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I bet we can all agree on that. The more interesting question (and perhaps the focus of OP, but who knows?) might be.... "Would you want religion forced on you BEFORE you were old enough to decide?"
Yes, religion is keenly aware of how vital it is to get control of children's minds, through education and through the family. Education has largely been taken out of religious control, though they found that may governments are only too willing to hand over the children of their voters to religions to indoctrinate just so they don't have to find the money themselves. And through the family is another way. If and when kids grow up, give up religion and don't act as enablers for religion any more, and education doesn't enable religion any more, I think that religion is finished, even if huge amounts of oil -dollars are pumped into evangelical propaganda.
Religion is not a choice. The idea that we have a choice is the illusion. The fact is everything we do is based on FAITH and BELIEF. Atheist are just belivers not in God, but believers none the less. Agnostic merely embrace the belief that they do not know. There is always a belief in something. That is what religion fundamentally is, and an extension and observable practice of that belief.
I grew up in a family where it was not a choice. I was going to be a Jehovahs Witness no matter what. I always tried to please my mother, so I allowed myself to be baptized at 13. At 18 I was disfellowshipped and kicked out of home. In retrospect, the best outcome possible. I am solidly agnostic, but lean toward atheist. Religion should obviously be a choice, but it's often not.
Religion is not a choice. The idea that we have a choice is the illusion. The fact is everything we do is based on FAITH and BELIEF. Atheist are just belivers not in God, but believers none the less. Agnostic merely embrace the belief that they do not know. There is always a belief in something. That is what religion fundamentally is, and an extension and observable practice of that belief.
Wrong. You are falling into equivocation -fallacy. In fact you made it obvious by posting Faith and Belief and though acknowledging (tacitly) they were not the same you tried to imply that they were the same...pretty much.
Belief in the empirical, skeptical or scientific sense (1) is based on the best evidence and what is not supported by some decent evidence is not Believed. Faith is based on what is asserted as dogma and evidence is irrelevant other than as something that can be used to support the Faith, and it doesn't even matter whether it's true or not.
Now, you may protest 'But what you are talking about are the 'beliefs' that lead to agnosticism, not atheism.'
Wrong again, if so. Atheism is based on agnosticism - not knowing - and not believing until we do know. What 'agosticism' often turns out to be is theism which has a belief in a god, but admits that they could be wrong. Which isn't as dogmatic as "I Know On Faith" theism.
Cue ..'but atheists say that they know there is no God!'
(1) which is not, by the way, to be confused with the rule of thumb autopilot methods we use just to bumble through life on an everyday basis and which we hardly ever think about, so don't confuse rational thought with that, either mistakenly or with intent to mislead.
I grew up in a family where it was not a choice. I was going to be a Jehovahs Witness no matter what. I always tried to please my mother, so I allowed myself to be baptized at 13. At 18 I was disfellowshipped and kicked out of home. In retrospect, the best outcome possible. I am solidly agnostic, but lean toward atheist. Religion should obviously be a choice, but it's often not.
Quite so. In many households. I was raise without religion in the home at least, though the Church was allowed pretty free access to me, and I suppose that i remained uncorked..(freudian slip..time for my daily cider...arggh, slump another 180 degrees..) unconvinced is because it was such incredible garbage. I sorta know that Something can Happen (which they call Experience of God...and maybe it is..) that changed their heads so that evidence doesn't actually matter and anything that is unbelievable is just ignored and they attach this inner faith to whatever bit of the religion they can somehow make credible. Sometimes the Image of Jesus (which isn't of course the way he actually appears in the Bible) or the good Things in the gospels (and ignore the awful stuff) or just 'Hello trees! Hello flowers!" and link it with a gentle mentle father figure ..I don't have more than some inklings of how it works but it all sound very much like a very familiar self deception to me, but I suppose it's better than being drafted in my the Church as a flying monkey working for their power and authority of their Wiz.
Religion is not a choice. The idea that we have a choice is the illusion. The fact is everything we do is based on FAITH and BELIEF. Atheist are just belivers not in God, but believers none the less. Agnostic merely embrace the belief that they do not know. There is always a belief in something. That is what religion fundamentally is, and an extension and observable practice of that belief.
Atheists sometimes say (or that's what I say they say, and until you can prove 100% that it isn't true, it must be true, that's how theist logic works) that it isn't true that they believe in Nothing - they believe in Everything...other than gods.
This 'belief' is true.I mean we do this 'belief'. It is a belief in what we experience daily and in what we are taught, and we hope and trust that what is being passed onto us is from reliable sources that go through checks and examination is reliable.
This is the 'belief' that we have and it is no surprise that science (which has the best system of checks there is after engineering - Boeing Co excepted) is most often referenced as Info sources by atheists. Which of course leads theist apologists to think of this as the Belief, Dogma or even Religion of atheism.
It isn't because atheists (being part of the whole rationalist skeptical mindset) will always be looking for changes, updates and complete rewrites of 'everything science thought that it knew' ) We love this stuff, but it is the very opposite of Dogma. This is why (in searching for the Term that would straddle the two opposite concepts of Dogma and Freethought really) theist apologists came up with 'Belief - system' which nicely brings together the ideas of a way of thinking (skeptical) with a way of believing (Dogma) and making them look the same.
Neat trick But we atheists have a saying "Once the audience have had a magic trick explained to them, they can't be fooled by it ever again".
To leave a religion is a choice. Most people are born into a religion, that is not a choice.
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) We love this stuff, but it is the very opposite of Dogma. This is why (in searching for the Term that would straddle the two opposite concepts of Dogma and Freethought really) theist apologists came up with 'Belief - system' which nicely brings together the ideas of a way of thinking (skeptical) with a way of believing (Dogma) and making them look the same. 
But we atheists have a saying "Once the audience have had a magic trick explained to them, they can't be fooled by it ever again".
