Is Teaching Creationism to a Kid Child Abuse?

atheist parent atheist parent atheist parent atheist parent atheist parent atheist parent atheist parent atheist parent atheist parent atheist parent atheist parent atheist parent

Are you on social media at all?
If so you have skipped at least a hundred articles and posts this month that are exploring and debating this question.

While I haven’t read a single one of those pieces I’m still thrilled at their existence. The fact that so many authors are addressing the question tells us something exciting, something worth celebrating.

Secular voices are rising! Secular and atheist authors and speakers and bloggers and youtubers and people are finally getting a say. We are at the table. For the first time in my life, atheist people are in the spotlight in very real and lasting ways, putting reason and critical thinking and secular points of view on display, normalizing it! I can’t help the exclamation points; it’s an amazing time to be alive.

I went and read “The Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism” from 2012, see Gallop-interanational.com for more information, and learned that, of the respondants, 37% of people claim to be nonreligious or atheists. 37%! That number, according to the same study, is a ten percent rise from a previous study from five years before. That number means alot because is shows us, in part, that people are naming it, claiming it, and identifying as nonbelievers far more openly than at any time in centuries. I think that is exciting!

I know, I know. I know that you are thinking, yeah, but atheists are also still the least trusted demographic, according to that one Pew study. Yeah… I don’t know what to say about that. That’s one of those WTF moments. But I have hope.

I have hope because there is a groundswell going on; more and more people who are in the social and public spheres calling themselves atheists, seeking like-minded associates, and putting their voices on the line. More and more people are using secular terms to describe themselves, to explore social issues, and to guide their lives...openly. More internet resources, more published material to read (most of it still self published, sadly), more atheist conventions and events. More.

Rayven

I hope the question is asked at least a million more times: Is teaching creationism to a child child abuse? Because it is finally considered a plausible question. Because people are answering yes to the question. Because public time and space is given to a question that has bothered many of us for years. PUBLIC. TIME. and SPACE.

I feel it, the change. I intend to be a part of it.  

Also, as my friend Rayven would have me say, Of Course, anytime you teach a child to forgo reason and logic for mythology you are handicapping them...for life, as well as ensuring another generation of adults who are incapable of making healthy and innovative solutions on this planet. Anytime you burden a potentially thinking mind with impediments to clear thought, you might as well be putting concrete blocks on feet that are learning how to run. 

In fact, isn't raising a child in religion child abuse? 


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You might also like:
My Children are being Raised in a Religion-Free Home
Relax...It's Just God
Heart Outside of my Body