First international day of protest against hereditary religion
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I’m starting to float the idea of organizing an international day of protest against the religious grooming of children. This is a big undertaking, but simply talking amongst ourselves will never change anything. Discussion is enormously helpful in making us understand the problem we face, but until we serve constructive notice on parents and institutions nothing is going to change.
After engaging in thousands of exchanges with parents and some clergy, it is clear to me that perpetrators are in denial that what they are doing is harmful and shrug off all the evidence that indoctrinating kids victimizes anyone. The glaring unethical abuse of children’s religious freedom is incomprehensible to them. No amount of debate will ever change these people because they have the false notion that they are acting nobly and will argue that their god commands them to indoctrinate their children. Their holy text is plain as day. Unfortunately, liberals have allowed parents free exercise of religion rights to become entangled with children’s rights to make their own choice about religion.
Slave holders in the south were incredulous when abolitionists pointed out the ethical problems with one person owning another person. Likewise husbands could not fathom why anyone should object to them hitting their spouses. Spouse abuse is still rampant among Muslim families. The same goes for smacking children. Perpetrators cannot discern anything at all wrong with beating their wives and children. How else is a man supposed to retain his authority? Ethical blindness and patriarchal privilege are constant companions.
We would need dedicated organizers on every continent and in most major cities. Also, web sites to coordinate efforts, and public relations people to help advertise the project. We should consider every tactic activists typically employ: bus ad campaigns, billboards, radio, tv promotions, letters to editors of print media, marches, and rallies with headline speakers. Perhaps we could line up some of the top freethinkers, family law and human rights experts, and secular activists.
We should pick a date carefully that ties in with a selected theme: End religious child grooming now! PR experts will be on that, I am sure. Policy papers should define the issues and explain strategy. What if we could get millions of people to participate?
If you wish to support the international day of protest and if you have a twitter account, use the hashtag, #endhereditaryreligion. Send a tweet indicating you are willing to work on this project and in what capacity. Or go to our forum topic established for discussing and planning the event
http://www.endhereditaryreligion.com/forum/topic.php?id=50
Ideas are welcome.
Children are ethically entitled to an open future.
The End of Hereditary Religion .
How to tell your parents you are atheist/agnostic
http://www.youtube.com/user/writcheyc?feature=mhsn
Have you stopped believing your parent’s religion? Many kids are questioning the religion of their parents. Some have stopped believing and don’t know how to tell their parents. This video is a guide to kids and teenagers in opening up to their parents.
In many respects, the advice in this video tracks the advice given to GLBT kids who want to be honest with their families and friends.
Related articles
- Hope For Young Atheists (anatheist.net)
Parental rights are not inalienable
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Here in the USA there is far too much attention given to the doctrine of parental rights and children are suffering for this. Our family laws granting parents so much power rest solely on patriarchal custom, not on ethics and not on an inalienable right. It doesn’t hurt that our judges are just as infatuated with the supernatural as the most uneducated people in the land.
Family law Professor James Dwyer presents the arguments against our current doctrine of parent’s rights in a seminal paper and in his books. Briefly, we do not grant rights to one group of people over the lives of another group of people except in this very unique case of parents and their children. The reason such rights are not granted is that according to our legal theory rights can only apply to an individual and must be self determining not other determining. Rights have a very technical meaning in the law, but people bandy the term around as though they actually know what they are talking about.
We especially should not grant such rights to a group of people who have questionable self serving motives, such as insuring the survival of a religion and using their children as instruments in such a scheme. This is why the Yoder decision will one day be reversed. If we can ever clear out the people like Thomas and Scalia and put the court on a progressive track.
Inalianable: Natural rights (or inalienable rights) are rights which are not contingent upon the laws, customs, or beliefs of a particular society or polity. In contrast, legal rights (sometimes also called civil rights) are rights conveyed by a particular legal or political entity, rights as enshrined in law, and as such are contingent upon local laws, customs, or beliefs. Natural rights are thus necessarily universal, whereas legal rights are culturally and politically relative.
