I was raised in a Christian family.  We used to go to church every Sunday and Wednesday.  I feel like I was a hardcore Christian back then.  I’d ask for forgiveness every time I heard profanity, even if I heard it on television (which was about every minute or so).  I always covered my eyes at the sight of a woman’s leg.  I prayed before taking a bite of anything.  All of my siblings were raised were raised the same way.  Then we just stopped going to church one day, and all seemed to be getting lost from there.  I was still a Christian for a while, but something was different when I reached the eighth or ninth grade.  I (as other teens) started looking into other religions.  Actually, I was just interested in the occult.  I studied Paganism and Wicca for a while.  I was a witch who thought I could bend the world to my will, when in reality, I was reshaping my perception and making myself think that the world was bending to my will.  That phase wore off in the 11^th grade, I believe (10^th or 11^th).  I started realizing that the world is not a good place, and I started questioning my beliefs again.  I thought “How could any god allow all this evil to take place?”  I now know the answers various religions give on the problem of evil, but back then it was an excuse to look elsewhere.  I did not stop believing in god instantly, it was more of a transition.  I read books, asked questions, and tried to find out more.  When finally I became an atheist, I was confused at first.  I knew I was not being lied to intentionally, my parents were just trying to raise me how they were raised, and the best way they knew how to raise a child.  But looking back now with what I know, I somewhat disagree with the view that a child should be raised with the belief that Christianity is the one and only true religion.

            What does Christianity teach a child?  In a fundamentalist Christian home, a child is taught to take the Bible literally.  This shapes his/her morals.  They are taught the stories of the bible; stories about the parting of the sea by Moses, about Jesus walking on water, about heaven existing above and hell down below.  This is basically the same thing as teaching a child about the tooth fairy or Santa Clause.  This does not mean that it is necessarily bad, but the tooth fairy is not associated with other morals like the Christian stories are.  Once the child finds out that the tooth fairy does not exist, it will probably not be that big of a deal.  But once she finds out that only space exists above, and the molten core of the earth below, or that it is improbable for a man to walk on water, this could be blow to the basis of her belief in Christianity.  If she loses faith in this, it could spread to the rest of the morals Christianity has taught her;  the morals about life, death, marriage, love, abortion, or other topics of debate. 

            In the Republic, Plato had the idea of teaching religion to the civilians of a community.  The guardians, or leaders of the community, would know that they were teaching religion to civilians so they would be kept in line.  This would teach them basic morals.  This is basically parallel to the reason why it would be good to teach a child about Christianity.  But what about when he starts to reason, or question.  Christianity teaches that it is best to be ignorant.  Is the point of this to keep people from breaking rules? 

            I believe a child should be taught reasoning skills at an early age.  It is reason, not religion that should be the basis of morals and beliefs.  If the basis of religion is faith, and faith is believing without proof, then a child is being taught irrationality at an early age.  Some may say that religion is necessary to keep morals, but I disagree.  Reason can show why it is wrong to harm, kill, or steal (in a general sense, there are exceptions of course).  If a moral, such as marriage being only between a man and woman, is taught based on religion, and the religion turns out false, then the moral fails.  But if it is shown to be wrong based on reason, then it is less likely to be proved wrong. 

            Another road to take is instead of teaching a child just one religion, one could teach him many religions, and let the child form a belief from there.  This would not only teach the child morals of other religions, but also show that the world is a diverse place with many ideas to accept or disagree with. 

            In the end though, it is really the child, who grows up to become a rational adult, who chooses which path he will take.  Whether he becomes a Christian, Atheist, Pagan, or anything else, he will choose his way based on his perception, experience, and most importantly, his education.