- There is no ‘brainwashing’.
- What is it to you what people teach their kids? What if I decided that you shouldn’t be allowed to play rock music for your kids because I think it’s loud and stupid? Do I have a right to dictate your passing on your ideas and ideals to your kids? What if you’re a firm believer in capitalism - should I insist that you teach your kids liberal social values? No. So where do you get off thinking you’re justified?
I’ll give you my answer:
Santa Claus is known to be a made-up character intended to entertain children. God is not known to be anything of the sort.
Hope this helps. 
I asked specifically about the Yahweh character from the bible. If that is who you meant with the word “God”, then you have not answered my question: In terms of EVIDENCE for their existance, what is the difference between Santa and Yahweh or any other mythological character?
Sorry, I gave what I deem to be a more helpful answer, an answer to a more relevant question: “why dismiss Santa Claus as an object of childish fantasy, but not God?”. The argument in which you’re seeking to control the terms has already been addressed ad nauseam on these boards.
But not many people are deistic in their belief in God. More than likely, the child has not been taught about a prime mover (whose is still extremely unlikely to exist), but specifically about any one of many mythological characters, Yahweh, being the most popular here in the US.
From the description in the OP, the children aren’t being encouraged to hurt others or themselves. That’s why I asked whether the “brainwashing” is causing permanent harm to the kids.
I’ll offer some evidence for Yahweh’s existence, which you are free to accept or
deny- I don’t particularly care.
In spite of 3500 years to oppress, exterminate, convert or assimilate them, the Jewish people continue to survive & thrive. Yahweh has preserved His covenant people.
I applaud your honesty, but you might be better off comparing religion to political beliefs – some people are Conservative, some are Labour (do you till have Tories?), something along those lines.
It’s only natural that children get their beliefs from their parents. That’s not really brainwashing, it’s called raising kids. If you had children, would you raise them with no belief or value system at all? Of course not. But if you raised your children as atheists, I’d be just as justified calling it brainwashing as Dawkins is with his assertion.
/aside. “Tory” is a vernacular term for “Conservative”.
It wasn’t Yaweh who ended the Holocaust, it was the Allies. Prior to that, economic and political pressures caused the Jews to disperse around the world, assuring their perpetual survival.
In Addition to Sunrazor’s comment, I could also point out several other ‘people’s’ who have survived to this era despite other’s attempt at exterminating them. Does that somehow proof that say, American Indian traditional beliefs and that their gods exist? Apparently you would say yes, though how you would reconcile that with the existance of Yahweh, I’m not sure.
This is like the story of the man who was lost in the forest and knelt down and prayed to God to show him the way out. “And did God show up?” asks the listener. “No,” says the man, “just when I’d finished praying, a park ranger wandered by and told me the way to go.”
MPSIMS is the venue for game threads, but I’m not very interested in the game where the Server asks “Why do you believe in God?” and the object is to pooh-pooh whatever reply the Receiver offers. 
To be honest, I haven’t bothered reading this entire thread.
I’ve also got 2 nephews and a niece who are being raised very religiously. They read stories about Noah’s Arc and stuff. I don’t go to church, but I also wouldn’t consider myself atheist.
Now, if they asked me why I didn’t go to church, I’d say “well, because I’m an adult and I get to make my own decisions about things like that.” I think it’s best to let the parents talk to the kids about God and religion and everything else. I think what you said to her was very disrespectful to your brother or sister or whoever’s kids those are.
It is I suppose inevitable that a thread like this would become a match between athiests and thiests over “prove God exists”.
To my mind, that ain’t the point.
Whatever adults may believe on the topic, the real issue of interest (to me at least) - what makes this thread different from around 10,000 other threads - is how one interacts with children on the general topic of faith.
In my opinion, the best way to interact with children on this topic should not matter if one is fully convinced one is right - in either direction. As I’ve said before, I agree that there can be only one right answer on this topic - God either exists (in some form or another) or he does not; but that doesn’t mean that an adult should approach the matter from a position of certainty when discussing it with a child.
Especially when the child is not theirs.
This is well said.
I’d just like to say here that in my conversation with my Niece I didn’t speak from a point of certainty. I said ‘some people stop believing’ and ‘I don’t believe’ not ‘God doesn’t exist’
What I wanted my Niece to know above all was about me, not about God. I wanted her to know that I am a believer in no god (a non-believer). I didn’t want her to actually ‘know’ that God doesn’t exist. That’s up to her to decide when she’s old enough…
And I suspect one day she will be an Atheist.
:smack: Yeah, but at least I spelled “Labour” right.
Well, there ya’ go – just like I always say, it’s a random world out there. You just never know when a park ranger’s gonna’ wander by, and when you’re gonna’ die of exposure in the forest.
I haven’t even told my own kids (8 and 9) that I don’t believe in God. Telling someone else’s kids this and comparing Him to Santa Claus is irresponsible. You could have completely avoided it without lying by just brushing it off and changing the subject. It’s not your business.
I wasn’t comparing him to santa. I was using santa as an example of the concept of losing belief.
And I disagree. I’ll tell my niece whatever I want about myself. I’m not going to hide the fact that I am an atheist from her. That would be dishonest.
And thinking about it further… Learning that there are people who don’t believe in God is better coming from a non-believer than from a believer who might potentially portray them (me) in a negative light.