I saw a meme the other day that said, “Everyone is born an atheist. You have to be indoctrinated into believing there’s a god.”
I despise bad logic, so it took a lot of restraint not to comment on this.
Babies hardly know anything at birth other than the sound of certain people’s voices and what instinct motivates them to want and need.
Are they also gravity deniers until they are “brainwashed” into believing in this invisible force?
Are they also black hole deniers until NASA indoctrinates them into believing in such things?
In fact, by this logic, babies would be born ardent rejectors of everything and then, sadly, their parents teach them stuff. Pity.
I’m not sure what would be the better alternative. Have a baby and then utterly isolate them from all knowledge of anything and let them just figure it out on their own so as to not indoctrinate?
2. Atheists outright reject God. Babies don’t have that capability. They wouldn’t even begin to know what they are rejecting. The best you could maybe say is that babies are agnostic, but even then that means that babies are weighing choices and thinking about these deep spiritual matters. They aren’t.
For as long as we know, humans have been religious in some capacity. Did they always hit the mark? No. But, the desire to worship a deity has always been a part of the human existence. That is until recently where we got too big for our breeches and thought we were smarter than nearly all humans who have ever lived and started worshiping ourselves.
Today, in reading about the invitation to tue wedding feast in Matthew 22:1-14, I was struck by the outpouring of love by the king.
“Please come to the wedding feast! I want to share this with you! Come and enjoy!”
And people deny the king. Some are apathetic, some too busy, and one comes but isn’t taking it seriously.
God wants nothing more than to love us, welcome us to the banquet feast and give us eternal life in His Kingdom.
What a shame to deny such heavenly gifts. Everyday, may we accept God’s invitation into a relationship with Him, Catholic Pilgrims. The desire has been placed on our hearts from the start.
Have a blessed Sunday.
