Things that Make Me Mad
The "New Atheism."
Consider this atheist billboard campaign from England, which discourages attempts to label children according to their parents' faith, and according to the campaign's president, also attempts to eliminate faith-based education. (The title of the piece written by the campaign's president is "Hey, preacher--leave those kids alone.")
This campaign is a blatant attempt to interfere in religious parenting.
The logic of the billboard is highly tenuous. In defense of the position that children should not be labeled with the religion of their parents, Richard Dawkins is cited as saying, "Nobody would seriously describe a tiny child as a 'Marxist child' or an 'Anarchist child' or a 'Post-modernist child'. Yet children are routinely labelled with the religion of their parents." No, Mr. Dawkins, a tiny child would not be labeled a Marxist, probably becase that child will probably not experience initiatory rituals (cf. baptism, circumcision, dedication), celebrate special days (cf. Christmas, Hannukah), and appropriate elements of that ideology in earliest childhood (cf. simple prayers, exposure to concept of God or afterlife), the way children born into a religious tradition will.
I mean, ha, really... a young child born to exclusively Jewish parents, who has undergone a bris, is learning to pray and light shabbat candles with his mother, and attends Temple, somehow does not deserve the label "Jewish?" Yes, young children can be, and often are, anchored in a particular religious tradition, because religion can be experienced at every age, and parents have a timeless right or role to "pass on to their child the things they value most, the beliefs and world view that shape how they live" (Jan Ainsworth).
And honestly, children will consolidate a set of personal beliefs when they reach adulthood with or without the help of a billboard. Thank you. Why are thousands of dollars being spent to engage what Miss Ainsworth rightly calls, "the non-issue of 'labeling children'"? I can't think of a good reason except to reduce/ignore the possible role of religion in childhood, and undermine the timeless right of parents to communicate their beliefs and values to their children, not least through faith-based education.
"Leave those kids alone."
And honestly, children will consolidate a set of personal beliefs when they reach adulthood with or without the help of a billboard. Thank you. Why are thousands of dollars being spent to engage what Miss Ainsworth rightly calls, "the non-issue of 'labeling children'"? I can't think of a good reason except to reduce/ignore the possible role of religion in childhood, and undermine the timeless right of parents to communicate their beliefs and values to their children, not least through faith-based education.
"Leave those kids alone."
How about you leave our kids alone, and focus on yours?
- Religious parents.
