Why are christians so desperate to deny those who became Atheists were ever christians? [Spirituality & Religion]

@Harriet03 Absolutely!

@Harriet03 Yup!

@newjaninev2 @Harriet03 What lies would those be? These little children are ignorant and haven't been taught the truth yet. Therefore they are not atheists as you suppose. BTW, they're angels stand before the throne of God and He will receive them into heaven should they die before the age of accountability.

@GodSpeed63 The ones you've clearly been taken in by. They're about some mythical being called, variously, "god", 'jehovah' or 'yahweh'.

@GodSpeed63 [quote]What lies[/quote]

When unnecessary postulations are dressed up as gnostic certainties

@suzie1960 Don't forget Brian hun!! 🤷‍♀️

@Harriet03 Brian wasn't a mythical being, He was real. ;)

@newjaninev2 [quote]When unnecessary postulations are dressed up as gnostic certainties[/quote]

What would those be?

@GodSpeed63 As I have told you many times, there’s no compelling necessity to postulate the existence of magical entities. In fact, such a postulation explains absolutely nothing, (because it merely explains everything away), and is internally inconsistent, because it cannot explain the existence of the very magical entities on which the pseudo-explanation relies.

To indoctrinate a defenceless child with the unsupported claim that the postulation is a known and demonstrable truth is child abuse...a repugnant self-indulgence.

@newjaninev2 [quote]As I have told you many times, there’s no compelling necessity to postulate the existence of magical entities. [/quote]

You're right, there’s no compelling necessity to postulate the existence of magical entities but we're sharing our faith in the one true God, Yahweh, who is not a magical entity.

@GodSpeed63 [quote]...we're sharing our faith in the one true God, Yahweh, who is not a magical entity.[/quote]
ROFL! It's a mythical being that's supposed to be able to defy the laws of physics. Such an ability is known as "magic(k)". To an extent however, you're right. It's not a magical entity, it doesn't even exist.

@GodSpeed63

[quote]the one true God, Yahweh, who is not a magical entity[/quote]

Can you describe what the practical difference is between magic and miracle?
And don't give me some cop out circular reasoning about the sources of the supernatural force.
Just explain what makes magic different than miracle and from there why god should not be considered magic.

@Harriet03 Hi Harriet!
I see you waving your hands and trying to get more attention.

Of course there's someone willing to dispute your claim.

Dr Justin Barrett, a senior researcher at the University of Oxford's Centre for Anthropology and Mind, claims that young people have a predisposition to believe in a supreme being because they assume that everything in the world was created with a purpose.

He says that young children have faith even when they have not been taught about it by family or at school, and argues that even those raised alone on a desert island would come to believe in God.

"The preponderance of scientific evidence for the past 10 years or so has shown that a lot more seems to be built into the natural development of children's minds than we once thought, including a predisposition to see the natural world as designed and purposeful and that some kind of intelligent being is behind that purpose," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

In the end, it doesn't matter. There's no fact, no words I could use that will change your mind. And, I'm OK with that.

@Budwick

But Dr Barret hasn't disputed the claim what you're born an atheist. He's just pointed out that we have an innate capacity to have faith.

You see the difference?

@Pikachu No.

@newjaninev2

[quote]When unnecessary postulations are dressed up as gnostic certainties[/quote]

lol i like that description.

@Pikachu He says that young children have faith even when they have not been taught about it by family or at school, and argues that even those raised alone on a desert island would come to believe in God.

@Budwick

Sure. But you actually keep defeating your own argument by quoting him.
Let me point out where:

[quote] even those raised alone on a desert island would[b][i] come to[/i][/b] believe in God.
[/quote]

As in do not begin by believing in a god, as in are inherently atheist.
This is me uncritically accepting that what he says is true and it [i]still[/i] doesn't contradict the idea that we are born atheist.

@Pikachu The headline of the article reads -
[b]"Children are born believers in God, academic claims "[/b]

You want to claim that what he really means by that is the opposite? Have at it.

@Budwick

Hey man, just going off your quotes. Wouldn't be the first time a headline doesn't accurately represent the actual argument, yeah?😉

Like i said, that was me uncritically accepting what he said as true. And i don't think he deserves that kind of acceptance.

@Pikachu [quote]And i don't think he deserves that kind of acceptance.[/quote]

Well, that's not surprising.
He's pro-God, and you're,... something else.

@Budwick

Sorry, do you think some interview in an article making extremely bold claims with little explanation is deserving of uncritical acceptance?

lol me neither. It has nothing to do with who believes what.
It's called being a good skeptic.

@Pikachu [quote]It's called being a good skeptic.[/quote]

Call it what you want. But someone with more credibility than an anonymous loud mouth on SW has expressed his skeptical view of the academic view.

@Budwick

lol ok.
And?

@Pikachu [quote]And?[/quote]

Have a Happy Easter.