I'd commend this to your attention. It's only short but it manages to acknowledge that there are two basic ways to interpret the data. Justin L Barrett: Do children believe because they're told to by adults? The evidence suggests otherwise | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk:
After looking briefly at the findings, Justin Barrett concludes "That belief comes so naturally to children may sound like an attack on religious belief (belief in gods is just leftover childishness) or a promotion of religious belief (God has implanted a seed for belief in children). What both sides should agree upon is the scientific evidence: certainly cultural inputs help fill in the details but children's minds are not a level playing field. They are tilted in the direction of belief."
Interesting, don't you think?
25 November 2008
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"Spend and tax" not "tax and spend"
I got a response from my MP which got me kind of mad. You'll see why as I reproduce it here. Apologies for the strange changes in types...
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"'Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell yo...
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I'm not sure people have believed me when I've said that there have been discovered uncaffeinated coffee beans. Well, here's one...
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Well then, those finding appear to refute the belief among some atheists that children are born atheists, and that if only they could be protected from evil religious indoctrination by adults they would stay that way.
Some have suggested, apparently quite seriously, that adults teaching religion to children should be treated as child abuse by law.
You're right Steve on the 'born atheist' point. I have heard the child abuse charge attributed to Richard Dawkins, but I can't say for sure about that: I have the impression that he may say it or get close to saying it in the God Delusion.
I thought I'd just see whether it could be found on an Everyclick search. It came up with this article in which Dawkins does pretty much go down the 'religion is chlid abuse' line. Thus he ends the article, "Priestly groping of child bodies is disgusting. But it may be less harmful in the long run than priestly subversion of child minds."
http://richarddawkins.net/article,118,Religions-Real-Child-Abuse,Richard-Dawkins
Interesting article Andii
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