T. E. Lords

I dated a girl from russia a while back and when I approached the subject of God She acted as if I was trying to have an intellectual conversation about Good Ol' Saint Nick. To her the idea was so obsurd and pointless there wasn't even any need to discuss it. I think that throws a kink into the theist argument that everyone feels god and all the hooey.

CX

My wife and I are both atheists. We have a policy with our children of a total absence of god talk (either pro or con). My son is completely unfamiliar with the concept of god and has not mentioned. Now he's asked and I've answered all kinds of questions about the natural world, but so far nothing about god. Maybe that innate feeling doesn't show up until first grade or something. I suspect however that if one were never introduced to the concept of god it would never come up.

SergeyS

I've been brought up in a family quite indifferent to anything religious (I am from Russia), and the only place where I heard about God when I was a kid and teenager was school. Needless to say that it was presented to us as a dangerous superstition that an educated and sane person can but reject altogether. So quite naturally I was an atheist, not that I gave it any thought, I just swallowed the whole idea without questioning it. Later, already in the university, I became Christian (only to become an atheist later again ), but it is a completely different story. So I am a walking example of someone not born with any innate feeling of God.

There are cultures that are overly non-theistic. In Chinese there's not even a word meaning God. The idea of God was alien to Taoism, and the first Christian missionaries in China had problems with translation. Now in China they refer to God as Shang Di (above the emperor).

Family Man

I have two kids and the same policy. Neither of them asked anything about God until they got into grade school. A few years back, my daughter told me something about God. I asked her how she knew about God. Her reply was that some kids at school told her.

We'd also have to wonder why, if the concept of God was innate, why there are so many different conceptions of God -- say, like the Hindu patheon -- and why some religious beliefs have no god concept at all -- like animism.

In short, this innateness theory is one of those things that theists like to talk about, but appears to have no basis in reality.

Jet Grind

I can say with a high dehgree of confidence that the concept of God is not innate. My parents, although not atheists, didn't give me any kind of direct religious upbringing at all. My exposer to religion came from the media and other people, and I always knew it was a load.

Philo

Growing up in a very strongly christian oriented community and family this is all very refreshing to hear. Even being now an atheist I still have what I am told is an innate feeling of God. I have those moments when I look around and wonder, can it all really be explained without God? Christian say that is God tugging at my heart, I think its just the result of people screwing with my head as a child. The funny thing is I had the exact same moments when I still was a Christian. Times when I would just think, but what if God isn't real, it doesn't seem very likely after all.

*edited to correct a very confusing grammar error.

Jinto

Indeed. It's amazing how people can believe in such a ludicrous concept, and then further believe that it's some kind of innate concept. In my case, so alien was this God-concept to me that until I was twelve years old, I didn't even believe in the existence of theists. I thought it was all just some stupid social convention.

Jobar

I'm another that was raised Christian- Southern Baptist- and though I've been a skeptic for more than 30 years, for a long time I too would get occasional flashes of self-doubt. I mean, practically everyone I knew believed all this stuff, or at least said they did. It seemed the height of hubris to think that I was correct and all these others- preachers, professors, the wise and the dull alike, seemingly- were wrong.

I don't ever get those unpleasant flashes any more, but it still pains me to realize that my family and friends are all delusional.

Speaking as a mod, I am not sure if this topic is really suited for the EoG forum. I will leave it here for now; if some of our theist posters want to come on and explain why T.E. Lords' girlfriend and SergeyS have no innate god-belief, I'd be interested to know their POV.

Athius

I'm in the same situation but it doesn't really pain me. It actually reminds me of how much more intelligent I am compared to them

diana

Me too. Then I think, "Wow, diana. That's the height of vanity."

Then I think, "So what?"

d