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Childhood religious indoctrination must end

During the bitter Iran/Iraq war of the 1980s, Iranian boys as young as 10 or 12 were brainwashed with promises of paradise by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. They were bullied to the point they preferred to run into Iraqi machine gun fire over the fate that would have befallen them if they deserted to the rear. But, it wasn't all bad. Their cruel overlords thoughtfully provided them with a plastic key to paradise that they could clutch in their small hand as their frail bodies disintegrated under withering fire. Most waved a wooden facsimile of a gun. To glorify their sacrifice, these tragic victims rest in a special cemetery. A fountain that flows with red colored water symbolizes their blood. Their parents say they are proud of their son's sacrifice.

Al Qaeda masterminds of the September 11 tragedy and other equally deplorable suicide attacks in Britain, Spain, Indonesia, Iraq, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, Kenya, and North Africa only succeeded because the perpetrators swallowed the insidious dogma of paradise. According to the Koran, martyrs don't have to wait for judgment day. A heroic sacrifice means they go directly to sit by the side of Mohamed and presumably enjoy all the virgin maids they cannot have on this planet. Today, in the Occupied Territories, fanatics are diligently brainwashing an entire generation of innocent children using the visual impact television provides. These unfortunate children stand a faint chance of breaking free. Toddlers do not choose to be Islamic martyrs.

Donald Kraybill, an anthropologist who made a close study of an Amish community in Pennsylvania, comments on the potency of indoctrination.

"Groups threatened by cultural extinction," he writes, "must indoctrinate their offspring if they want to preserve their unique heritage. Socialization of the very young is one of the most potent forms of social control. As cultural values slip into the child's mind, they become personal values-embedded in conscience and governed by emotions.

"The Amish contend that the Bible commissions parents to train their children in religious matters as well as the Amish way of life. . . An ethnic nursery, staffed by extended family and church members, molds the Amish world view in the child's mind from the earliest moments of consciousness."

But notice that the law honors a biblically inspired reason for justifying the Amish position. There is absolutely no secular purpose in helping the Amish perpetuate a cult

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