Clearly, it is time we learned to meet our emotional needs without embracing the preposterous. We must find ways to invoke the power of ritual and to mark those transitions in every human life that demand profundity - birth, marriage, death - without lying to ourselves about the nature of reality. Only then will the practice of raising our children to believe that they are Christian, Muslim, or Jewish be widely recognized as the ludicrous obscenity that it is. And only then will we stand a chance of healing the deepest and most dangerous fractures in our world.
This quote presents a searing critique of the common practice of instilling religious identities in children, urging instead for a sincere engagement with reality and a thoughtful approach to the rituals that surround life’s pivotal moments. The author challenges us to reconsider how we fulfill our emotional needs, pushing us away from the acceptance of what he terms the 'preposterous'—likely referring to faith-based beliefs held without evidence—and toward a grounded experience...
