richard_dawkins_-_the_god_delusion

CHILDHOOD, ABUSE AND RELIGION 337
there and he says, 'The Koran is correct and true.' And
Clare, over here, says, 'No, the Bible is true.' So we talked
about the similarities between what they say and the
places where they disagree. And we agreed that they could
not both be true. And eventually I said, 'Sorry Shaquille,
you are wrong, it is the Bible that is true.' And he said,
'Sorry Mr McQuoid, you are wrong, it is the Koran.' And
they went on to lunch and carried on discussing it there.
That's what we want. We want children to know why it is
they believe what they believe and to defend it. 149
What a charming picture! Shaquille and Clare went to lunch
together, vigorously arguing their cases and defending their incompatible
beliefs. But is it really so charming? Isn't it actually
rather a deplorable picture that Mr McQuoid has painted? Upon
what, after all, did Shaquille and Clare base their argument? What
cogent evidence was each one able to bring to bear, in their
vigorous and constructive debate? Clare and Shaquille each simply
asserted that her or his holy book was superior, and that was that.
That is apparently all they said, and that, indeed, is all you can say
when you have been taught that truth comes from scripture rather
than from evidence. Clare and Shaquille and their fellows were not
being educated. They were being let down by their school, and their
school principal was abusing, not their bodies, but their minds.
CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING AGAIN
And now, here's another charming picture. At Christmas-time one
year my daily newspaper, the Independent, was looking for a
seasonal image and found a heart-warmingly ecumenical one at a
school nativity play. The Three Wise Men were played by, as the
caption glowingly said, Shadbreet (a Sikh), Musharaff (a Muslim)
and Adele (a Christian), all aged four.
Charming? Heart-warming? No, it is not, it is neither; it is
grotesque. How could any decent person think it right to label fouryear-old
children with the cosmic and theological opinions of their