The argument about children being forced Into faith very young has to be teased out a little here. Some religions force people into faith. Others, such as Catholicism, don't use force generally speaking, though there is often coercion in the form of family pressure and pressure in those horrid faith schools, not to speak of coercion coming from the fear of the Almighty. Force and coercion are not confined to childhood of course though, to me, they seem particularly cruel when applied to children. My point about children is that it is wrong to give them myths as truth when what we should be doing is EDUCATING them. I've done this to death, so, very briefly, education is about giving children the skills and enthusiasm to acquire knowledge. That includes being encouraged to ask for evidence for things they are told are true. No-one ever got educated by having knowledge poured over them, and, especially, no-one ever got educated by being given unsupportable "information" that they are expected to give undue respect and reverence to and not ask awkward questions about. If you think that's a bit of Steve hyperbole, go into your nearest Catholic primary school and look at what's on the walls and blackboard and in their exercise books. If anything, I'm probably understating the case (actually, years ago I had occasion to visit some schools in Harlow). Don't be fooled too much by the pretty colouring in. During religious instruction and services in school time, children are not only not being educated in the true sense, they are in effect being told, confusingly, to put those critical and questioning faculties on hold. There is no other way that you can tell children that there is a God and that Jesus was his son who worked miracles and came back to life. If you think that's a fair way to treat children, then I'm not with you.

Incidentally, you're doing a bit of a Joe when you suggest I'm saying you are indelibly imprisoned for life, etc. I have never actually said that, have I? What I will say is that religious indoctrination of children is worse than a bloody waste of time.

Your reversal scenario simply doesn't work because your position is a belief system whereas mine isn't. I don't know how many hundreds of posts I've sent on this topic, but I never instigate these threads. My position on religion is entirely predicated on yours. Without your religion I wouldn't be here. I am not an equal and opposite. I have no equivalent belief system to yours and all I can ever do is question yours, which I think is misguided, as articulately as I can manage. For all the reasons I've given, I think that yours is ultimately very damaging to many people and that it needs to be attacked. You can call me insulting, heretical, disrespectful, whatever you like, to your religion but you can't really do that back in the same way because I haven't got anything you can attack. Just my demeanour, that's all. Unlike Christianity, I haven't got a message to propagate. I just question yours. And why, after all the harm religion has done and is still doing, should I pull my punches?