We go down a slippery slope if we start dictating to parents what they can and can't teach their children.

Most religious families will raise their children within that doctrine. Most are moderates and the children will also experience life outside the home through school, media and friends. From there teens will sort out in their own minds whether or not they will follow the religion of their parents.

What is practised within the home should be a matter for parents as long as there is no acutal child abuse related to religious practices eg. such as severe beatings to rid of the devil, and other such maniacal nonsense. There is also a thin line in relation to blood transfusions and similar beliefs that may lead to the death of a child who has no power in the decision making process. That is where the line gets a bit tricky from a legal aspect - religious rights vs right to life.

Teaching religion is not akin to child abuse. Children are raised in all manner of families including hippy communes, middle class surburbia, socialist, right wing, farming life etc. No matter the character of the family, children generally grow up and decipher the many mixed messages for themselves.

Religion is a matter for the home, rather it there than used as a mass indoctrination exercise in public schools, where at least in a secular society, children benefit from experiencing opposing opinions and can determine there are many paths and what they know from the homefront is just one.

Since Homo Sapiens began to think and wonder about their origins,they have sought to explain it.
Each in their own time, Philosophers have come up with theories, some exist today.

Australian Aborigines believe their world was created by the Rainbow Serpent; The Wagilag Sisters Story explains their belief.
Judaism claims God gave the jews the promised land and so it is told in the old testament. The birthplace of Jesus and his place of execution have become shrines for Christians , occupied by Israel as their promised land.

Mecca is a shrine for Muslims as their holy birthplace.
A new sect emerges fairly regularly claiming to possess the true word of God.

I look to science to provide me with a credible explanation as to our origins and I therefore believe it is quite inappropriate to close the minds of our children by plying them with myths .
My children were raised to have respect for other people and exposed to as wide a variety of explanations without tying them to a dogma.

They have been encouraged to seek knowledge and to make a decision as to a belief in their own time as adults. So far, none have embraced religious dogma and are raising their children in the same way.
The mind is like a book;it only works when it is open

It just goes to show how important environment and the herd instinct is to personal belief systems.

Most people stick with whatever system they are indoctrinated into, probably on the basis of the fear of leaving it for the unknown or meeting with the disapproval of family /tribal members.

As Bill Maher pointed out, if a child was told that the story of Jonah and the whale was a Fairy tale but that God lives at the top of a giant beanstalk, and was threatened with the prospect of eternal damnation for not believing it - what chance or choice does the child have of thinking independently during those early stages of its life?

Oh, and Leigh - the only truly Totalitarian state left in the world today is the Vatican, where one man's decisions cannot be challenged or overturned by anybody.

I only really popped in to see if runner had posted.

I remember vividly sitting 1 metre away from the TV with the sound turned down to almost zero watching 'The Thunderbirds', praying my parents wouldn't wake up because then I'd have to go to Sunday School.

I imagine they were probably shagging or having a great lay-in thinking themselves pretty clever.

No doubt Glen would be happy for his kids to get their value systems from Underbelly or Lady Gaga. Many State zoos (sorry schools) will see to that. You will have your girls pregnant by 10 and boys smoking dope by 11. Don't however tell them its wrong. Thankfully most parents love their kids enough to see the stupidity of his dogma. Surely he isn't so stupid as to believe that his form of corrupt morality is better than that of Christ. He obviously missed having this article published on 1 April. With the huge and growing number of believing and non believing parents insisting on spending money to send their kids to a school with some moral framework we can see that most people think that Greg's dogma is simply crap.

Pelican you are always correct in my opinion; an experienced broadminded highly intelligent individual fair and compassionate too. Your partner is most fortunate to have you.