Thomas and Dark, I have held my tongue on this for quite some time, since it's off topic and a political firestorm issue. However, since our two moderators are the prime participants, I'm not going to worry about being banned for throwing in my two cents.
I was raised in a Mormon polygamist splinter group religion. This is more commonly known as a Mormon multiple wife cult. I had two moms, simultaneously in the same house, for several years when I was growing up. If any of you have more cult experience than I do, I'd like to hear about it. Based on my experience and my subsequent investigation into other organized religions over the years, I agree with Dawkins that raising children in a church is bordering on child abuse. When it comes to cults such as the jehovas witnesses, scientology, and mormon splinter groups, it's brutally clear that it's child abuse. And when it comes to cults, I'm totally in support of the state removing children from them, by force if necessary. Just because someone is a parent, doesn't mean that a child is property, and noone has the right to screw up a child the way those groups do. Also based on my background, I agree with him that children should be indoctrinated in the scientific method, again by force if necessary. Science teaches critical thinking and says nothing about religion - anyone who claims otherwise is either teaching it wrong, or has an agenda. Children who learn science can decide to learn religion afterward. However, the converse is not true: a child indoctrinated in a religion from birth will often have tremendous difficulty learning to think critically. Critical thinking is one of the most important skills you could possibly teach a child, and we shortchange both the child and all of society by allowing this idiocy to continue. Finally, this is grossly off topic. We should probably kill this thread and move back to gaming. Dennis Towne Alter Aeon MUD http://www.alteraeon.com On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 11:46 PM, Thomas Ward <thomasward1...@gmail.com> wrote: > To give you an example in the God Delusion Richard Dawkins equates > rasing our children in a church is child abuse. He suggests that > children should be taken away and raised by the state. That's a > fanatical position if I have ever heard one, and isn't much different > than the Hitler Youth in Natzi Germany. The reason Dawkins takes such > an extreme view is that he can't stand the idea that people don't > agree with his scientific point of view so children should be > indoctrinated in science by force if necessary. Thankfully herein the > U.S. we have the freedom of religion and parents are aloud to raise > their children in science, religion, or whatever they believe as long > as it is within reason. > > Cheers! --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
