Anousics are indoctrinating our children

[muriel_volestrangler]

AC Grayling, a British philosopher, has an objection or 2 to religious state schools in the UK:

Anousics are people who variously believe in ghosts and alien visitations, in the dead coming to life, in magical occurrences, in forms of cannibalism, in obsessive rituals and incantations, in strange psychological observances and sexual perversions, in weird ancient myths, which they regard as true accounts of the origin and nature of the world, and in personified forms of evil and malevolence; who traditionally employ and always threaten torture and execution for those who do not accept their theories, who to gain their ends sometimes engage in war, massacre and murder, and at other times use bribery, brainwashing, and techniques of preying on the poor, sick, depressed and traumatised. They sometimes hide their true face behind masks of charitable works, and even encourage their recruits to think this is their real nature; but their record is overwhelmingly against them otherwise.

Their chief means of recruitment, however, is proselytisation of the very young, knowing that once they have inserted the seeds of their views deeply in young minds, they will either be able to keep hold of those minds or reclaim them at opportune moments later.
...
Here are the facts; these facts are in the public domain, and like the foregoing they are absolutely and horribly true. One of the main Anousic organisations in England is in the process of becoming the largest sponsor of "academy schools". By next year it will have nearly trebled the number of academies it controls to over 30, and is in discussion with the government to assume control of a further 54. Another Anousic organisation which currently runs just three academy schools is engaged in taking over a further 22; a third is due to assume control of 25 within the next couple of years. Between them Anousic organisations already run one-quarter of all secondary schools in England, and this expansion will greatly increase the proportion.
...
By the way: I use the word "Anousic" as a generic term for "religious". It is a neologism suggested by ancient Greek to connote "mindless", "unreasoning", "illogical". I grant that the systematicity and long-term thinking implicit in the cunning strategy of capturing young minds suggests the opposite of all three: rather, it is the content - and therefore the results - of what religion wishes to insert into those young minds that merits the epithets. The three Anousic organisations mainly referred to in this article are the Church of England, the Baptists, and the United Learning Trust, but Muslim, Jewish and other religious organisations share in the tens of millions of our tax pounds to spread their word about ghosts, myths, obsessive rituals and incantations, distorted sexuality, prejudice ... and all the rest of the happy brew.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/25/faithschools.education

Watch the fur fly in the comments - The Guardian's Comment is Free pages are always good for a religious spat.