Born an Atheist

Often I read a criticism aimed at Christians who proclaim to once have been an Atheist and now they have found god that they were never really an atheist. Kirk Cameron the banana man's side kick is a classic example.

Now as an atheist who claims to have once been a Christian, it would be easy to claim I was never really a Christian. Now by all accounts I know I was one. Very much so.

So lets investigate the "they were never really an atheist." claim.

By default we are all born Atheists, we then are raised in our nice christian family, going to church and being told how lucky we are that Jesus loves us etc....

But what about the child not born into a religious household. How legit is their claim on Atheism?
In the USA they are currently debating the use of "in god we trust" on currency and in the court system. And the use of God in the President's pledge.

Here in New Zealand, while we are officially a secular state, (I need to confirm this) religion and god is everywhere. The first word of our national anthem is "God". In fact the whole anthem is really a prayer.

So our child from a non religious family is, from birth, being indoctrinated whether their parents are aware of it or not. Go to girl guides or scouts, and god is right there. Funerals and weddings, god is there, though there is a definite increase in non secular funerals and weddings, but even at secular events, god will creep in.

In popular media, god is mentioned all the time, in the most subliminal ways, I wonder if the journalist even knows they are doing it. I was reading an article on mobile phone companies in New Zealand and at one point the journalist asks something along the lines of "Are they really aware of the pressure of the competition that is coming, god help them if they don't".

You see so much more when the Christian goggles are taken off.

The Govenrment will perform prayer at the drop of a hat, be it a new government building, a new manager, a new vision statement and anything else they can think of.

My daughter, who is now 7 and only been in a church twice, once for a funeral and once for a school Palm Sunday service even has the god fundamentals down pat. She knows enough about god to be able to pray when she wants something to happen her way. It was not from me, or her mother, we do not practice Christianity of any type, though we are not over the top atheists at home either, in fact we are way too moderate. But I know that the best thing I can do, is what my lovely christian mother taught me to do, teach her to question everything and believe nothing without evidence.

My mother was the first christian apologist in my life, and I never knew it. She had a lot of hard questions to answer.

So was our new found christian really an Atheist? Unless raised in an evangelical atheist house, probably not.

I will return to this one again sometime, I think it is a really interesting topic.