pelican,

I’ve said it so often I tend to take it for granted and sometimes don’t explain it properly. I am speaking of secular governments who would neither assist nor detract from religious adherents doing whatever they like as long as it is legal.

As for parents indoctrinating their children with their own world view, I am sure will become more of topical interest as we head into the future. Many parents don’t see such indoctrination as that at all, nor do they realise that is exactly what it can be. But as social knowledge grows such indoctrination will become more evident to a greater number of people. This is happening now. Many people are presently very aware that implanting messages in children could have life long effects and take care with what those messages are.

It would be unethical to force parents to take this into account and it would also be unworkable anyhow. Unless there is a government controlled camera in every room in every house such a law would be unworkable. Shades of 1984

Atheists would be the last group of people, if you can even call them a group, to vote for such an invasion of privacy.

The greatest political protection all of the population can benefit from it a secular democratic system. That is what atheism today is all about.

David

"every action has a cause
energy cant be CREATED..nor destroyed"

Exactly, yet you claim this of your super intelligent magical man that made everything.

Myself, I'll go with the evidence and science of the matter. ATM I think the most interesting, yet still not claim it as a truth, is that a quantum foam has always existed. Interesting eh? Tho it does lack the fire and brimstone of talking donkeys, snakes and burning bushes from the bronze age, I admit.

"so where does the electrical image of you go when you die?"

What electrical image of us are you talking about? There is no 'image of us', the workings of our brain are a result of the parts. The way you put it, everything would have an 'electrical image' that floated off into lala land after it died. A heaven of amoeba's and bacteria.

"lol..only too easy to..*chose to be ignorant"

Well yes it is and you chose the easy path, just throw a god into the gaps and claim your not ignorant because you have an answer!

There is nothing wrong with being open minded and realistic about the possibilities, there is no need to have to have the answers immediately .. unless of course you are religious. You claim to have the answer to life, the universe and everything! It's simply a magical man! And anyone who says they don't believe in your magical man, well, they are obviously out to undermine the magical man!

Well, show us the evidence for it. Otherwise it's just simply more hot air, stamping of feet, flapping of arms, sweating of palms staring into the screen with your nose right up against it, huffing and puffing ... empty, hot air.

Indoctrination comes in myriad forms. Children are indoctrinated most days of the year into a programmed pattern of behaviours and expectations just by going to school. This prepares them to join and participate in consumer culture. There was a time before such formalised educational indoctrination was the norm....we don't question it these days because it's almost beyond us to imagine an alternative model.

There is no indoctrination-free human paradigm.

"controlling ideology"...don't kid yourselves, you're imemrsed in it - and it doesn't necessarily involve religion.

Poirot

I am fully aware of being a product of late 20th and early 21st century western ideology. No argument there.

As for being an atheist - I just don't believe in a supreme deity - that's all. No hidden agendas, no fine print.

I have met atheists I utterly loathe and religious people who are among my dearest friends.

Atheism has no ideology to control anything.

I am running out of analogies, I'll try this; people claiming atheism is an ideology are like people claiming not collecting stamps is a hobby.

That’s it. I can’t keep quite anymore.

Sorry, but to gloss-over the indoctrination into something as mentally stifling, potentially harmful and just downright poisonous as religious belief, just because there are forms of “indoctrination” that we don't question these days due to the fact that it’s almost beyond us to imagine an alternative model, is absurd.

Religious indoctrination is done BECAUSE there is an imaginable alternative and it is done in spite of it; it is done deliberately to prevent a mind from accepting or even considering that clear-as-day alternative.

There is a big, big difference between teaching uncritically because we can no longer imagine an alternative to present as criticism of the status quo and deliberately teaching with the intent of discouraging others from even considering the alternatives.

To conflate the two is asinine.

AJPhilips,

Of course, we can "imagine" an alternative to mass education (indoctrination) and excessive consumerism, but any alternative would turn the system on its head - so we pretend it isn't indoctrination at all, or if it is, it's somehow exempt.