(December 8, 2010 at 6:21 pm)Paul the Human Wrote: It is indoctrination, because they are told that god is real, Jesus died for their sins, prayer by rote is a part of everyday life, sinning is a ticket to hell, and so on... every day of their lives from the moment they are born. It may not be conscious and purposeful indoctrination, but it is, indeed, indoctrination. I was indoctrinated into the Catholic Church and only broke free of that indoctrination through effort of my own.
No, no and no. You are deeply wrong there. "They" is a MINORITY. The majority are never told the words "that's sinning" or "you should pray". The majority of people of faith don't give a flying fuck about their religion.
You antagonize religion and those who practice it so much...read you posts, they are so full of hatred ! Hatred of any kind is never good because, as you just showed, it clouds your judgment and only makes you see a small fraction of the whole picture.
Remember Jon Stewart's motto for the "Rally to restore Sanity": "i disagree with you, but i don't think you're Hitler."
I was brought up in a catholic family too, but i wouldn't say i "broke free". I just changed my mind about it. Breaking free from an idea is really not an amazing feat if you are in an open-minded environment. Becoming an atheist should not be considered a great act of amazing bravery. Some conversions are hard, dangerous, long, but most are not. Mine certainly was not. My parents, who go to church every sunday, just said "well as long as you're happy that's fine"
Finally, the vast majority of theists i know believe that your religion does not matter, if you are a good person, you are going to Heaven.