Inalienable rights are usually enshrined in human rights declarations. I don’t find anything about parental rights being inalienable in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Obviously, Michael Ferris of HSLDA agrees that our parental rights doctrine is on shaky ground or why would his organization ParentalRights.org be clamoring to amend the US constitution to “protect” parental rights. Which like I say do not exist in the sense of natural rights. What he and his devious attorneys attempt to persuade people with are quotes from legal arguments they take out of context from various court decisions. People who are not constitutional lawyers buy his line. Then, convinced the evil state is trying to rob them of their rights, they get all up in arms and send him money, which is the whole point. He stands as much chance of amending the constitution as I do.
The Swedes, some of the planets most bold social engineers, have created many far reaching laws concerning parent/child relationships. Libertarians, may all swoon now, but the Swedes seem to be doing pretty well as a society. You should know that by now.
Here is some news about how Swedes are going about amending their laws on sex ed.
http://www.thelocal.se/10298/20080306
Related articles
- Children as property of parents (endhereditaryreligion.com)
The principle of freedom of religion only goes so far
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A forum participant writes:
It is rather a relationship with a loving God who desires to know them and show them truths of the Bible in their everyday lives. It is about understanding that acceptance is not based on performance but on the very existance of that relationship. If I did not teach what I believe to be true and so very important, eternally important, I would be remiss as a parent.
++++++++++++
Hold up there! First of all you cannot provide a single shred of evidence to show there is a god. Let alone a Hebrew god of the bible (assuming you are Christian). We cannot accept such imaginings as justification for parent’s actions. Prove there is a god — then maybe we will listen to you.
Children should only be taught the truth of the natural world, not the wild postulations of the supernatural. You do not know there is a god. You simply have decided to believe there is a god. If this gives you comfort and satisfaction, well and good you are entitled to follow your conscience. It does not mean you are entitled to infect your children with your delusional beliefs.
Do you understand the difference? Making crucial life decisions based on unproven beliefs is highly irresponsible. The principle of freedom of religion only goes so far — the minute harm is caused by a belief in religion your rights are abrogated — null and void. Teaching vulnerable children supernatural myths and unfounded religious dogma is harmful. You can couch your misbegotten program with all the sentiments of love you so choose, that only makes your actions more reprehensible. Parents that truly love their children respect them as persons and allow them to make there own choices to suit themselves.
If we are going to suffer harm, wouldn’t we all rather be wounded by someone that hates us than by someone who loves us? You are trampling on your children’s religious freedom.
Related articles
- Do atheist activists poison everything? (barefootbum.blogspot.com)
- A Holiday Letter from the Family of an Air Force Academy Graduate [Dispatches from the Culture Wars] (scienceblogs.com)
Superstition vs reason, which will triumph?
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There are two ways of looking at the world – through faith and superstition or through the rigours of logic, observation and evidence – in other words, through reason. –Richard Dawkins
At the beginning of the 21st century we are experiencing a virtual war against reason that is happening due to at least two important reasons. Firstly, the religion virus has spread far and wide in recent decades capitalizing on doubt and confusion about modern intellectual achievements and cultural changes that have emancipated people from the grasp of religion. Secondly, science is advancing so rapidly that the common person cannot absorb all the new knowledge. Highly technical scientific reports are so numerous that even experts complain they are being swamped by information What chance do lay persons have? How many simply give up ever understanding.
To fill the void, peddlers of superstition have flooded in to offer bizarre alternatives to science that seem to make sense and don’t require rigor or careful thought. Purveyors advocate impossible untested schemes of quack medicine and psychics abound that have absolutely no logical grounding whatsoever. The most aggressive superstition peddlers attack the very notion that evidence and fact are critical in the search for truth. They cavalierly toss out epistemology backed by centuries of investigation and careful study. They claim one can “know” something through feelings, emotions, ephemeral insubstantial hunches. President George W. Bush, a proud born-again christian, claimed he went with his gut feeling to answer the most profound questions. According to him, what felt right is right. This is stupifying ignorance raised to the umpteenth power. If he used his gut to think with, one wonders if he used his brain to digest his food. The fool.
