Is an anti-religion book dangerous?

Personally, I think each family's should take on the responsibility to make sure their children don't read things that conflict with their own belief system, not the government, or another family. I understand why people are upset with the book, and I would suggest that they keep this book away from their children.

My child won't be reading it, if it's even available in English, because I want him to decide about religion from his own personal experience not from a book.

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I have found that just because someone has deemed something inappropriate for kids, I don't always agree. The book may not be as bad as they are saying. I would have to read the book first to see how I felt about it.

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I have to tell you that as an atheist, my first reaction was "It's about time!" After all, there is certainly no shortage of religious-themed books out there for kids. However, as against organized religion as I am, I don’t believe it’s helpful for the authors to single out the “big 3” to vilify.

That said, in answer to the question of an anti-religious book being dangerous: NO. It's no more dangerous than teaching children to believe in false gods. I don't believe in censorship in any form; it's up to us (as parents) to decide what we're going to bring into the house for our kids to read. And if they get their hands on it elsewhere, well then, you'll have to have a conversation about it, no?

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I personally don't believe that any censorship is ever helpful, while being a parent and teaching your child what you think, believe in (or not), and approve of is helpful. So what if a book looks down upon religion? There are plenty of really stupid, ignorant and useless books out there and most of them are ignored, why single out this one for censorship?

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Government censorship is far more dangerous than any book that was ever published. Every year the Library Assn. puts out a list of books that have been banned somewhere or other. It's amazing to read. To Kill a Mockingbird? Fahrenheit 451? And of course Catcher in the Rye.

I can remember when I was a teen or maybe even younger when the way to make sure I read something was to ban it.

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Pretty difficult to speculate about unless you've got an English translation available to us somewhere.

As for me, I'm a big First Amendment fan.

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I don't know about banning it but i sure wouldn't read a book to my kid that slams any religion. I wsnt them to be accepting of others beleifs even if they don't agree with them.
I think living in a world were everyone agree's with me would be pretty boring.

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I wouldn't want to ban it all together, but I wouldn't want it to be available at any children's library or elementary school library in a predominantly Christian, Muslim, or Jewish country. It would offend the majority of parets and most likely upset many children. I would have been very upset and confused if I'd read this as a child. You can say that's a good thing because it would start me thinking, but you don't start kids thinking in that manner ("everything your parents, teachers, and pastors believe and tell you is bunk") when they are so young.

By the way, Judaism isn't a large religion at all Its following is miniscule, compared to other world religions. The only way you could argue that it is big is if you give it credit for Christianity and Islam, whose roots are in Judaism. Have we completely forgotten about Hinduism, which has nearly as many followers as Islam? Buddhism? Why does everyone think there are so many Jews? Probably because they are concentrated in US places and industries that are very visible, e.g., New York and the media.

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As a Wiccan, I really think it should be a parents choice. I think making things available to all expands the mind. My mother is die hard Southern Baptist, dad raised but not practicing Catholic, my sister is Christian extremist, my husband-son of a Babtist minister, grandson of a LDS. My oldest daughter currently takes a scientist view and is questioning everything and i personally think she should choose what provides her with the spiritual peace a faith should. But if you close your mind to the fact that diversity in faith exist--you do a severe injustice to youself and those around you.

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I think the most dangerous aspect of this book is the title, which undoubtedly was chosen to interest religious buyers. It certainly *sounds* like a book that a religious family might be interested in, but it also seems that a very brief glance through it would clue the parents into the fact that it's not a book about helping your kids find God.

In Germany, does labeling a book "dangerous to children" mean that it's banned?

Your statement that a book is more likely to be dangerous to the established powers-that-be than to a child is pretty weak. Do you really think that books can't be dangerous to children? Books are filled with ideas. Not all ideas are good for kids. Some of them are downright dangerous. I suspect that you certainly don't think that saint books are good for your kids. "Dangerous" is just a little further along on the scale of "not good for".

Do I think the book should be banned? Nah. Do I think that parents should be warned? Yep, though, as an American, I believe that warnings don't have to come from governments. Word of mouth is an incredible force.

What kind of book is so bad that it *would* need to be censored? And, by 'censored', do you mean banned?

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Definitely shouldn't be banned... religion is one of the major causes of conflicts, let's have peace!

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