Posted on January 29, 2017 by Michael

Back in July 2016, atheist Zoltan Istvan laid out his position concerning “the religious indoctrination of children.”

Like some other atheists and transhumanists, I join in calling for regulation that restricts religious indoctrination of children until they reach, let’s say, 16 years of age. Once a kid hits their mid-teens, let them have at it—if religion is something that interests them. 16-year-olds are enthusiastic, curious, and able to rationally start exploring their world, with or without the guidance of parents. But before that, they are too impressionable to repeatedly be subjected to ideas that are faith-based, unproven, and historically wrought with danger. Forcing religion onto minors is essentially a form of child abuse, which scars their ability to reason and also limits their ability to consider the world in an unbiased manner. A reasonable society should not have to indoctrinate its children; its children should discover and choose religious paths for themselves when they become adults, if they are to choose one at all.

This is a position that is not uncommon among the atheist activists. In fact, my guess is that many readers have encountered this position, or something very similar, when interacting with atheists on the internet given the seeds of this position were planted in Richard Dawkins’ God Delusion. So let’s have a closer look at it.

Read more: link