Richard Dawkins, a leading proponent of science education and a tireless advocate of using reason to seek the truth, stars in a two part television program, “The Enemies of Reason“, broadcast by Britain’s Channel 4 television. Here is part one.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7218293233140975017#
Part Two:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7218293233140975017#docid=6004927014381716642
Related articles
- This Week On God Discussion Radio: Science, Reason and Superstition with Dr. Liz Cornwell, The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, and other special guests – Deborah (show host) – God Disussion (richarddawkins.net)
- The Poetry of Science: Richard Dawkins and Neil deGrasse Tyson (milkandcookies.com)
- [Update - audio added ] This Week On God Discussion Radio: Science, Reason and Superstition with Dr. Liz Cornwell, The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, and other special guests – Deborah (show host) – God Discussion (richarddawkins.net)
Children as property of parents
Historically, children were considered the property of parents. Under the scheme of patriarchy wives and children are under the control of the family head, the husband of the family. Much of this hoary antiquated thinking is still promoted by far right conservatives and the vestiges of ancient thinking die hard.
Today, children are persons in their own right and modern progressives recognize the personhood of children. Children have the right to grow up free of debilitating dogmatic superstitious thinking. Instead parents and communities must encourage children to think critically and determine their own path through life to suit themselves.
Authoritarian parents view the autonomy of children as threats to their antiquated way of life. Anachronistic groups like the dominionist inspired and led Parentalrights.org want to seal off the family from the state to avoid heretical ideals like children’s rights or the emancipation of women creeping in. They advocate a constitutional amendment to protect what they call parental rights, but are really restraints aimed at the protection of the antiquated system of patriarchy. This is why they emphasize the taboo of non-interference in family matters (a strong meme). The goal is really to keep patriarchy going and ward off any progressive moves that would liberate wives and children.
You have to put your hands together
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Pray
We had a lovely gentle chat today,
about being unknowingly led to pray.
“You have to put your hands together,
hold them up like this. Say thank you,
to ..a mystified look.. for the food we eat.”
My son is only four, he does not properly know
how to say the word ‘God’ or ‘Lord’ let alone know
what it means – why ever should he know?
I say to him as he shows to me,
it is just a thing you do in school,
a quiet time. A time to join in,
… but to think for yourself.
Take that time, as I used to in school
to quietly think for myself.
Quietly, calmly – every day.
It tastes insidious. Positively poisonous -
To the loving of all of life …
I tell him about all the dinosaurs, animals, the sharks,
fossils and his poster of the “Tree of Life” topped
by a man … Charles Darwin.
Are we, two-ways, drawing a child’s keen attention
across a forever riven world? So it is and so it is, all ways
given to all – ways of knowing, thinking, deeply feeling
revealing. There is no choice, in truth,
rejoicing, praising, singing …
“Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Praise ‘er Claude!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Praise ‘er Claude!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Praise ‘er Claude!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Praise ‘er Claude!”
“Claude?” I ask, but he does not know …
… he trusts, as he trusts “Bob the Builder” to be
innocent, educating, exuberant and funny, only words.
He does not know.
I explain that ‘some people’ look up to a someone -
a kind of person or man … a “god” – up in the sky.
A man who made everything, who looks down on us
and everything – and who looks after all things.
I tell him his Baba does not agree, or believe in this man,
that he does not need to worry or take it too seriously,
there is no big plan or anyone looking over,
no laws or orders from anywhere other than ourselves.
So, just take that nice quiet time
to think to yourself,
find out,
and think for yourself.
by Gareth Rosser
Thanks Gareth for permission to publish your work. You can read more of this poet’s work here:
Indian freethinkers battle child exploiting fundamentalists
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Story of a Humanist Campaign Against Religious Exploitation of a Child
How the fraud became public
It was on the lazy Sunday morning of 16 August that all hell broke loose. There were urgent and breathless phone calls from HM TV, Mahaa TV, INews and Studio N TV Channels asking me if I had heard of Sambhavi.
