Teach your children to be critical thinkers and to question everything. Take them to visit as many different religious groups as you can. Share your understanding with as many people as you can. But don't be antagonistic just for the sake of being antagonistic. Always ask yourself, “Will this genuinely increase understanding?” And if it won't, don't bother. But that being said, stand up for yourselves. Don't let other people get away with pushing their own beliefs unless they have good reasons for holding the beliefs that they do. And if they're pushing their beliefs and they don't have good reasons for them, call them on this. Question everyone about everything that they publicly espouse and that they seek to gain converts for. 2 Read and learn as much as you can concerning other religions and secular philosophy. Actively seek out spiritual experiences independent of religious dogma, and teach your children to think critically about spiritual experiences. You have the power to turn the tide of public discourse. Don't shrink from the responsibility.
If I fight against Christianity it is not because I hate Christians—it is because I love life, freedom, beauty, truth, love, humanity, and any number of other ideals enough that if and where I see them being stepped on I will not keep my mouth shut—regardless of whether that means contradicting Christianity or any other institution or perspective.
1 Of course, in reality there is no such thing as laziness. This is a sort of shorthand reference to three possibilities: 1) One has trouble focusing on a given task. 2) One feels that one does not have enough energy to successfully accomplish a given task. 3) One feels that the task in question is not worth the investment of energy that one imagines it would take.
2 I’m perfectly happy to have Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses show up at my door. Though I'm not sure how happy they'll be once we actually start discussing the material they are presenting.
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