Teaching Reason (to Children)

[Clueless Morgan]

After a while all the different god shit starts to look and smell like one big turd.

HA!! I'm so filing this one away.

Funny enough, 'mythology' didn't fool me, but folklore did for a time. I totally wanted to believe in aliens and bigfoot.

I, too, totally wanted to believe in aliens and bigfoot type things. I think what kept me from really believing in them was simply being a curious child, obsessed with learning about animals and reading and doing the experiments in my science-for-kids books, etc. I don't have kids (and don't plan to) but if I did end up with them I'd let them explore their curiosity and not dictate to them one way or the other about what to believe regarding deities or religion. Frankly, it's like Minimalist says above, if you learn about all the religions and aren't indoctrinated into any of them as a child you'll likely end up recognizing them for the contradicting messes they are. The kid may not end up as an atheist but with any luck they'll be able to reason well and see through the bullshit that will inevitably be foisted upon them.