

60. Agreed

[beam me up scottie]

65. You mean they're not like our "sacred piss on theists room"?

Some things should be laughed at.

Hard.

[skepticscott]

68. I prefer to call it

the "Blame Religion for Everything Room" in honor of a vermin lover who enjoys making that horseshit claim and who I'm sure is reading this

[beam me up scottie]

69. They are obsessed.

Instead of doing something constructive with their time (like praying?) they prefer to stalk, alert and lie about our posts.

Very unhealthy, I wonder what a real therapist would have to say about such behaviour...

[skepticscott]

70. Maybe we should ask

Agent 99. I'm sure he's diagnosing his favorite crony as we speak...over the internet, of course.

[beam me up scottie]

71. Laughter is the best revenge for anger.

Or so I've heard.

[AtheistCrusader]

47. This poll is useless without checkboxes.

[beam me up scottie]

66. Damn!

I knew I forgot something.

[Turbineguy]

53. If the whining and

inability to communicate is anything to go by, they are born republicans.

[beam me up scottie]

67. But unlike Republicans they usually shut up when they get what they want.

Repubs keep blatting about how persecuted they are.