Hostage to fear

[robvalue]

Tonechase: Indeed, I believe the "existence" of all the specific comic book style gods relies almost entirely on indoctrination. If people stopped hammering young, vulnerable minds with mythical gibberish presented as fact, they would reach the age of reason and would be able to make an unbiased, informed decision for themselves. And I think we know what that would be, on the whole. Present someone with developed critical thinking and no presuppositions the bible or the Quran, and (with no coercion) they will most likely reject it as silly stories. So without this oral myth that these books actually have any authority, it wouldn't matter that they exist or what they say any more than Harry Potter does.

People on some level must know this, since they continue to bombard their children as soon as they possibly can in order to make sure this crap sticks. Take away a couple of generations of indoctrination, and I'd give you 100-1 that Yahweh and Allah would fade into obscurity.

FAITH = Forever Actively Indoctrinating The Helpless

Regarding your statement:

"People on some level must know this, since they continue to bombard their children as soon as they possibly can in order to make sure this crap sticks."

That isn't necessarily true.  Parents teach their children things they regard as important.  Like fire burns and stoves can be hot, so they teach their children about that.  Likewise, if the parents believe in hell, they will want to teach their children to avoid it, too.

It is the same motivation in both cases, teaching children to avoid things that are dangerous and bad.

Yeah, you're right. I'm oversimplifying again. I find it baffling that parents think a child needs to know about hell and jesus as a priority, alongside not jumping out of a window or sticking a knife in your eye. But I suppose to some people, they are equally as important. That is scary in of itself.

Can't children be left to just be children... at least until they have a chance of even understanding what is being blasted at them? Parents should think very carefully about what they teach as fact to young children, because they are in essence programming them. This is why I despise indoctrination so much. You're not so much passing on a belief in your god as you are inserting that god directly into their brain.

PS: the idea that god could already be considering sending a child below the age of reason to hell for their actions, so they need to know about the rules, is repulsive.