Why atheists shouldn’t have children

Posted by Jesus on January 3, 2008

A good Christian sent me a story from Time Magazine yesterday about a couple who are? having a difficult time adopting a child in New Jersey because they are atheists. Even with the full weight of evidence that God exists pressing into them with each exhalation, some people still choose not to believe. It’s exactly the same as people who choose to be democrats, choose to be muslims, or choose to be gay. Atheists deserve the same treatment as any other second-class citizen, and besides being denied benefits such as adoption, should also be openly mocked by any good Christian.

Let me explain how this works for those of you new to the faith. Young children do not have the mental capacity to tell the difference between reality and fantasy. They will accept on faith anything told to them by their parents, as it is the parents who are responsible for keeping them alive in your difficult and unforgiving world. You give them fantasies such as the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus to bring some explanation to otherwise unexplainable situations or to help keep them in line during the busy holidays, but at some point in their development you free them from these fantasies and allow them to feel the full weight of reality.

I am no different. When a child is young they should come to know me, because when young they will do so without questioning or challenging my existence. Children raised in homes with Christian values have knowledge of me through their entire development, and by the time they come to possess critical reasoning abilities are often quite unable to differentiate the faith which proves my love for them and the very real, very tangible Bible they have on their shelf. This is the way I would have it, because there is no greater sin than to question or deny the existence of God, and by extension me.

Good parents will use all of the tools God has given them to ensure that their child does not, indeed cannot, question their faith. A mixture of fear, respect, and hope should permeate all human lives, drawing others into the fold of Christianity through prayer, intercession, and outright forced conversion (when it is mandated). This begins at childhood because it is the child who is most succeptible to the message, and it falls on the parents to impart this message. The fact that human children are hardwired to accept anything told to them by their parents as absolute fact without nagging questions or concerns can be considered by parents a gift from God.

In the past I have heard arguments that imparting such information to a child is tantamount to abuse because the human being is left unable to make rational and reasonable decisions with a mind supposedly broken and clouded by Christianity’s message. This is not true. Many of you are aware that Christianity does maintain an absolute monopoly on morality. If a child is raised without the teachings of the Bible, or if an adult does not come to accept these teachings as soon as he or she can, there is no chance whatsoever that the person can be a moral, productive member of society. The very foundation of Christianity is morality, and if programmed early enough in the mind of a child can produce a well-behaved, meek, and easily-trainable citizen. Not to drive the tenets of Christianity into the still-forming and decidedly uncognitive brain of the child who looks to you as a parent for protection and guidance is the real abuse. Only if you fail to impart as absolute the intagible and unexplainable element of faith to your child have you failed as a parent.

New Jersey obviously has the right idea in this case. Judges in that state understand that it can be difficult to convince an older, thinking person that I exist, just as it is difficult to convince them that the Easter Bunny exists (the only exception being that the former is false and the latter is true, because I said so). For that reason, among others, it has been decided that atheists cannot be parents in New Jersey. I support that decision wholeheartedly, for it is the little children on whose behalf I chose most to suffer. When they come unto me as a child, full of wonder and confusion, unable to recognize faith as something which might normally deserve critical examination, I am most able to keep them for life.

When a child is raised Christian their minds lose that part which might allow them to ignore their faith later in life. They are largely unable to question such an old and critical part of themselves, despite evidence, inconsistencies, and any manner of scientific theory thrust upon them. And that is what we want - children who grow up to be adults who have beliefs so ingrained that they are absolutely incapable of shedding them, despite the alleged evidence. That’s why raising your children as Christians is so important, and that is why atheists should be outright banned from adopting or naturally producing children.