“Please switch on your TV sir – Sambhavi, a child of 7, is claiming to be the reincarnation of a childhood friend of the Dalai Lama. She speaks with great clarity and precision. She claims Tibet will be free in 2010, that there will be a great event in 2012, that the Dalai Lama is a friend of hers and that he would visit her soon in Surya Nandi temple in Kurnool District. It seems the child is in touch with the Buddhist leader by telepathy. Sambhavi is also saying that the Telugu Soothsayer of medieval times Veerabrahmendra Swamy‟s predictions will come true in 2012 and 2014. Her caretaker Usha Rani says she has miraculous powers. Would you like to comment?”
I was being invited to participate in live discussions on these channels; already Dr. Vijayam and Mr. Lavanam were on one of them, speaking from the Atheist Center in Vijayawada. There were some orthodox Hindus as well on the panels. My response was:
“It is nonsense, because rebirth implies we have a soul which can retain memories. No one has shown that the soul exists and we all know that the seat of memory is the brain which dies with the rest of the body. Claims of rebirth are culturally conditioned and we do not hear of them in Muslim or Christian or African societies. No claim of rebirth has ever been shown to be true either in Hinduism or in Buddhism”.
“But sir, they are also showing video clips of the child with the Dalai Lama. It seems he approves of it, and he has accepted that she was his childhood friend”.
“Have you verified this claim with the Dalai Lama? In any case, I would not be really surprised – you know that the Dalai Lama believes in reincarnation. He also is desperate that as he gets old he has to do his best to get Tibet on the world‟s radar again. This year is the 50th year since the Dalai Lama’s escape from Tibet and it is the 60th year of the People‟s Republic of China. The timing is good for some gimmicks! Some of the Dalai Lama‟s religious beliefs are ridiculous or even dangerous”.
“But sir, is he not the most important Buddhist leader?”
Excerpted from Nirmukta blog: http://nirmukta.com/2009/12/10/sambhavi-gudilona-badilona-story-of-a-humanist-campaign-against-religious-exploitation-of-a-child/
Follow the link to see what the Dalai Lama had to say.
Please stop slandering the human race
http://mwillett.org/atheism/religion-is-child-abuse.htm
It is about time that mankind stood up and declared that libelling and slandering our species is not acceptable. Blasphemy is a victimless crime but libelling and slandering humanity is not. If you say all Negroes are incapable of telling right from wrong and are inherently evil you will stand a good chance of being hauled in front of a court if you say it in front of the right witnesses. Why should it be any different if you expand the race you libel to the entire human race? Is not the central message of many religions effectively incitement to racial hatred with the human race as the victim?-M. Millett
Note: Mr Willett is a Brit. Apparently “Negroe” is still in vogue in Great Britain. In any case he is absolutely right about how preachers slander the human race as defective, weak, immoral and going to hell. Preachers stridently push this theme because they are creating a need for their services. They claim they have a cure for all humanities ills if we would only follow them. What is surprising is the Pope and his minions have been slandering the human race for centuries and no one seems to make the connection.
Help ban corporal punishment in our schools
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U.S. House Education and Labor Subcommittee to Hear Bill on April 15th Banning School Paddling
On April l5th, a subcommittee of the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee will begin hearings on banning school corporal punishment. Please write committee members immediately to ask for support for a bill banning school corporal punishment being introduced by Representative Carolyn McCarthy in the Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities. The measure would link corporal punishment bans to federal funding and, if successful, would probably be added to the ESEA (formerly “Leave No Child Behind”) reauthorization measure.
Act Today:
(1) Write Representative Carolyn McCarthy, Subcommittee Chair, Ranking Member Representative Todd “Russell” Platts and committee members. Thank Representative McCarthy for sponsoring the bill, ask all subcommittee members to support a ban on school corporal punishment and tell them why it should be banned. See arguments and contact information below. Ask the Chair and Ranking Member to copy all committee members on your letter or write them individually.
