So, your little Joe asks you why his little friend, Abby, wears a head scarf.  You could reply with:

a) she’s very shy

b) she’s hideous

c) her religious beliefs insist she cover up

Little Joe then goes on to ask, “why doesn’t her brother Abdul, wear one?”  Now the issue has become way too hard and it’s probably better to distract little Joe with the promise of pizza or extra time playing video games.  This is by far, the best solution, and I implore you to consider it. 

The alternatives to such cowardly diversionary tactics are; to accept Abby’s faith and chat about how great it is, condemn her faith and become similar via narrow-minded proxy, or question her faith and risk… well heaps. I prefer the latter option, which unfortunately stems from chronic stupidity and a weird desire to evolve.

My little Joe became a Catholic of his own accord.  To say I was disappointed, is an understatement.  More like devastated. I think the glow-in-the-dark madonna he purchased with my hard-earned cash turned his hardly-earned pocket money, was a low point in my life as a parent.  I begged him to buy lollies instead.  Thankfully, the little fella saw the atheist light not long after his fervent yet brief dalliance with religion, but the experience still haunts me and each day I am grateful for his sins.

Obviously, I’m an atheist.  Often I’m a practicing atheist and other times I can’t be bothered practicing anything.  I idly harbour hopes that atheism will one day reign supreme, but even this is too extreme an ideal to promote.

For me, the decision to support religious freedom comes down to the practicalities of self and society. I find sprituality of any ilk highly impractical on a personal and societal level (not to mention, dull) since humans tend to take just about everything too far and inevitably someone gets hurt, killed and/or brain-washed and on a grand scale, nothing good ever comes of it.  Basically (and ironically), religion is considerably self-serving and somewhat dangerous.

Here are some reasons why I reckon we shouldn’t bother with it, that I found on the BBC website under ethics, religion and atheism (I removed the first two points listed on the site because I didn’t really like them):

• Religion stops people thinking in a rational and objective way
• Religion forces people to rely on outside authority, rather than becoming self-reliant
• Religion imposes irrational rules of good and bad behaviour
• Religion divides people, and is a cause of conflict and war
• The hierarchical structure of most religions is anti-democratic, and thus offends basic human rights
• Religion doesn’t give equal treatment to women and gay people, and thus offends basic human rights
• Religion obstructs scientific research
• Religion wastes time and money

  

I concede there are positives, such as (again, I removed a point because it was crap):

• Art and music
• Charities and good works
• Human fellowship and togetherness

  

But, I believe these benefits are better achieved via other means. 

I have a grossly generalised and unsubstantiated theory that belief in god(s) taught from birth, activates a part of the brain that will forever require a ’spiritual’ connection - to what or whom, is irrelevant.  Kind of like smokers needing to feed particular receptors in their brains.

In support of this excellent theory, there is (scant, though increasing) neurological evidence to suggest religiosity is a temporal lobe thing and that our capacity to believe in ‘nonsense’ is merely a by-product of our intelligence. 

Perhaps with a little more independent thought applied to our daily lives, instead of resigning ourselves to dogmatic and insular customary obligations because that’s what we’ve done for ages, we might find that, in general, religion causes harm to women, homosexuals, and people who wear unnatural fibres, and we should probably let it fall by the wayside.

I think it’s a better bet, contrary to Pascal’s Wager, that we ditch teaching our kids spirituality or religion and go for something more helpful.  Like learning the 34 possible uses for glow-in-the-dark madonnas. 

Parenting tip - instead of the bible, offer up, Sophie’s World and read it together.

Smiley

ps you might like to read Charles Bradlaugh’s essay, Humanity’s Gain From Unbelief, which is bloody great.  Even better, read the extras available in the book - he interviews a few religious blokes and intellectually smites them.

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