Are we all born atheists?

[Guest guest]

> Pamho, agtSP

>

> Danish atheist: "As all humans I was born an atheist..."

>

> This claim is very common among atheists. However, how can the atheist

> know, what to speak of prove, that all humans are born atheists? What if

> we have lived and believed in God in a previous life? What if everyone is

> a soul who used to associate with God before he fell to the material

> world? What if the embryo and/or the baby can actually percieve God? The

> atheist doesn't know the answer to any of these questions and therefore

> the atheist doesn't know if all humans are born atheists. It's simply a

> completely unproven assertion, and therefore irrational.

 

Of course it's irrational. To be an atheist you have to be irrational in the

first place. I was just reading in Jaiva Dharma by BT that to even come to

the first level of sraddha in the devotional progress one must have

accumulated heaps of devotional sukriti in many, many, past lives. Here we

are not speaking of just some type of belief. Christians also believe in

God, but actually they have no faith in God. To have faith in Krishna and to

seek the Absolute Truth is a very elevated state of consciousness which is

only reached after many lives of devotional sukriti. According to BT, not

even ordinary pious activities gives you sukriti. Only some kind of

connection with devotees or prasadam does that. Therefore an atheist will

never, ever be convinced by logic or reason. His only chance is to get

prasadam or hear the holy name. Only then will he be able to gradually

develop faith in the absolute truth. In other words, only by the mercy of

the Lord's pure devotees is this possible.

 

Another thing is that if a person is an atheist, it means he has worked hard

over many lives rejecting God and the absolute truth. So in a way it is true

when this guy says he was born an atheist. Atheists are born atheists. Or

like Suhotra Prabhu used to say about atheists, that they are actually proof

of reincarnation, because nobody can become so stupid as they are in just

one life. They have to work at it over many lives.

 

ys, jdd