For those that don't know, I was raised Catholic and therefore bought into every bit of the creationism story right from my childhood. I was taught that by my parents and then my school and then my church. I was absolutely convinced that god personally took the time to create the entire universe and everything in it and he perfected it all in 6 days. I wasn't smart enough as a kid to question the gaping holes of this theory, even when I was, I should shamefully admit, a teenager and a young adult.
It wasn't until I really started thinking for myself without all of these external forces (parents, teachers or church) that I was able to see the bullshit behind all of this. That's the power of religion that's thrust upon kids; it's like a drug that you can't live without unless you go through complete withdrawal. It is about this point that I want to talk about in this post... the dangers of polluting a young mind with fictional stories cleverly disguised as religious dogmas. It is a powerful force that takes a very strong mind to break free from, yet extremely dangerous to an infatuated, gullible and naive mind of a kid.
Recently Bill Nye, popularly known as "The Science Guy" and a prominent proponent of atheism in our country, especially in our schools, published a short video on this very subject:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHbYJfwFgOU
Most moderate (read not-so-religious) parents may let a few of these fictional stories slip past their kids thinking no harm can come out of it, but it's important to realize that there's no such thing as a temporary lie; some kids may never grow up to be scientifically inquisitive because of some of the BS that they've been fed as as child. Please, be responsible parents... keep the creationist BS away from kids and teach them some real science.
It wasn't until I really started thinking for myself without all of these external forces (parents, teachers or church) that I was able to see the bullshit behind all of this. That's the power of religion that's thrust upon kids; it's like a drug that you can't live without unless you go through complete withdrawal. It is about this point that I want to talk about in this post... the dangers of polluting a young mind with fictional stories cleverly disguised as religious dogmas. It is a powerful force that takes a very strong mind to break free from, yet extremely dangerous to an infatuated, gullible and naive mind of a kid.
Recently Bill Nye, popularly known as "The Science Guy" and a prominent proponent of atheism in our country, especially in our schools, published a short video on this very subject:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHbYJfwFgOU
Most moderate (read not-so-religious) parents may let a few of these fictional stories slip past their kids thinking no harm can come out of it, but it's important to realize that there's no such thing as a temporary lie; some kids may never grow up to be scientifically inquisitive because of some of the BS that they've been fed as as child. Please, be responsible parents... keep the creationist BS away from kids and teach them some real science.
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