Every child is an atheist

I am a little confused with what you are trying to prove. Do you believe every child is an atheist or every child is born an atheist? Based on argument that every child is born atheist, this is my counter-argument and argument: How can you conclusively determine whether a baby is an atheist or not without asking him/her? As you said, children are born innocent, therefore to come up with an explanation for the phenomena around them, they can think of their own explanations to form a conclusion; a situation where a baby might form an explanation is when a baby first experiences the outside world. Experiencing what it is like inside of his or her mother at an early age is very different from experiencing the outside world that has different conditions that are new to the baby. By forming an explanation, they essentially come up with their own religion. Usually it is tied to the baby's mother, which explains the high level of comfort the baby has with his or her mother as compare to the father or a stranger. You point out that because the baby is not introduced to the concept of religion or philosophy, the baby cannot believe in God since the baby does not know about it. However, it is possible that the baby could be introduced to it...when it is in the fetus. As studies have shown, the fetus can respond to stimuli from the environment outside its mother's belly when it is around 28 weeks old. This is exemplified by the example of music played to the fetus. A baby, while inside the womb, kicks more in response to music being played outside the womb. If a baby can be influenced by this, then a baby should be theoretically able to be influenced by the culture around it. You make an excellent point when you say that "religious belief is dependent upon geography," but I think that religious belief is more dependent on the people in that area, not the geographical location itself. I'm sure this is what you meant, but I wanted to clarify the idea. If this is true, then the beliefs being held and the traditions being followed, especially by the mother, can influence the baby before it is born. Therefore, when it is born, it might not be atheist. Based on the argument that every child is an atheist, the following is my response: Much of what I have to say to support my argument has been stated in the paragraph above. To be more efficient, I will state points that are specific to the idea that every child is an atheist. Technically, a child is anyone who is still a minor. Another definition is that a child is a person in the stages between infancy and puberty. A less technical definition is a 1 to 7 year old. Keeping all these definitions in mind, they all share a commonality, every child not cut off from society has had experiences with culture(s). Because children r more credulous than adults, they r more likely to believe in the mysticism provided by believing in God. Therefore, every child is not an atheist. A perfect counter example is me: when I was a child, I was a faithful believer of Hinduism plans the pantheon of Gods, meaning I had a system of beliefs I practiced. Therefore, I was not an atheist when I was a child. This can be generalized to: every child does not have to be an atheist.