Monday Morning Moron(Evening Edition): Your Religious Kids

This post has been brought to you by Ayat al-Akhras and all the other children dying for what they "believe".

So young. So naive. Too bad that they don't know what they believe.










My friend God (that's his real nickname) always used to have this saying, "You are the smartest dumb motherfucker I know!" That is when a smart person does or says something stupid and vice-versa. I think that way about Americans. No matter what, we try our best to act like we don't know any better when it comes to understanding complex issues. That is bullshit. We have so much access to so much information about everything. Yet we still censor ourselves to it all.

We have entire science concentration devoted to evolution. It's not illegal (coughTexascough)to learn about evolution. It's also fairly simple. I am planning on a simple way to teach it to my children so they can compete with the suburban kids in all fields. However, people always like to challenge science with a belief. Belief without evidence is the father of all fuckery. Now I am afraid that my kid will go through school thinking that GOD and science mix in some grand scheme. I shouldn't be the one to do this. Do you see how I write? I can barely form a complete sentence.


We are products of our own ignorance. In theory, we can just hint that we would like evolution to be taught in our schools in the second grade. I guarantee that the most right wing Christian Congressman would change his views overnight. This is because, generally speaking, our elected officials have no true beliefs. The same people who are pro-choice would euthanize an entire nursing home if it meant a few thousand votes. That doesn't stop us from believing these guys like they are men of their convictions. That is why we are all the smartest dumb motherfuckers in the world.

Thankfully, we have the youth and young minded. It's customary for young people to rebel. There are several examples of the greedy and elite having children who are philanthropists, give to charity, and join the Peace Corp. My mother is a Jesus Freak. I am an atheist. Hopefully, the children of the Christian Right will rebel and reverse all the damage done by their parents. In the United States, we always have that option.

Many countries don't have that option. There is no Separation of Church and State in many places. Islamic states are the best examples. There hasn't been much progress recently that would make these countries more rational. It is seen as an honor to follow the teachings of your parents. The youth are seen much different in the middle east. While the youth are trying to change things in the west, Islamic countries are doing everything to suppress the ideas of the future.  The Iranian Protests in 2009 are the most prominent example of this. The sight of the death of Neda Agha-Soltan is still painful to watch. For all of you who have low attention spans and  are really into the new season of Jersey Shore, click here for the video.

How sad is that? Twenty-five years old. There are other examples. Look at all the child soldiers throughout Asia and Europe. I would even include all these baby gangsters that I see in my neighborhood. Children are very easy to control. Young adults are more effective to control because they think they are making a well thought out conscious decision. In fact, they are made to believe that they are making a decision. They are following the same orders as children, but to varying degrees. I joined the military at age 17. I am all too familiar with teenagers "dying for their country".

The most extreme case of this is a Suicide Bomber. Most of those guys were in their mid twenties. That is barely out of college. That is supposed to be the most fun. You know what you want (or think you do). You start thinking about family. By that time, you realize how much you want to put your mark on society. You have your whole life ahead of you. So why would someone do such an insane thing like a suicide attack.



Religion is the most convincing thing to a young person. I know that we may be thinking that there is a fine line between a preteen and a person in their mid twenties. If we are talking about maturity, that is obvious. But it's not as clear cut as we would like to believe. When you add religion to anyone's ethics, morals, and knowledge..it dramatically effects their ability to reason.

Whether it's fair or unfair, Today's Monday Morning Moron is Today's Youth. That's everyone one 30 and under.  It is in our evolutionary makeup to raise our children until we deem them able to live on their own. You can't hoover over them forever. You can't supervise them or control them for the rest of their lives. But we can ensure that they are raised properly. I think the only way you can truly make the right decisions in life is to eliminate belief out of a child's vocabulary. Until then, we will still have street gangs, child soldiers, and suicide bombers. Let's do everything we can to prevent this.




If you believe the children are our future, stop teaching them empty and vapid  concepts that have no meaning in the real world.

Let me make it clear that I am referring to everyone who teaches their kids in terms of belief. If you read my post a few weeks ago "My Atheist Kids" You will see that there is no way that I consider my children anything. How the fuck can I tell them what to believe. If you ever tell someone what to believe, you cannot be certain that they truly believe it. I think Jay-Z is the best rapper ever. How would I look telling Brit and Josh "Look, I know you are into Rhianna and Chris Brown, but you don't like them anymore. You kids better prefer Jay-Z and DMX!" You would say that I am crazy. It's no way that I should convince my kids to believe that "The Blueprint" is the best album ever.  That analogy should be enough for now. 



In closing, I will quote the great Richard Dawkins

Faith is an evil precisely because it requires no justification and brooks no argument. Teaching children that unquestioned faith is a virtue primes them – given certain other ingredients that are not hard to come by - to grow up into potentially lethal weapons for future jihads or crusades. Immunized against fear by the promise of a martyr's paradise, the authentic faith-head deserves a high place in the history of armaments, alongside the longbow, the warhorse, the tank and the cluster bomb. If children were taught to question and think through their beliefs, instead of being taught the superior virtue of faith without question, it is a good bet that there would be no suicide bombers. Suicide bombers do what they do because they really believe what they were taught in their religious schools: that duty to God exceeds all other priorities, and that martyrdom in his service will be rewarded in the gardens of Paradise. And they were taught that lesson not necessarily by extremist fanatics but by decent, gentle, mainstream religious instructors, who lined them up in their madrases, sitting in rows, rhythmically nodding their innocent little heads up and down while they learned every word of the holy book like demented parrots. Faith can be very very dangerous, and deliberately to implant it into the vulnerable mind of an innocent child is a grievous wrong.

~The God Delusion

Indeed Rick.