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While I do not know about the appropriateness of exposing Children to fire and brimstone sermons on a daily or even weekly basis, note that Dawkins makes a sweeping statement about all of Christianity.
This is hardly a major plank of his general argument (critics hunt around for excuses for attack), but, for the record, his point about labelling children applies to all religions.
This derives from the puritan ethic, in a non-religious sense, the striving for purity, and I see quite a bit of that in Dawkins' expression of atheism.
Easy to allege, again, this would carry some weight if you actually gave some (one) examples. There's a difference between purity and clarity or trying to argue consistently. But - if that's what you're reduced to trying to pick on ... :-)
Religion is, by and large, inertia.
And various things can jerk them out of it - including books, even very challenging ones - see the feedback on his site. Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.
As for the 'purity' part I note that Dawkins seems at pains to also make arguments against moderate believers who support secularism, and seems to feel that grave injustices are being done when a six year old visits a generic Catholic nun once a week.
But that is how it appears to me. It may just be a set of happy little accidents.
His criticism of moderate Christians isn't "puritanism"; it's a quite logical and important argument - which you didn't seem to quite get (he wasn't saying the moderates teach the extremists), that they make relying on faith seem respectable, but it isn't, and in extreme cases it leads to extreme violence - also justified by faith. Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.
I stated to MillMan that I think giving a young child daily or even weekly brim and firestone lectures is unhealthy.
Exposing a child to the mere concept of eternal damnation is not a whole lot more damaging than exposing a child to the concept of absolute death. Or the boogeyman. What matters is how the idea is brought across, not the idea itself.
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