Dawkins on Hell (and Children)

And, surprise surprise, that’s pretty much what Dawkins goes on to say. I’m a step ahead of him here! First of all:

“The extreme horribleness of hell … is inflated to compensate for its implausibility. If hell were plausible, it would only have to be moderately so in order to deter. Given that it is unlikely to be true, it has to be advertised as very very scarey indeed, to balance its implausibility and retain some deterrence value” (p.321).

Dawkins then describes an interview with the American comic actor Julia Sweeney:

“ ‘If you were to compare the abuse of bringing a child up really to believe in hell … how do you think that would compare in trauma terms with sexual abuse?’ She replied: ‘That’s a very difficult question … I think there are lots of similarities actually, because it is about an abuse of trust; it is about denying the child the right to feel free and open and relate to the world in the normal way … it’s a form of denigration; it’s a form of denial of the true self in both cases” (p.325).

- pause for thought -

As I have blogged earlier, I am currently working on a project for the Yorkshire Baptist Association on how to connect the Christian faith with children …

… and it has just occurred to me … there’s a lot said in our churches and denominations about Child Protection, about Criminal Records Checks, about safeguards and proper procedures for dealing with children who want to ‘disclose’ physical or sexual abuse they may be enduring …

… but how much of what we teach in church, or Sunday School … about (heaven and) hell … about God seeing and knowing all the bad things you do … how much of that is actually abusive?

Dawkins again: “If children were taught to question and think through their beliefs, instead of being taught the superior virtue of faith without question, it is a good bet there would be no suicide bombers …” (p.308).

Hmmmm …..