There's no such thing as an atheist baby

[LostOne4Ever]

92. The point is not so much that we want to include all babies

Last edited Sat Jun 14, 2014, 04:28 AM - Edit history (1)

But rather, to impress upon everyone else that it is not an active position. It can be, but it can also be passive.

Unfortunately the babies analogy is a good way of explaining that.

Belief being defined as holding a statement to be true, and disbelief being defined as not holding a statement to be true; babies make a good example of a person who does not hold a position to be true, while not holding the exact opposite position (that no gods exist) either.

I personally prefer using the example of a person born and raised on an island who has never head of Betty Crocker (you can insert a different fictional character of your choice if you want). They have never even heard of Betty Crocker and have no clue if she exists or not. They can neither answer true or false to the question of her existence.

I bet some people reading this are rushing to wikipedia looking her up to learn that she is a fictional character right now.

I am not fond of the baby example myself (as it sounds like we are trying to artificial inflate our numbers), but I get why it is used.