a midway bikelog

Noted atheist Richard Dawkins is apparently leaving his post at Oxford to write a children’s book designed to suck all of the imagination out of childhood.

His theory, apparently (leaving the ridiculous and manufactured Harry Potter aspect of the article out), is that there’s something harmful in raising kids to believe in magic and fairies and the like. He goes on to tie this into religious upbringing, calling it child abuse to label a kid “christian” or “muslim”. On the labeling issue i agree; it’s up to the child to figure out their belief system. But the idea that there’s no value in the fantastic is ludicrous and misses the point entirely.

Young children (4-6 or so) are figuring out the world. There is plenty that they can see and touch and experience, and much that they can’t explain. The idea that there is magic in the world, or fantastic creatures that remain hidden from humans can help bring some of the world into a story framework that children can deal with. They’re just a metaphor, and whether that early belief in magic develops into a belief in God or a belief in the expanded possibilities of life depends on the context given by parents and by the kids themselves.

What the idea of the fantastic can do, however, is to spark the imagination for the possibilities of life and the world around us. I have tromped through the woods with my kids looking for signs of fairies and discovered a myriad of plants and animals and insects to study and talk about. My oldest daughter (7) believes in the Greek gods at the moment and builds fairy houses while waiting for the school bus, but loves to perform experiments in the kitchen and workshop to help understand how the world works. She also wants a generator wheel for her bike with training wheels so she can make her own electricity.

Fairies are not a gateway drug to Jesus, as Mr. Dawkins seems to contend, the world of the child is not that clear-cut. At the moment, string theory takes a certain amount of faith too, but it’s the ability to take those leaps of imagination that is important. It’ll be interesting to see what sort of children’s book he comes up with that’s fully rooted in the scientific, and whether he can make a story of it that kids will like. If it is good we’ll probably buy it, but it’ll live on the shelf right next to Egyptology and Dragonology and other books that help expand growing minds.