This may come as a surprise, but the only category of individual in our supposedly enlightened secular liberal democracy here in the UK which does NOT have a right to freedom of belief is the CHILD!

It is perfectly legal to indoctrinate children with poisonous beliefs, opinions, attitudes, and values - and the State actually endorses this situation by financially supporting so-called 'faith' schools that propagate socially divisive religious ideologies and attitudes. Even science is taught in our schools as if it produces proven knowledge - which is a naive misrepresentation that encourages arrogance in scientists, especially the atheistic ones.

Our secular liberal society tells its children that they are free - and then they are confronted with a massive contradiction in values from the day they are born. They are constantly told they are free - and then their minds are imprisoned in shackles provided by the very people who claim to care about their wellbeing. Even if you are a parent who carefully avoids passing your prejudices onto your children, you can be sure that others are busy undoing your good work.

The issue of indoctrination is usually suppressed in our society - probably because it is impossible not to pass some values, attitudes, beliefs, etc. on to children, even without meaning to, but also because it suits all sides on the atheism-versus-religion debate to view it in highly restrictive terms. No-one wants to admit to indoctrinating their children, and yes, even atheists can indoctrinate their children with their anti-religious views unless they are extremely careful.

If we want to live in a genuinely free society of tolerant, compassionate, caring citizens who treat the wellbeing of others as being of more importance than championing their own particular brand of ideology, then we need to ban the indoctrination of children.

This would make it possible for them to grow up in a society in which they value and respect the right to freedom of belief of others because their own right to freedom of belief was valued and respected as a child.

This isn't a recipe for anarchy and chaos - although it would certainly expose the morally narcissistic attitudes of dogmatic atheists and dogmatic religious believers for what they really are: puerile conceits founded on the capacity for self-deceit. Of course they don't want this - they're too busy claiming they are absolutely right and everyone else is absolutely wrong!

Yet if we don't stop indoctrinating children we are creating the basis for a culture in which the next generation may well grow up in a society that claims to offer freedom but which can get away with actively destroying the last refuge of freedom: the right to freedom of belief.

This process has already begun: the culture of 'Political Correctness' already means that simply being a member of the BNP is viewed as being socially obnoxious (I must stress that I am not a member of the BNP and have no sympathy with their views - but they have a right to believe what they wish). How long before the PC culture now taught in our schools means that other kinds of inconvenient and challenging beliefs and opinions are being denigrated in front of naive children? (Consider the critical perspectives on global warming - already non-PC!)

Our pseudo-liberal elite is getting away with this because they are nurturing an entire generation which deludes itself it is free when its freedom is rapidly being eroded. The ease with which politicians manipulate the media and deceive the public by releasing misleading information is just one manifestation of an increasingly divided society - between those who manufacture 'truth' (along with their supporters) and those who want to find out what's really going on (remember Winston Smith in George Orwell's novel 1984?).

The future of any society lies in its children - we should be very careful what we do to them when they are in our care.