From PZ's Place: Ric Baker, USA, on Why I Am An Atheist:

I am an atheist because I got lucky. My luck came in two forms: good parents and an education in critical thinking. First, my parents had a large hand in developing my atheism. No, please don’t think that my parents “indoctrinated” me into atheism like religious parents indoctrinate their children into their superstitions. In fact, the opposite is true. My parents protected me from indoctrination. Like almost all people raised in the United States, I was reared in a relatively religious community and was surrounded by believers. Now, having grown up in the North East, my community was not nearly as rabidly religious as some, but I still felt the pressure to conform to religion as a child and felt the fear of damnation. But when others would try to indoctrinate me, my parents would subtly counteract it by explaining that what they were telling me was not THE way to believe but merely one among many ways that people believe. By simply exposing me to other religions and beliefs, I was able to see that none was more rational or believable than any other.

I was also naturally intellectually curious, and I always loved reading From a young age, I devoured every book I could get my hands on. This trend continues to this day and led to my being thoroughly educated in critical thinking and philosophy. In fact, I received an MA in Philosophy with a specialty in critical thinking. Anyone who has not been indoctrinated, who knows something about critical thinking, and who has read widely is bound, in my opinion, to come to become an atheist. And thus I did. My atheism is indeed deeply rational and scientific, but I do recognize that I was lucky to reach this conclusion based on the preparation I was given in my childhood.

Ric Baker
United States

Being counter-indoctrinated as a child with the idea that all religions are equally false, Baker's Atheist parents protected his Atheism from the start. This prophylactic concept has never been questioned, and is still an unexamined truth statement which he values as fundamental to his worldview.

Baker asserts critical thinking and philosophy, over and over. And he claims his position to be “deeply rational and scientific”. Critical thinking, as Ric understands it, is not defined, and since amongst the Atheist community it is frequently confused with Radical Skepticism which is highly critical of everything not within the ideology of the skeptic, we might be skeptical ourselves. Especially given his fallacious, unexamined reasoning held over from childhood. But there is not enough information here to tell if that is the case for Ric, so we are left with only suspicions.

It is interesting that he does not assert logic, being indoctrinated in philosophy. But we are unable to discern any particular or specific reason or reasoning for his worldview. There is nothing here to analyze or to lead us toward or away from Atheism.

It’s too bad that Ric did not take the effort to fully explain the “critical thinking” and the source of grounding for his “critical thinking” concerning arguments for a first cause. That would have made his article useful. As it stands, it provides no value or argument.

Conclusion: Atheist from early childhood; no rejection, no argument.