Religion can be harmless, for example, we told my 4 year old recently that her grandad had 'gone to heaven', which makes death a lot easier for her to cope with. If it comforts people, and they're not trying to ram it down anybody else's throat, then fine.
Unfortunately, the crazies spoil it for everyone else.
Things were looking pretty bad after a botched operation on my oldest son two Christmases ago, and the missus and I discussed what we would tell his brother if the worst happened. The only solution I could think of was heaven - its extremely difficult to think of what else you can say to a 4 year old. It's no doubt why religion is so seductive - you'd really really like it to be true.


