God would have created more people than Hitler, also. If He sees reason to eliminate them, that is His business. Hitler created no one.
That is the same as justifying a parent killing their child because they made them.
People do have a built in knowledge of god.
No they don't.
People do have a built in knowledge of god. Do you think the idea was dreamed up by one person and then all these other people flocked to the idea of god when there was no seed to grow to begin with? There is something there.
That's akin to saying that people have a built in knowledge of unicorns, lake monsters and fairies. All of those I have mentioned abound in world culture, are as old as beliefs in gods and obviously, given your statement, couldn't have been 'flocked to' by others.
Back in the early days man worshipped things like the sun. People didn't really need to "flock to one man's idea" because everyone could feel and see it's power in action. They couldn't look directly at it's 'face', but their god was ever present, (for half a day).
These beliefs would have been handed down, handed down and handed down. Taught from generation to generation. The stories of course, (like everything else), evolved. Ideas are not static, and given time the images associated with the gods would have changed to different things, (snakes/crocodiles etc). Different people, with as much imagination as we have, would have made stories, poems and songs to describe how they thought the world began, their purpose on it and so on.
The ideas have been spoon fed to humanity for thousands of years and that is why it is hard to get rid of.
None of that substantiates a belief that in man exists a "built in knowledge". gods have only survived, and only continue to survive because of a lack of knowledge. Until every question has been answered, gods will survive. So yes, I agree with you that we cannot remove gods and religion, but their lights are already starting to flicker. Several thousand years ago man said god caused plagues and the like, now we blame germs and disease and go about eradicating them. Thousands of years ago god said it was ok to keep slaves, now we disagree with him and say it isn't. Thousands of years ago god ordered us to stone prostitutes and naughty children to death, now we disagree with him and have found more appropriate and less harmful methods. Etc etc.
god is fading into the sunset slowly but surely.
People who don't want to believe just deny it.
So, you disagree with me when I state we're all born without god belief?
If god were such a far fetched proposition, then I wonder why I am not getting sucked in by all propositions.
I could use the rather pathetic response that I was given: "you just deny it", but I wont, because that's naive.
We are who we are because of a billion different things. Our associations, upbringing, experiences and so on. You are a religious man because something/s in your life have made you that way - be it upbringing, circumstance, or experience. I cannot fault you for that, and I would simply ask that you understand that instead of just putting it down to "just deny it".
I am an honest man and will hereby tell you that I will believe anything you want - gods, sea serpents or goblins. All you need to do is provide adequate evidence. Am I asking too much?
Do you think the debate would be so passionate to some if there was an inate idea that there was no god?
Those people who debate passionately... Have they been spoonfed belief? As a result "inate idea" has no place. What you would need is a child that has never even heard the word.
Of course people would make their god something familiar. That is a result of there being an idea that god exists to begin with.
To begin with? As in: when humans didn't really know anything? How else would they explain the world and it's events? Think the first idea would have been evolution and gravity? No no, that comes later when man understands more, the simple answer comes first.
These early men would have wondered just as much as you do, but with no ability to explain it. No equipment, no ability to study - across a multitude of people with a different expertise, no technology, no anything. All they had was a beaming hot ball of fire in space that killed them on occasion, made plants grow, and couldn't be looked at. The world was flat as a pancake, surrounded by a sky dome and supported by an orang utan's bottom. Would that imply inate knowledge of orang utan anus and sky domes?
I don't think I want to count all of the gods that people believe in
Most certainly not. All of which were created by people who didn't know anything. They could not explain an earthquake, a bolt of lightning, or the difference between life and death, (other than dead people didn't breathe).
Did evolution decide that we need to believe in god? For what? Survivability? Comfort?
No, not in the slightest. An idea gets taught from generation to generation and it sticks. We all generally try and avoid fire. We know it burns. This doesn't imply that we have an inate knowledge of what fire does, but that it has been taught from generation to generation for thousands of years. It only takes one man to burn his hand to ensure it will become 'known' by everyone to follow.
I will make sure I don't teach your daughter about god, but it will be up to you to teach her that there is no god.
That's where we obviously differ. It is not my place to tell my daughter what does or does not exist. She can believe in Lenny the leprechaun if
she chooses to. A parent has no right to tell their child what they should or should not believe in. When she's old enough she can examine
all the data, (or not, it's her choice), and come to her own conclusions. Given that I have stated a parent does not have the right, nobody else bloody well does either.
If no one ever told me about god, I would have searched on my own.
If no-one told you about god, you wouldn't even be making that statement. The very term 'god' would be completely unknown to you.