The End Game of Atheism

[Mister Agenda]

You are assuming that all religious people are brainwashed, or that religion itself is a brainwashing process. However, what are you teaching your children about religion, God, how the universe came to be? I would suspect you are "brainwashing" them with Atheism, evolution, and the Big Bang theory.

This was an interesting comment, and I apologize for taking so long to get to it. You suspect incorrectly. Atheists have a highly variable approach to child-rearing, because atheism (nor theism) has nothing to say about child-rearing, because the only thing it is about is lack of belief in God(s). Because of the tendency for Western atheists to be freethinkers, humanists, and/or rationalists; it's common (though by no means universal) for atheists in the USA to encourage their children to come to their own conclusions about God(s) and religion, letting their children know that their love is not conditional on them being atheists. Some go so far as to take their children to services in different houses of worship or join up with the Unitarians because their religious education program teaches about the different religions of the world without requiring belief in one of them. If you value independent thinking, you don't squash it in your children, though they have a natural tendency to imitate their parents when very young, and an equally natural tendency to avoid imitating their parents when teenagers. I count myself among those who prefer to let children come to their own conclusions regarding the reality of deities. And even if you really, really want your kids to be atheists, I think cramming it down their throats will be counterproductive in the long run.