My good deeds trump your history

I have just been watching this recent Intelligence² debate, recorded at Methodist Central Hall on Monday 19th October. The motion: "The Catholic Church is a force for good in the world" was supported by Anne Widdecombe MP and Archbishop John Onaiyekan and most eloquently and deftly opposed by Archatheist Christopher Hitches and National Treasure, Stephen Fry.

Recently, Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens took on Anne Widdecombe and Archbishop John Onaiyekan (of Abuja, Nigria) in an Intelligence Squared debate on the statement: "The Catholic church is a force for good in the world." Here is the video (Hat tip: Pod Black).

Faith schools educate around a quarter of our children, yet we hear little about their social effects. I attended Church of England schools as a child, and why they were undoubtedly good schools, with hindsight I can see that religious content was forced down our throats on a daily basis from the age of four. Aside from classes in religious education, we sang hymns in assemblies, essentially forced to praise God on a daily basis as the more committed teachers picked out and reprimanded any child not singing loudly enough.

'Brain-washing' is an emotive term to use, but it makes me deeply uncomfortable that in the 21st century we still allow children to be indoctrinated in faith by state schools. Freedom of religion is a misnomer in this debate - true freedom would involve removing institutionalized preaching and allowing free-thinking adults to make up their own minds about what to believe; something that the five-year-old child, told by his teachers to "Sing Hosannah" if he wants to go to heaven, isn't yet able to do.

A point that needs to be made more often is that religious schools suppress freedom of religion.

With another Harry Potter movie set to dominate the Summer box office, it's time to ponder an important question - what impact will the series have on the development of our children? Well, not my children since I don't have any, but children in general. After all, Daniel Radcliffe has already come out as an atheist, and if the Christian Answers Network are right, then in fact watching the film could have sinister consequences. It could turn children into satanists. Indeed, it might even make them gay.