Given that religion is based on faith, Is it harmful to teach a child it is real without question?

Very thoughtful question. As a Christian, I am commanded by God to bring up my children in the nurturing and admonition of the Lord. This means that I cannot only teach the parts of the Bible that I like or that I think will give them a "good" impression or lead them into making a false profession of faith as a child, or as an adult later on. So, I teach the whole Bible...that not every one chooses to believe in God. everyone is responsible for their own faith and their own choice regarding God's revelations, the truth according to him, the salvation he has provided, the consequences of remaining separated from him etc... My children understand that my faith cannot save them, and that my beliefs cannot do like wise. They know that there will come a time when they will either accept who they are according to God, and place their faith in the salvation that He has provided for them through Christ...or they will reject Him and look elsewhere for truths that satisfy them. My children also know God's version of creation and man's version of creation. Most atheists don't teach both sides, and do their children a great disservice by not letting their children know that there are some people who believe that God created the world and some basic Bible ie, mans fall, need of a Saviour, provision of a saviour and therefore eternal salvation in christ, and the concepts of heaven and hell. As a child, I saw disorder, chaos, suffering, the inconsistency of adults, a certain level of bleakness and hopelessness in the world. When I first heard the gospel of Christ for the first time as a preteen, what I had already observed in the world for years was quite satisfactorily explained by God's explanation for its causes. When we insulate our children from the world in public schools, in constant activity and fun and extra curricular activities and fairy tales and santa and the easter bunny and the tooth fairy, we are simply presenting an idealistic, fictional world that eventually comes crashing down at some point in a childs/teens/adults life and that is dangerous because it can create unpredictable results...depression, suicide, murder, mass-murder, alcoholism, drug-abuse etc...All of these are simply mechanisms and outlets for lives lived in doubt and uncertainty. I would rather my childrens foundations be based in hope, peace, and assurance that God says he can and has provided...instead of the instability and inconsistency of man which as it was with me...may become clear as day when it is their turn to look at the state of the world in light of what God has to say about it.

Here's the thing. Historical narrative comprises only a very small part of any religion, and historical narrative (in general) is the only place where mainstream religion and scientific consensus disagree. It isn't like any mainstream religion is running around telling their kids that electricity is the power of Satan or that thunder is caused by the hammer of Thor. Even young-earth creationists (who, contrary to popular opinion, are not mainstream) are perfectly willing to accept evolution within a genus. So, as far as the variance between science and religion is concerned, it is a false dichotomy.

The other issue is your definition of truth and knowledge. You don't realize it now, but your worldview has been shaped by several philosophical schools such as materialism, naturalism, and secularism. The truths and knowledge that you consider self-evident only appear that way because of the presuppositions that have been instilled in you since childhood, most of which did not include the footnote and disclaimer that you are demanding of religious education.

And finally, I disagree with your assertion completely. You place a heavy value on truth and knowledge, which you associate with modern scientific consensus. I believe that the ills of modern society are rooted in the lack of solid education in philosophy, logic, morality, and critical thinking, all of which have (ironically) been associated with religious education, and which are conspicuously absent in modern secular education. Note that it is the secular community that invokes the law to force doctrinal orthodoxy in science classes; they won't even allow teachers to include a small sticker with one sentence pointing out that there are flaws in the official account of the origins of biodiversity.

I don't know about christianity but the reason why islam spread so much is because it is based on faith as well as logic. You just cannot convince a neutral person to have faith without solid evidence.

Well it even says in scripture, don't question this or your blissful worldview will be destroyed, I think some believers are just gullible, while others realize they shouldn't look too closely into the validity of their belief. Then there's the fundies, but they just embarrass the rest.

Let me ask you something ? Does being civilized make you a good person ? Small children don't care about race, religion, sex or anything except friendship !

Hammering children with religion is child abuse....

"You be a good little boy, or Baby Jesus will see you burn in hell."

Yup, parents actually say this sort of thing to their kids.....

I would call that child abuse!!! Religions concept of faith is "Tell a big enough lie frequently enough and it will be believed!!!"

faith means believing in things when common sense tells you not to .

watch out for the zombies ,,,you have been warn

santa claus?