In a deposition submitted under oath, Fredric Rice said:
 >  In a deposition submitted under oath, Fredric Rice said:
 FR>  >>Except that atheism is the lack of belief in all of the gods and
 FR>  >>goddesses humanity has created for themselves.  Everyone is born
 FR>  >>an atheist and, as you know, everyone is an atheist after they're
 FR>  >>dead.
 >     By strict definition, everyone is born agnostic, without knowledge
 >  of God.
 FR> By any definition, everyone is born not believing in gods and
 FR> goddesses. Ergo, everyone is born an atheist.
    We can argue semantics if you want, but it'll probably get us no
 where.  Everyone is born without knowledge, tabula rasa, a blank slate.
 They have no disbelief nor belief, no knowledge of what belief is
 at all, much less anything to believe or disbelieve in.  That is
 agnosticism, and is how people are born.
    Theism and atheism are choices; the former to believe, the latter to
 disbelieve.  One can make neither choice until one is given the
 knowledge of what the choices are.
    Most, if not all, are born with a sense of the numinous.  As the
 blank mind gets filled with life experiences, even if no religious
 training is part of those experiences, the numinous is expressed in
 the child as awe and wonder of the world and the cosmos.  I believe it
 is this that creates a curiosity about where it all came from, and is
 probably the initial source for religion, thousands of years ago.  It
 also gives the scientist the inspiration to work toward an
 understanding of the cosmos, whether or not there are any religious
 overtones to the feeling.  Regardless of how it is expressed later
 in life, the numinous is an inherent trait of humanity.  The only
 question is that of whether it is instilled by God, or a natural
 biological function instilled by evolution as some necessary survival
 tool.
... We have enough youth, how about a fountain of SMART?
--- PPoint 2.05
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