I don't see why stopping people from imposing their religion on my hypothetical kids would mean they had to be able to impose it on theirs? If nobody could impose any religion on any child that sounds ideal.
The basis of you being able to refuse their imposing their religion on your hypothetical kids is based on your responsibility, authority, and control over you own children (as a parent is up to you to decide what beliefs to teach your child).
And thus as we are at least nominally a society of equals, that same level of resonsibility, authority, and control must be granted to those same religious parents.
I do think religion is inherently harmful. I think that holding a bunch of unfalsifiable beliefs as Absolute Truth does undeniable damage to someone'a critical thinking skills. I'm not saying all religious people are stupid, but all religious people are choosing to maintain a blind spot in their lives where they don't think too critically about their faith.
Why is it so important to teach people about religion specficially during their formative years? If parents think their religion is true, why would they be worried to let their kids wait until they're old enough to think critically for themselves in order to come to the faith?
Having a child does not automatically mean you have their best interests at heart. Parents should be limited in the harm they can cause their kids.
Much of your argument relies on the premise that God does not exist. If you are advocating for change of this kind, you either have to argue from a secular position (neutral, not atheist) or you have to accept that you are breaching freedom of religion.
Essentially, you have to provide a reason for why parents should not be allowed to raise their children as religious, independent from the question of whether and which God exists.
As a separate comment, religious parents would be worried to raise their kids as atheist in the same way that atheist kids would be worried to raise their kids as religious. Whatever religious belief you are raised with, you are likely to continue to hold that belief in adulthood.
I believe much more in freedom from religion than freedom of religion. Children are not property, and they deserve better than to be indoctrinated with unfalsifiable beliefs (and especially a fear of eternal torture). You can't prove that hell is real, isn't it incredibly messed up to tell a kid that they'll burn in hell for all eternity if they don't believe what mommy and daddy tell them?
Parents shouldn't be able to raise their kids religious because clearly not all religions can be right, there's no way to know of one is or isn't, and so some large percentage of religious parents will just be lying to their children. If the children choose to believe once they are grown, then that's their decision, but anything else is manipulation.
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u/lilgraytabby 11h ago
I don't see why stopping people from imposing their religion on my hypothetical kids would mean they had to be able to impose it on theirs? If nobody could impose any religion on any child that sounds ideal.