I don't think there is any doubt about the fact that teaching your child to believe in God amounts to child abuse: http://www.atheistmissionary.com/2009/02/does-tea... However, it is pretty funny to talk to them about what various religions believe as a matter of faith. From the viewpoint of a child unburdened by religious indoctrination, the thought of people eating the body and blood of Jesus Christ is just gross enough to be downright hilarious. "Noah's ark ... walking on water ... parting the Red Sea ... Adam & Eve ... c'mon, nobody in their right mind could believe that shit ... ooops .... sorry Dad ... I know I'm not supposed to say that word."

In any event, smart kids are going to make up their own minds. I always say (only half-jokingly) that all my kids will probably go to Bible college just to piss me off.

After getting the neighbour to concede that she would not have allowed her child to be taken to an atheist gathering, I would have permitted her to take my 6 year old child to church. Do you really think shielding your children from religion irrationality is the way to go? Teach them to think - not what to think. We took our 8 year old daughter to an RC wedding mass this summer & she was even invited by the bride to deliver the wine to the priest for communion. I am convinced that the whole experience has left her far more skeptical of Christianity than any lecture I could have given her.

This post reminded me of a comment I found on the Makarios blog earlier today:

"In Darwinist / Fascist terms, Hitler's biggest mistake was stepping outside his own borders.

If he'd stayed inside Germany, the rest of the world would have let him fry Jews to this very day."

Baconeater, we all know that the rest of the world was terribly complicit in what was going on in Germany in the years leading up to WWII and even during WWII. As I heard one commentator ask recently, why didn't the allies bomb the train tracks leading to the concentration camps? In any event, I am interested to know what you think would have happened (in terms of mistreatment of the Jews by the Nazis and the complicity towards this mistreatment from the world community) if Hitler had been smart enough not to make his play for world domination.

That link doesn't work for some reason.

I had to post my question separately:

My question relates to your name twitter name Bacon_Eater. I should add that I also love bacon. However, I am interested to know if you have given much thought to what I consider the pretty damning philosophical argument that eating meat is ethically indefensible? I am just getting read to read Peter Singer's "Animal Liberation" and I have my doubts whether I will be able to stomach the thought of eating meat (particularly the products of factory farming) much longer. In any event, I am interested to hear your inout on this issue.

Hi Atheist Jew. This is the first time I've visited your site and it looks great. I have two comments and a question.

My comment relates to those poor creationist sods who continue to doubt the fact of evolution. If you have an acquaintance that fits this description, please give them a copy of Jerry Coyne's new book "Why Evolution is True". The argument in support of evolution is so easy, it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Coyne's book should leave those questioning the fact of evolution with the members of the flat earth society.

My second comment: As I have mentioned on makarios' blog, he is nothing more than a modern day William Paley (i.e. who coined the cosmic watchmaker analogy). What makarios knows can be explained by science (such as evolution), he accepts. What he knows cannot yet be explained by science (such as exactly how the first biological replicators originated), he says must be intelligently designed.