Quote:
Originally Posted by martyh
.He was Christian until his teens and then rejected religion so quite why he would want to deny the choice to others is beyond me
|
Dawkins is an evangelical atheist who believes that allowing children to be instructed in religion ensures continuing tolerance for religion in society, even if many of those children grow up not to actively believe for themselves.
He presents his argument as logical and reasonable, pointing out that he isn't proposing to deny free-thinking adults the choice to be religious if that's what they want. However, Dawkins is perfectly well aware that insulating all children from religion would, within the space of a single generation, relegate religion to such a small corner of society that it would go largely unnoticed, and many new adults would never even find themselves in a position of wondering whether it is something they should choose to investigate.
To repeat - Dawkins is an evangelical atheist. His agenda is not to promote open, free choice, but to maximise exposure of his own world view while minimising those that compete with it.