I am an atheist.

[formant]

Does this include Santa Claus, the toothfairy, the boogy man in the cupbaord etc etc

Sorta. But those sort of narratives don't normally get as much airtime in schools as Jesus stories do. Particularly not after the first couple of years.

[mudskipper]

I think there are enough atheists who put convenience or the prestige of having their children attend the most prestigious (often religious) school above their lack of faith.

Or they weigh the pros and cons of a better education vs the religion and decide it's easier to undo the religion (or let the child make up their own mind when they're older) than fix a bad education.

[MyUserName]

Nah - in the future, atheists in hell will look up at the believers in heaven, wishing they hadn't been so prideful and stubborn.

If atheists went to heaven:

[SupremeSpod]

Yeah, I'd argue that, but in the example of my stepdaughters' biological mother (no less atheist than we are) it was all about the convenience of sending them to the most local (to her) school. Not terribly surprised that the judge didn't agree with that.

I think there are enough atheists who put convenience or the prestige of having their children attend the most prestigious (often religious) school above their lack of faith.

The world is full of hypocrites.

[sasguru]

I'm not sure that describing atheists as delusional is accurate. I'd say they just haven't thought things through properly.

A cursory survey of the literature shows most studies show an inverse correlation between religion and inteliigence.
Perhaps you're not very bright?
And if that's the case, like most people on thsi forum, you wouldn't know it.

[formant]

Nah - in the future, atheists in hell will look up at the believers in heaven, wishing they hadn't been so prideful and stubborn.

Oh, but growing up in a very liberal Lutheran community, I was told hell was mostly a Catholic belief, originally made up to scare people into buying indulgences.

I prefer that view. That's the neat thing when you're on the outside of all this malarky - you can pick and choose what you're "risking" by not believing. It's not like there's a whole lot of agreement on that amongst believers. Some prefer a religion of fear, others prefer a religion of forgiveness...*shrug*

[MyUserName]

The world is full of hypocrites.

I will probably send my daughter to the local faith school that is attached to our church. The reasons are that they have very small class sizes and have excellent resources for handling autism. When she is old enough to apply critical thinking and logical observation I have no doubt she will see straight through religion, if she ever asks me I will explain to her why I do not belive it myself.

[NotAllThere]

And what will the heaven dwellers be thinking? Will they feel sad seeing their non-believing loved ones being poked with pitchforks? Feeling sad in heaven isn't possible is it?...

C.S. Lewis covered it quite well in his short book "The Great Divorce".

Hell has no power over heaven, and so, no, the people in heaven won't feel anything bad for the people in hell. Hard for us to understand how that could be, as it seems callous, but that's the way it is. One alternative some prefer is a universalist approach that in the end everyone is saved. Others think that non-believers merely suffer annihilation, which is what atheists effectively think they get anyway.

[SupremeSpod]

A cursory survey of the literature shows most studies show an inverse correlation between religion and inteliigence.
Perhaps you're not very bright?
And if that's the case, like most people on thsi forum, you wouldn't know it.

You really couldn't make this tulip up.

[sasguru]

You really couldn't make this tulip up.

No you couldn't. Someone who confuses typos with intelligence has got to be thick as a plank.