Evolutionary biologist and outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins controversially suggested that parents not identify their children's faith to avoid "labelling."
Dawkins said terms such as "Christian children" or "Muslim children" are inaccurate because children have not decided what their faiths are yet.
"How can the 'beliefs' of a 4-year-old child be 'important' to her if she doesn't even know what her beliefs are?" he asked in a TIME article.
"Would you ever speak of a 4-year-old's political beliefs? Hannah is a socialist 4-year-old, Mark a conservative. Who would ever dream of saying such a thing?
"We wouldn't claim our young kids are liberals or Libertarian, so why are we saddling them with our religious labels?"
The remarks were in response to a London school district's proposal to ban pork from school meals so as not to offend primary school children of certain faiths.
Dawkins asserted that children are not just born into a certain religion the way their nationality and blood type is determined.
"Unlike national labels, religious labels carry a baggage of personal opinion," he said. "Catholics believe Jesus was born of a virgin mother who never died but was 'assumed' bodily into heaven.
"Mormons believe Jesus visited America and that Native Americans migrated from Israel.
"It is high-handed and presumptuous to tie a metaphorical label around a tiny child's neck stating, in effect, 'this child believes Jesus rose from the dead,' as calmly as you might write 'Blood Group AB,'" he continued.
"At very least it negates the ideal, held dear by all decent educationists, that children should be taught to think for themselves."
Dawkins is the best-selling author of "The God Delusion" and many other works.
