| quigontcb said: So you invented atheism/agnosticism? Or did you, by chance, happen to hear about it from someone else? |
I'm not speaking for the OP, but I remember when I was a kid, I wasn't exposed to religion that much. My parents did, however buy me lots of science books, and I always read about how the conclusions about how the world works were made, any religious teaching was just that I was told that some people believe in 'god' and 'heaven' and 'soul' but that noone truly knows what happens when you die. I remember that most of my classmates in elementary school believed in 'god' and 'heaven' and such, but I remember during a 'class gathering' (or whatever it is called in english) when the kids would talk about what their religion was and if it wasn't christianity, maybe tell the other kids a little about it. When I was asked, I didn't know what to say, so what I said was "I believe in science".
Fast forward to the middle years in elementary school sometime before easter, and our class was at a church where a priest (a female one) explained about the death and ressurection myth. I, being curious, did what kids usually do during a class (and especially me during science classes) and asked her what proof of all this happening was and she was totally stunned, she really wasn't prepared for that and, after pausing for a moment she said that the Dead Sea Scrolls were proof for some people. That answer really left an impression on me, because I realized the difference between proven 'facts' and faith (IE belief without evidence).
What is the point of me writing all of these childhood memories? Well, it isn't until much later that I learned of the term atheism, yet, I had been an atheist during most of my childhood. And i wasn't taught it by my parents either, because when they talked with me about religion they would always avoid taking a stance, and say "noone really knows".
It seams to me (maybe I'm misunderstanding you) that you try to equate atheism with religious belief, as if they are all doctrines about the world that are taught from person to person. But Atheism is simply the null hypothesis, IE you make an unproven statement, therefore the most likely scenario is one where your unproven statement is not taken into account. I hope my memories illustrate why I'm so surprised every time people try to do this. The null hypothesis is not a doctrine that is taught from person to person, it is used every time someone refutes an unproven statement.
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