There is no such thing as a Christian child: only a child of Christian parents. ... Catholic child? Flinch. Protestant child? Squirm. Muslim child? Shudder. Everybody's consciousness should be raised to this level.
[amusingly, the children featured in the pictures belong to a family of Evangelicals, and just happen to have found their way into a photo library]
Many Christians would agree that people have to find their own way, and come to their own "faith decision" at an appropriate time. Many would say that there are a whole series of faith decisions to be made, perhaps (why else did Christ talk of taking up one's cross daily?)
But it seems stunningly naive to suggest that we need our consciousness raised to the point where we realise that children are blank canvasses, and that "religion" is something which may or may not be foisted upon them. Never mind whether it's desirable, is it possible to step outside our own prejudices and give the next generation an unfettered, un-nuanced choice?
Of course not. The child raised by socialists will look at the world differently from the neighbour raised by aspiring middle-class entrepreneurs. The child raised by vegans will make different life choices from the one who starts boxing lessons at the age of four (ok; those are not quite mutually exclusive, but I'm thinking that the overlap is tiny). The child raised by atheists will view the world differently from the ones who are active, philosophically-inquisitive agnostics. These points of view do not necessarily give rise to a simple causation (vegan parents means life-long vegan child) but they are undoubtedly affecting.
There is no "neutral" position. There are many possible beliefs and practices. The stuff that society generally agrees on is pretty slender. "Stealing is bad, and violence is only possible as a last resort, and perhaps not even then" might seem a common credo, but I'd wager plenty of people would want to qualify that slightly before instilling it in their child. The assumption that "no religion" is a better default than this faith system or that seems equally arbitrary - especially when the majority of the population has an explicit faith of some kind (and a significant proportion of the rest will hold onto some intangible, unprovable mystic beliefs of some sort or another).
People have tried interfering with what may or may not be taught to the young before. It seldom ends well. There will always be extremes that society decides are too damaging - and I wouldn't rule out evangelicalism some day receiving that label -but the diversity of society arises precisely because families, extended families, and communities all have an influence on the way children grow up. And that, as far as I'm concerned, is not just a good thing, it's essential.
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