I have said it before and I will say it again, forcing religion onto a child is nothing short of child abuse.

Don’t get me wrong. I think it is fine to teach children about religion because like it or not, it has certainly controlled and influenced our history. But leading children to believe in fantasy over evidence is a form of brain washing that leads to segregation and the belief that tradition matters.

I think Richard Dawkins said it best, “tradition has its place, but not where factual knowledge is concerned.” I couldn’t agree more and it is time for us to stop teaching our kids that tradition is all you need to think forward.

So one of my main fights is with tradition. It is tradition that makes it okay for certain people to take land that they claim God gave them. It allows people to smite their traditional enemies, even though no one nowadays can even remember what the fight was about. Take the Sunni and the Shiite, or the Protestants and the Catholics. Perfect examples where tradition trumps all, especially common sense.

Fundamentalism is born in mediocrity. It is also forced upon our children’s young eager minds. It is time to start teaching our children things like inclusion and responsibility to the society they live in, not to mythical traditions that favour one people over another.

What are you doing about it?