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God would be an atheist...
A rational look at religion, morality, politics and daily life |
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HOME / This Week About GWBAA WEEKLY COLUMNS Previous Coming Print column Why subscribe? Schedule Terms & Rates Subscribe Online column Subscribe BASICS Definitions Atheism Faith God Religion etc Analysis The meaning of life Morality etc NEXT STEPS Buy Discuss Join Read REVIEWS CONTACT Link to this site December 25, 2005 All Rights Reserved World Copyright © Martin Foreman |
Column 46: Amanda and Mrs Green Opening children's minds By © Martin Foreman Word Count: 791 words Publication date: January 1, 2006 Print publications wishing to syndicate the column should click here. Individual subscribers wishing to receive columns by e-mail should click here. I’m not a fan of children. I’m a greater believer in the principle that they should be neither seen nor heard, nor, ideally, conceived. Like badly trained dogs, children tend to make a lot of noise, bring a lot of dirt into the house and demand a lot of attention. Children are one of the strongest pieces of evidence against the notion of Intelligent Design. Any supernatural being with a modicum of talent and a sense of pride would not create a species that spent a quarter of its lifespan changing shape and learning how to think and control its bowels. Of course, it’s all the fault of the parents. Some are too strict and some are not strict enough. Some have neuroses which scar their children for life, Only occasionally are there men and women mature enough to produce children who grow up with the right balance of humility and confidence, of humor and seriousness, of generosity and selfishness. To get the children we deserve, I would make contraception compulsory except for those who could prove that their children would be a benefit rather than a hindrance to the human race. The policy would not be retrospective in case I have to apply it to myself. I’m aware that such opinions are anathema to most Americans. And like most Utopias, they are utterly impractical. So I shelve them in my mental library, next to the plans for making the playing of golf a capital offense and the absurd idea that Fox runs a News Channel. Actually, when a child and I cross paths, I’m invariably pleasant. It’s partly from selfishness – a child who likes you is better than a child bawling her eyes out because you’ve upset her. It’s also from sympathy – life can be tough and confusing for children and I see no reason to make it worse. Life is not easy for children, pressured as they are by parents and peers. And we don’t make it easier by stuffing their heads with lies in the guise of truth. As I’ve argued before, we should deal with religion the same way as we deal with pornography. Acceptable for consenting adults, but illegal for those under 18. Until that happy day, American kids will continue to grow up believing that there is a God itching to cast them into hell for the slightest transgression. By the time they reach puberty they’re so convinced by the myth that the only freethinkers are the naturally rebellious Goths and nerds. Which is why we need such books as Humanism, What’s That? This new publication from Prometheus Books is an attempt to introduce ten year-olds and above to a sense of reality and the idea that maybe there isn’t an Awesome Father Figure staring down at us from the sky. Written by Helen Bennett, a former children’s librarian, Humanism, What’s That? presents a dialogue between Mrs Green, a science teacher, and the children in her class on the day they learn that one of their classmates, Amanda, has been injured in an accident and may die. One of the students suggests that if the class prays God will be persuaded to make the girl well. Mrs G explains that they can’t do so, because the United States Constitution ensures the separation of Church and State. Thus endeth the Introduction. Three more chapters, plus a Humanist Creed and a few poems follow. I wish I could wholeheartedly recommend this book. Its heart is in the right place. Bennett states her case as inoffensively as possible, less denying God than pointing out that many people do not accept that God exists. But in making her point, Bennett tries to too hard to cover every base. The conversation – as conversations tend to do – wanders all over the place, from anti-Semitism to Mother Nature, from abortion to criminal rights. This is realistic, but it’s not helpful. No sooner has one point been made than it is forgotten and another takes its place. If each chapter had been shorter and stuck to just one issue it would have helped budding minds focus and develop a capacity for clear thinking. Instead of which they are offered a collection of ideas tossed in the air like a salad. But it’s the Festive Season, the middle of Yule, and I don’t want to be churlish. There are some good points in Mrs Green’s dialogue and the questions at the end of the book are one way of stimulating young people’s thinking. It will do some good and little harm. Above all, we have few enough weapons to defend our offspring against ignorance. Look out for Humanism, What’s That? Buy it for your school library – it’ll be interesting to see if they accept.
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PREVIOUSLY... "The only option left to thinking believers is a distant deity whose involvement in the creation of the universe is minimal and whose only function is reassuring love. God has evolved from the all too human to the ineffable – beyond description and beyond relevance." Fading away "Sex is often driven by economics. Many people spend their lives sharing a bed and their bodies with long-term partners who they have chosen for financial security. Only in the last two hundred or so years has love has become a priority in marriage, and in much of the world it is still a secondary consideration, if considered at all." Selling sex, saving lives "Religion uses its false morality to control sex. It determines that sex is good not when it makes you and your partner happy but when society approves of it, and that sex is bad, not when it hurts you, but when society disapproves." Your reason or mine? "The idea that life is meaningless is liberating rather than depressing. It allows each of us to create our own Meaning – a Meaning relevant to us rather than to an imaginary being, Instead of asking ourselves "what is the Meaning of Life?" we have the greater and far more rewarding question 'what Meaning should we give Life?' or ’what’s the best way to live?' Pleasure and happiness "Occasionally some of us ask, “Life, what’s it all about? Seventy years, if we’re lucky, of eating, sleeping and excreting. Is that it, or am I missing something?” That’s where the trouble begins. We start thinking, and thinking is something that most of us are not very good at. It usually means assuming we know the answer to any question and then looking for facts and arguments to confirm it." Of earthquakes and elephants "Anyone who flicks through the Bible and assumes that it’s true soon sees that God makes a habit of terminating people. Sometimes he kills them one at a time, but he has a penchant for multiple deaths and once, early in his career, he goes for total annihilation.” Pro-death "I’ve never liked the terms “pro-life” and “pro-choice” to define the abortion debate. They reduce a complex issue to sound bites that appeal to emotion more than reason and encourage discord rather than discussion." What do you mean, "pro-life"? |
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