British humanist campaign questions religious indoctrination of children

For reasons I cannot determine, the video of Maryam Namazie posted with my comment. I cannot delete my comment or get rid of the video. Not that I am against Maryam's message. I am a huge fan of hers, but he topic does not fit my post.

One of the primary reasons that religious people long to "introduce" children to catechism, training, value teaching or what ever euphenism you want to call indoctination, is because at an early age children are programable. Much as Pavolov's dog would salivate at the ringing of the bell after it had associated being fed with the bell.
I am of the belief that most human beings that have not been subjected to religious indoctrination do not have the "conditioned reflex" to believe in concepts such as heaven or Hell, talking snakes, or virgin births. They tend to reject those concepts as primitive explanations for life and the universe. They acted as a substitute for scientific knowledge. I am also convinced that if a scroll would surface that stated that Jesus refuted the very concept of Hell ,that the following Sunday the churches would be empty. The idea that this powerful God will subject a human being to an eternity of unimaginably horrific torture for the offense of telling a lie, or for a man to see an attractive woman and imagine making love to her...to any reasonable individual that is ludicrous... Religious organizations have, over the years, cataloged just about each and every human characteristic and labeled them as offensive to God which will then bring down upon you a fierce punishment...in exactly the same way a child relates to his or her parent. the child relates their helpless position with their parents to that with a God....that is how the imprinting takes place.. It's a miserable thing to do to a child actually , and if you doubt that, let me pose this question to all the Christians who are ready to pounce on me with all their righteous indignation...how do you feel about the religious indoctrination of Muslim children? do you think it's good thing ? If you can see the problem with other religions filling the heads of their children with ideas you disagree with , how is your doing the same damn thing any different?

Those of us who have children tend to teach our children our values and ideas about life, just like people who have no religious stance do with their kids. People whose religious beliefs are important to them try to pass on those beliefs just as they do any other belief they have. That in no way makes them wrong. On the other hand, children who are raised with NO beliefs tend to continue to have no beliefs. How DARE anyone try to question the MORALITY of a parent teaching their religious belief to their children? Just WHERE do morals come from, if not from religion, and if not taught? Parents can only teach what they believe. When the child is old enough they can either accept it or reject it and find their own way. Having been taught morals is much more important than NEVER having been taught.

I think it's wrong to force any religion on your children. 9 times out of ten they will rebel and possibly not learn any morels at all.

I've had great results with my kids by encouraging them to watch Star Trek when and if they wanted to. That and teaching them about the science of the universe really helped too.

That's how it goes though. You grow up with one relgion and then when you get older you can decide for yourself if it's right for you or not.

I grew up going to church every Sunday. I was aware of other religions. I was aware that not one knows what religion is right if any is right at all. I got to be about 13, and started looking at other religions and then decided that Christianity was right for me.

But you can't just let a kid grow up without knowing their religious options... I mean, unless you're atheist and that's what you're going for.