The Campaign to Free Thought
This thing has been in the works for some time, but time constraints had forced me to the unfortunate state in which I procrastinate furiously.
As all KoH readers know, our goal is to illuminate the effect that religion has upon the world's most impressionable people (aside from mimes), children. As is the case with much of the atheist community, we are disturbed that parents around the world are allowed to indoctrinate their children. But I will not go into that spiel now.
Brian Flemming's War On Easter inspired me to take this a step further, to actual activism. And so, in the infinite boredom that comes with being a nerd, I devised a scheme to do that:
The Campaign to Free Thought.
What you will see at that site is a window into the many documents I wrote up as directions for a grassroots organization. This group, which would be composed entirely of concerned teenagers, would seek to help children think for themselves.
And so, now that I am as bored as I was when I wrote those documents, I've decided to get back into gear. I'd like to ask this blog's readers to take a look at what's on that experimental page and give us feedback. Suggestions? Concerns? Criticisms? Please leave them as comments. Thank you.
posted by Anonymous @ Thursday, August 24, 2006
7 Comments:
The Campaign to Free Thought? Or The Campaign to make Atheism a Religion?
Ah, I'm sorry the site was not clear enough. Our goal is not to convert kids to atheism, but rather to give them the opportunity to explore religion of their own free will. Few children choose their own religion, which is a dreadful mistake on the part of the parents.
That is the parent’s prerogative though, is it not?
Although I am an atheist, and a sort-of contributor to this blog, I have to disagree with this campaign. It's a parent's job to decide how they want to raise their children. If they want to raise them with religion, that's their choice. If they want to raise them isolated from TV, Radio, newspapers, and the Internet, it's wrong, but it's their choice. What this project is trying to spread is not freedom of choice. I read the introductory packet, which happens to be confidential, but I'll share this with you: There's a lot in it promoting atheism and evolution, and a lot about debunking Christian beliefs. Frankly, the name "Campaign for Free Thought" is a cover-up to conceal what the project really stands for: converting children to atheism in the name of choice.
Booker-
No, it is not a parent's prerogative to choose their child's religious beliefs.
Caleb-
Is it okay if a parents choose to school their children by sticking them in a room with a pile of books?
No, parents do not have the right to intellectually abuse their children. And I'm sorry, but it's just a coincidence that Christianity is the most popular religion in the nation, and that it happens to be full of crap. Furthermore, the wide-scale misconception of evolution - a theory which makes much more sense than what is in the Bible - is also a complete coincidence.
I quote the site:
Are we distributing propaganda? You decide. Our goal is to get children to think for themselves, and that is something difficult to do from an objective standpoint. We must provide information to counter what kids have blindly followed: What your parents teach you isn’t infallible; You are not required to recite oaths such as the Pledge of Allegiance; you do not have to cooperate whenever you are asked to stand up for “patriotic” or “religious” purposes. You have the power to make your own decisions.
Maddy-
You seem to have made the assumption that this campaign would be forcing information upon people, which is false.
It only pushes propaganda in the sense that recommending a book to somebody is propaganda.
"empowering people to think for themselves" is not at all ironic. The campaign would not restrict a child's exposure to the viewpoint of a particular religion, but rather showcase contrary ideas - so the child explores on his own.
Free Thought must also include the ability to think and believe whatever including religion. If it knocks religion than how could it be free thought? I mean aren't you open to the fact that for some people religion is really a good thing? We should be more concerned about children who have parents who are mean, ignore and abuse them verbally and physically. I decided that my parents' own personal religion, Alcoholic-Catholicism and Fairy-Land-Rosecrucianism wasn't for me and after a short while examining Atheism and a mind bending crusade to embrace all religions that I chose to believe in Jesus Christ which for me had nothing whatever to do with my upbringing, or did it, who knows? The point is that if I ever do have kids I will raise them in love and patience and let them know about God and Jesus as much as I can because that is my culture and what I sincerely believe. I will also make sure that they get the best liberal education they can get and learn about as much of the world, including Athiesm, that they can. It is their choice ultimately.
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