Religious Indoctrination Of Children: A Harm Society Denies

"I shall probably shock you when I say it is the purpose of my lecture today [is] . . . to argue, in short, in favor of censorship, against freedom of expression, and to do so moreover in an area of life that has traditionally been regarded as sacrosanct.

"I am talking about moral and religious education. And especially the education a child receives at home, where parents are allowed—even expected—to determine for their children what counts as truth and falsehood, right and wrong.

"Children, I’ll argue, have a human right not to have their minds crippled by exposure to other people’s bad ideas—no matter who these other people are. Parents, correspondingly, have no god-given license to enculturate their children in whatever ways they personally choose: no right to limit the horizons of their children’s knowledge, to bring them up in an atmosphere of dogma and superstition, or to insist they follow the straight and narrow paths of their own faith."

Click on the link below for support for the above:

A superb article against the religious indoctrination of children

The Subtleties Of Secular Morality

Morality based on religious authority and dogma can be good or bad. The problem is, how can one tell which is the case? This is the Divine Command understanding of morality and history has clearly shown that it has created much more harm than good. The opposite of this "Top-Down" understanding of morality is the "Bottom-Up" morality that is known as Secular Morality. Observation of human activity throughout history clearly shows that morality actually comes from within normal humans through biology/evolution and social influences. The problem with secular morality is that it is subjective and everyone has at least a little different perspective on the subject. So, societies that have governmental organizations based on secular law and not religious laws are contentious because of such. So, what to do about it? How about first agreeing on what morality is and then turning to science for the various effects of actions for informing moral decisions?

Click on the link below for a 15-min video that presents many of the subtleties of secular morality:

Humanism fails as a moral code? 

Secular Morality Wins

One of the hardest facts for the religious to accept is that secular morality trumps any religious dogma regarding such. Phil Zuckerman, Associate Dean as well as Professor of Sociology at Pitzer College, and the founding chair of the nation’s first Secular Studies Program gave the following talk at the recent Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) annual conference in Boston, MA. Click on the link below for a 30-min presentation in support of this claim:

How Secular Morality Will Save the World

No, Religious Societies Are NOT Better

There is a trove of data rejecting the claim that religious societies are better. Click on the links below for the truth:

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"Do societies fall apart when they become more secular? Clearly not."

Secular Societies Fare Better Than Religious Societies

"Are secular countries worse off than religious ones? Is atheism the downfall of nations? Are countries cursed by god when they stray from the faith? Or do non-religious outperform religious countries on measures of wealth, well-being and success? Today, we'll dive into the data to see if atheism is, in fact, the downfall of nations or if the blessing of God/curse of secularism is a myth."

Is Atheism the Downfall of Nations? Here's What the Data Says

"Are Christian countries better off than secular countries? Does God bless Christian nations and curse atheist countries? Or are the secular countries better off when we measure wealth, prosperity, happiness, and well-being?"

The Christian Blessing Debunked

Morality Has A LONG History

Morality is essentially cooperative social behavior. The religious claim that God is needed for morality. Funny how science continues to find the seeds of morality further and further back in the history of life on Earth. If we are normal psychologically, we have secular morality. Unfortunately, the majority of people don't understand this fact.

Click on the link below:

Scientists Just Found The Earliest Evidence of Social Behaviour in Mammals

Western Civilization And Values

One Christian apologists' arrow in their quiver of false claims is that Western Civilization owes its values to Christianity. The 10-min video below sets the record straight:

Western Civilization is Based on Judeo-Christian Values – Debunked