Lawrence Krauss, a cosmologist and theoretical physicist, says he’s stumbled upon the key to removing religion from the hearts and minds of Americans everywhere in one short generation: Teach it in schools, he said.
If children were only given the opportunity to analyze the ins and outs of different faiths in a controlled school setting, then they would see how ridiculous all the beliefs are — and shortly after, abandon their faiths, he said, during a speech to the Victorian Skeptics Cafe in Australia, The Blaze reported.
“What we need to do is present comparative religion as a bunch of interesting historical anecdotes and show the silly reasons why they each did what they did,” he said, The Blaze reported, “Instead of shying away from it, we have to explicitly educate people to confront their own misconceptions.”
Religion, in short order, could go the way of gay marriage and slavery, he said.
“People say, ’Well, religion has been around since the dawn of man. You’ll never change that,’” he said, The Blaze reported. “This issue of gay marriage, it is going to go away because if you’re a child, a 13-year-old, they can’t understand what the issue is. It’s gone. One generation is all it takes.”
The same could hold true for religion, he said.
“Change is always one generation away,” Mr. Krauss said, The Blaze reported. “So if we can plant the seeds of doubt in our children, religion will go away in a generation, or at least largely go away — and that’s what I think we have an obligation to do.”
Mr. Krauss made the comments at a symposium held months ago, but the video from the conference only made the media rounds this week. Mr. Krauss is the same individual who said earlier that year that teaching creationism to children is akin to child abuse.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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