(2) If you live in a state with a Representative on the committee, it is important that you email that person and ask for support for a ban.
Contact Information:
Honorable Carolyn McCarthy
2346 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-5516
Fax: (202) 225-5758
Constituent Email: http://forms.house.gov/mccarthy/contact.shtml D-NY 4th District
Honorable Todd Platts
2455 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-5836
Fax: (202) 226-1000
Constituent Email: http://www.house.gov/platts/email.shtml R-PA l9th District
Representative George Miller, the House Education and Labor Committee Chair, is a member of the subcommittee hearing the bill. His email accepts messages from all states, not just his constituents:
Honorable George Miller
2205 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
phone:202-225-2095
fax:202-225-560905 Rayburn House Office Building
georgemiller.house.gov/contactus/2007/08/post_1.html
Contact information for committee members:
Please be sure to contact members from your state. If you do not know your district, please go to www.congress.org. Type in your zip code under “get involved.”
U.S. House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities Contact Information (email for constituents). Open hyperlink or copy/paste in your browser.
You can also go to these sites to find regular office mail addresses:
Republicans:
Honorable Russell Platts
http://www.house.gov/platts/email.shtml R-PA l9th District
Honorable Buck McKeon
http://mckeon.house.gov/lets_talk.shtml R-CA 25th District
Honorable Brett Guthrie
http://guthrie.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=117§iontree=4,117 R-KY 02 District
Honorable David P. Roe
https://forms.house.gov/roe/webforms/contact.html R-TN 01 District
Honorable Glen “GT” Thomson
https://forms.house.gov/thompson/contact-form.shtml R-PA 5th District
Democrats
Honorable Carolyn McCarthy, Chairwoman
Constituent Email: http://forms.house.gov/mccarthy/contact.shtml D-NY 4th District
Honorable George Miller
http://georgemiller.house.gov/contactus/2007/08/post_1.html (D CA-07)
Honorable Yvette Clarke
http://clarke.house.gov/contact/contact-us-form.shtml (D NY-11)
Honorable Bobby Scott
http://www.bobbyscott.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=272&Itemid=60 (D VA-03)
Honorable Carol Shea-Porter
http://forms.house.gov/shea-porter/webform/issue_subscribe.htm (D NH -01)
Honorable Paul Tonko
http://tonko.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=3§iontree=3 (D-NY-21)
Honorable Jared Polis
http://polis.house.gv/Contact/ ( D CO-02)
Honorable Judy Chu
http://chu.house.gov/contact/index.shtml (D CA-32)
Facts About and Arguments For Banning School Corporal Punishment:
In 2006-07, over 223,000 students were paddled in US schools, that’s over 1,200 paddlings a day. U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights Study: www.stophitting.com/index.php?page=statesbanning
Sources for the following information can be found at:
www.stophitting.com/index.php?page=atschool-main or under (laws)
www.stophitting.com/index.php?page=laws-main
* Corporal punishment is linked to poorer academic achievement.
* Physical injuries occur. Welts and bruises frequently occur as well as other injuries requiring medical treatment.
* Psychological injury may occur that adversely affects learning and attitudes toward teachers and others in authority.
* Litigation against school boards and educators because of paddling injuries is not uncommon.
* Corporal punishment teaches children that physical violence is an acceptable way to solve problems.
* Better alternatives exist.
* Corporal punishment is disproportionately used on poor children, children with disabilities, minorities and boys.
* States have already determined corporal punishment is harmful.
* In almost all states it is banned in childcare, foster care and institutions for children. It should be banned in schools too.
* More than 50 national organizations oppose the use of school corporal punishment. These include the National Education Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Bar Association, the American Medical Association, and the American Psychological Association.
* Over twenty African American leaders have signed a proclamation opposing it.
Corporal punishment is illegal in schools in over l00 countries in the world.
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- The numbers on corporal punishment: PDQuotient (cleveland.com)
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