Non-Theism as every human's default state.

 re

The claim that:
Atheism is the natural state of humans.

 One Christian argued:

That is nothing more than an assumption otherwise we would not see sooooooooo many beliefs in a God or God's"

---
In reply, 

I understand the logic of that rebuttal. 

⁠
But consider various specific forms of theism as:
an ever-mutating virus

spread between the computers of human brains.
⁠
It's lines of code
that integrate with our cognitive Operating Systems.
---
⁠
The origins were natural.
I grant that.
⁠
Privative ancestors gave sentient agency to natural phenomenon.

The human brain is primed for that, because we come into being ... gradually transitioning from instinct to awareness.

Larger-than-life super-beings with unfathomable powers
loom over us, from infancy.
⁠
Later, gradually, those figures get demystified.
⁠
We eventually recognize them as human parents.
⁠
Gradually, as we mature,
 those parents become less and less mysterious, and eventually less impressive.

⁠
That's part of outgrowing our dependencies;
which is exactly what a good parent wants for their kids;
but
is exactly what the "Father" character in bibles
does not want (nor even tolerate).
⁠
Good parents welcome that.
Good parents want that to happen.
⁠
But early on, they come into focus as something VERY much like the idea of a deity.
⁠
So our brains get wired to be:
inclined towards
and receptive to
those sorts of perceptions and feelings.

Being much less self-aware
and much less developed in their reasoning faculties, ...

Our privative ancestors kept relating to the world around them ... using leftover neurological wiring from their earliest formative years.
⁠
They didn't fully let go of the notion
of mysterious intelligent entities
operating mostly beyond our perceptual and cognitive range.
⁠
They also didn't outgrow the latent childhood emotional drive
to be looked after, directed, restrained, validated, punished, and rewarded
by larger-than-life parental authority figures.
⁠
It's no wonder our ancestors developed and circulated stories and ideals that catered to those impulses, and FIT within that framework. 
⁠
Meanwhile, it helped them bond together as tribes; which helped them survive in a very hostile natural environment.
⁠---

However,
as humanity's abilities for rational inquiry developed,

privative concepts began to hold them back.
⁠
Those old training wheels needed to come off.
⁠
But it's still common
for people to have a marked fear of the unknown; and thus: a fear of change.
⁠
That's why religiosity is so much more intense and more fear-focused, and more prone to authoritarianism and violence
for "conservatives" factions.
⁠
Fear of change is one of the defining facets of the conservative mind; partly because 70% of conservatives (the socially dominant voices of that culture) have a larger amygdala (thus: a more intense fear-response) and less grey matter in the anterior cingulate cortex.
⁠
---
However, ...
⁠
my original point was this:
⁠
If you take ANY psychologically healthy human baby
and raise it in an environment that never mentions deities, or spirits, etc (neither for nor against; totally just never mentioned)
and provide well for all of that individual human's personal needs (physical, psychological, social, emotional, educational), ....
⁠
That child
will NOT develop theism.
⁠
Theism is a STATE of mind
instigated (seeded and cultivated) by a set of ideas and conditions
that are not initiated from within
nor
generated directly by any spirits or gods.
⁠
Every version
is a complex structure of ideas
spread from person to person.
⁠
But none of those started as a fully formed ideological structures. 
⁠
They started among primitives
as vague notions.

- And only because those primitives' were not equipped with better information and more rational ways to think.
⁠--

Something as specific as:
any specific "God"-concept 
cannot transfer *to* someone
if there is no one in an environment transferring it.
⁠
Nor will it emerge spontaneously within anyone.

Nor will it emerge gradually,
in any neurologically healthy individual equipped with
 modern data,
mature reasoning skills,
and a healthy sense of self. 

Thus, non-theism
is every individual's default state.
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