VERSION|0.5.1|NAME|Dinah|DATE|1371735993|CONTENT|Tom Butler claims the statement ‘I believe in God’ provides a ‘secure starting point’ for a child and gives a ‘framework for living.’  Sorry, but this is untrue in every way.  Someone of tender years can’t possibly know whether he or she believes in God, because they simply do not have enough experience to make an informed decision about it.  They may have been told they believe in God or told they ought to believe in God, but these are entirely different things.  It is not in any case a starting point.  The starting point is defining the God you are supposed to believe in, and then providing the evidence for its existence.  The ‘framework for living’ presumably refers to ethical behaviour or morality, and therefore is confusing or conflating belief in God with ethical behaviour.  Butler seems to be implying that theists behave better than non-theists.  Has he any evidence for this?

It is frequently pointed out that in order to have freedom of religion there has to be freedom from religion, but Butler and his ilk seem incapable of understanding this, and instead just keep on whingeing about the exclusion of religion from public life.
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