I couldn’t agree with you more. If religious ideas are “true” or even just compelling, why do children need to be propagandized from infancy?

I think it’s a harder decision when an atheist is having a kid with a theist. It’s a complicated discussion I have yet to hold with my (somewhat unusual but still Catholic) fiancee. But I simply do not think that brainwashing from infancy is the best way to go in any area. Reason and logic will do the job much better than fear of hell, and with less damage along the way.

Thanks for your comment.

I doubt most children would find sense in a perfect, loving, omnipotent being who created imperfect, weak beings only to punish them for it. Most people can agree that it is abhorrent for a mother to favor one child over another, yet they accept that god could favor one group of people over all the other humans HE created and even order his chosen favorites to kill other groups of people (and their children and their livestock- what did those animals ever do?).

Telling a child the sky is blue, the earth is round, but invisible god is real (yet those people’s gods over there aren’t real or right) damages mental reasoning ability from the start of their lives. And once you buy into one type of hogwash, you’re prone to buy others. We have a society of adults who cling to fantasies instead of simple reasoning. Some do this on their way to deprogramming themselves (god, different god, new age, agnostic, freethinker/atheist). Others cling to fantasy their entire life and spread it to their children.

It all comes down to taking the blue pill or the red one! :o)

http://www.skepticreport.com/mystics/twyman.htm

You might be interested in reading that article.