Here is a small Iranian girl giving a sermon in defence of the Quran:

I find the use of children in promoting religion or the labelling of children as having a religion particularly sickening; it’s an insidious form of child abuse.

As Mansoor Hekmat says in his brilliant piece in defence of children’s rights:

The child has no religion, tradition and prejudices. She has not joined any religious sect. She is a new human being who, by accident and irrespective of her will has been born into a family with specific religion, tradition, and prejudices. It is indeed the task of society to neutralise the negative effects of this blind lottery. Society is duty-bound to provide fair and equal living conditions for children, their growth and development, and their active participation in social life. Anybody who should try to block the normal social life of a child, exactly like those who would want to physically violate a child according to their own culture, religion, or personal or collective complexes, should be confronted with the firm barrier of the law and the serious reaction of society. No nine year old girl chooses to be married, sexually mutilated, serve as house maid and cook for the male members of the family, and be deprived of exercise, education, and play. The child grows up in the family and in society according to established customs, traditions, and regulations, and automatically learns to accept these ideas and customs as the norms of life… The condition for defending any form of the freedom of the child to experience life, the condition for defending the child’s right to choose, is first and foremost, to prevent these automatic and common impositions.

Lottery indeed. Think about it, this little girl could have been playing, swimming, dancing… were she born in another family.

Religion – together we can (and must) find the cure:

(via Afsaneh Vahdat)