Weird choice

“Are you a Christian?” asked an 8-year-old of me. We were talking about Santa and elves.
“My parents are, but I’m not.”
“Why? That’s weird!”
“Yes. I know.”

I have read The God Delusion. In it, Dawkins goes on and on about evolution and science, history, ethics, holy books, holy people, holy wars, etc. However, the newest and most valuable idea I got from him came from the preface to the paperback edition. Thank goodness I didn't read his work in hardcover.

Dawkins says: "There is no such thing as a Christian child: only the child of Christian parents."

In other words, only an adult can be said to belong to a religion. Anyone not an adult should be thought of as undecided and thus as yet unclaimed.

I don't think I'd ever been confronted with exactly this idea before. It felt very liberating. The implication was: I did not leave the faith; I simply was never part of it. I betrayed nothing; I simply took the proverbial path less traveled.

My choice to part ways with my religious upbringing was both difficult and inevitable. For some, it is difficult and not inevitable at all. For some, it is impossible.

I hope people listen to Dawkins. I hope people repeat the message. I want more children to believe that they have a choice (and that they should try and consciously make one). I want more adults to respect the choices they make, no matter what those choices are.

And then maybe, someday, my choice will not seem weird.