Not sure its as far away as a step!

Ok, I had a bit of spare time so I've gone through and sorted out the quotes.

Merry Christmas all

Ta...

So is it OK to indocrinate them into believing that Christianity (in particular) and religion (in general) is a load of rubbish only fit for brainless morons and inferior human beings?

Please do not put up straw man arguments. If you want to argue your case do so from facts.

My son who is an agnostic has said that he was glad we took him to church and sent him to a church school, otherwise he would not have known the choice he had to make. (The fact that he has not yet made the choice is immaterial, he at least knows he has to make one, which is the important bit). Oh and he is nearly 31, not some vulnerable teenager!

I took good care to teach my children to apply critical reasoning to everything they were taught/told. I told them it was particularly important that they did it to everyone, including me.

I told them that those people who don't like the questions are either lacking in the necessary knowledge, stupid, or dishonest. Or all three. I also told them that someone who answers a question "I don't know, but I'll do my best to find out, should be treated with respect.

I taught them to judge all control groups, whether political or religious, by what they did to the weak and powerless when they got their hands on real power.

To be blunt, christianity overall comes out very badly, as does communism and fascism.

Without indoctrinating children, and crippling their ability to critically reason, most religions would crumble and almost disappear overnight.

OK, here's a fun question.

Where did Noah put the fish?

You spoil em something rotten.

He towed them behind the ark.

On the table, Sushi

Good one.

One of my favourite cartoons was Noah and one of his sons leaning on the rail of the ark, looking out to sea.

After a while the lad turns to Noah and says 'Dad, why do I have to have both the tapeworms?'

Seriously, it's a valid point. Sea fish can't stand fresh water, and if corals are covered with too much water, they die.

So where did Noah put the fish?

You can have a salt water tank, Needs a bit more work I have had them though. Not on an Ark having never owned one "BTW"

Fundamentally however taking an obscure tangent have you ever considered that the planet your on is in fact Noah's Ark. Our existence has been for just a small speck in quantifiable time and no one can definitively say it didn't happen somewhere else prior to here. Give our understanding of evolution a bit more of a kick and time and them scientist clever noggin types will know exactly what single cellular life forms to throw at a perfectly suited hunk of rock in space for a Genesis Event to occur.

Some folk myself not included are of the persuasion that they have to feel part of some grander scheme because trying to wrap their heads around the term nothing after the lights go out is as difficult to picture as "infinity plus 1"

∞+1=?

Bible is a sales pitch I wont argue with that, But what the mark is buying is a simply content and satisfied soul in the living world. Sales person happy Customer Happy = No harm no foul. Until some statistically motivated pillock shows me the proof either way I am of the firm opinion that the human gene pool as a equal balance of homicidal perverted nutters that are believers "what ever the God" and those who are not. Which means as a "Human" race there is probably at this pace little hope for us.

Me, I've run a couple, and boy they are hard work unless you know the secrets. I was once in Germany and went into an aquatics shop specialising in marines. They had a specialist tank the size of a large table just with corals for sale, and boy was that all techno-whizzy!

Regarding life on Earth, there is what is called the Drake equation, which sets the estimated number of technologically advanced life forms in the galaxy as between 10-50 thou. Personally I think it's a lot less than that.

Religion give a lot of people a warm feeling, and as long as it hurts no-one else, that's fine. However history is littered with the harm that such religions cause.