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Arguing with believers is generally futile and leads nowhere. But, just think of all the time squandered on argument for eons and consider how the individuals involved might have spent their time more productively. Nobody can deny the divisive influence of religion. No one and no institution has all the answers. Isn't that a fact?
Rather than argue incessantly, attack the problem at the root and branch. The difficulty directly stems from the forced conscription of children into prescribed belief systems they are commanded to follow. Leading children into heteronomy and away from autonomy does them a disservice because it places barriers between them and self determination. Moreover, exclusionary indoctrination sets limits and stifles intellectual flourishing. Instead, children deserve all doors and all future possibilities open to them. There is good evidence that early rigorous childhood indoctrination builds neuronal connections that are virtually impervious to change. Accordingly, a mindset can be crafted that is extremely difficult to modify and may stay with a child for life. It matters not if the belief system is religious, political, or eating vegan, but some systems are more powerful and exert greater force.
Demanding children believe anything because someone or some institution says they must is a problem. Even if that someone is a parent. Make that, especially if that someone is a parent, because parents are the controlling vector. Forcing children to conform to any dogma is a problem and when many groups do this to many children it is a recipe for strife. What we must have today are flexible adults, not trained automatons.
Rather than bashing each other in futile fights, we must find a root cause to swing our ax at. The answer seems patently obvious. End the universal curse of hereditary religion. Allow children to develop the intellectual tools they must have to achieve autonomy. Teach them to think critically and question all authority. Never dull their curiosity one tiny bit. Always encourage free inquiry, empathy and kindness. Guide them, do not command them. They are not property, but persons with rights that may indeed legitimately conflict with their parents. An adult that can use powerful intellectual tools and knows how to reason is most able to protect themselves from all manner of charlatans, scam artists, fear mongers and psychological manipulators.
Ending hereditary religion does not mean ending religion. For one thing that would mean ending the positive benefits people enjoy by belonging to a faith. It would end the community that faith groups provide their members and the mutual support people get would be sorely missing. The goal is to keep the baby and throw out the bath water. If the practice of forcing faith on vulnerable, hapless children could be stopped or even seriously impaired the institutions would have to reform or go out of business. Conscripting non-consenting children is the primary tool they use for gaining new adherents as oldsters inevitably fall into senescence and die. Flocks need constant replenishment. It simply means the seers and sages who control the faiths will be forced to seek new revelations that instruct them how to reform. Reformations are nothing new. The reformed organization will have to face mature people armed with the ability to demand respectable answers to pointed questions before they commit.
"While some might see it as a matter best left to parents, the negative influence of religion and its subsequent contribution to child abuse from religious beliefs and practices begs the question of whether organized religion is an institution that needs limits set on how early it should have access to children." Narisetti, Innaiah -- Forced Into Faith: How Religion Abuses Children's Rights
Thousands of activists around the world will stage the third 24-hour protest against hereditary religion on January 20, 2014. Speakers from many nations will explain the vision of the project and invite comment from the audience. The ultimate goal is to radically alter the religious landscape to make it more equitable for children, parents and communities around the globe.
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