The “dear Christian friend” was my young wife of a couple of years. She had always dreamed of having a Christian family and I was in a pre-ministerial program when we married. As I was “losing the faith” I tried unsuccessfully to bring her with me and was exasperated that she wouldn’t admit what I thought to be obvious. It was in the attempt to get her to face [what I felt was] this self-dishonesty that I posed the hypothetical question: “Suppose there actually is no God and I had a magical power that would show you this truth, would you want to see it?” I think she honestly said to me that she preferred self-deception—which is what you suggest.
We were married for over 50 years before she died, but we never argued about it again. In fact, she defended my skepticism to her rather intolerant family members on the ground that otherwise I would be hypocritical.

@Wallace A beautiful story of the power of love. Apologies for my insubstantial, if not callous reply.

@p-nullifidian Please, no apologies; I thought yours was one of the more thoughtful replies of all! Thanks!

Succinctly stated!

What if you could get them when they're young enough so they only have to mourn once??

@JeffMurray Ideally they will never have to leave religion as they will never have known religion. My children were brought up in the church, now two of them are openly atheist, the third was going to church with her dad pre covid but I think it was to keep daddy happy. The oldest and youngest have children, and the other is the favorite auntie. With the influence of Atheist Auntie, Grammy (me) and another uncle that is ardently atheist, the children (2 so far, will double next year) will grow up knowing not everyone believes in any gods, and why they don't, and will have opportunities to learn about all the options. Yes, it will be interesting to see how this unfolds. Ideally our schools should teach religious literacy, so everyone knows about other religions and lack of religion. I think it would make us better world citizens. Some people need that crutch, or comfort, of someone in charge and the possibility of a better/different life. Not all people will be logical. But everyone should be exposed to other ideas so they can make their own decisions.

@HippieChick58 That's all awesome, but not everyone has as much of a leg up as your children and grandchildren. So for those that don't, why don't you support conversion, especially if you can get them young?

@JeffMurray I wouldn't use the term conversion but when some of those Faithfools rattle on, I'm left with no option but to tell them to take their thumb out of their mouth and lose the ACT, they're grown up now, so no need to fear those fairytales when they were children, as it was exactly that - FEAR.

@TimeOutForMe What we call it is irrelevant. Should we do it is the question at hand.

@JeffMurray Indoctrination is a parental right, as sad as that sounds. When you are the parent you get to make those decisions, and remember young children live in a rich fantasy world. My 3.5 year old granddaughter had a sleep over with me several weeks ago. She asked if there were monsters under my bed. I told her Grammy (me) was tougher and meaner than any old monster, they were afraid to come out. There is a very interesting book that my book club just finished. It is called: Relax, It's Just God: How and Why to Talk to Kids About Religion When You're Not Religious by Wendy Thomas Russell. Even when you try to bring your kids up atheist or agnostic you will still brush up against religion. The best thing you can do is teach your kids about ALL religions and the whys of those religions. Beside, cultural literacy will make them far better citizens.

@HippieChick58 I wasn't debating the methods of trying to make someone atheistic, just questioning your stance on your original reply to the OP question: do they have the right and/or duty to "prove" god doesn't exist if they could.

Some indoctrination, however, is not/should not be the right of the parent to perform. It can be very dangerous and costly.

@JeffMurray I don't think that is a battle you should choose. Short of killing the children, the laws are pretty much totally behind the parents. That doesn't necessarily mean it is a good thing, but parents do get to make those decisions. Yes, there are lots of people having kids that should not even be trusted with stuffed animals, but such is the society we live in. Whatever my or your opinions are, we cannot interfere with parental rights. ALL indoctrination however IS the right of the parent to perform, at whatever cost it is to society. Whether it is right or wrong, it IS.

@HippieChick58 So even if that is true legally, which most of the time it is even including killing the children (like JW and Christian Scientist), why do you not feel it is your right and/or duty to break the child free if given the means and opportunity?

@JeffMurray Are you a parent? What you have just suggested just chills me to the core. NO it is NOT my right nor duty to take children away from parents who think they are being good parents and following the teachings of their religion. What you are suggesting is heinous, and dangerous. Being in a minority what is to prevent the Religious Right from passing laws to take children away from Atheist parents or gay parents.

@HippieChick58 No, I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant break the child of their beliefs, not take them away from their parents.

@JeffMurray Do you think you'd be able to convince a child of something their parents told them was true? You wouldn't be able to with a young child. You might with an older child, but why set them up for tension in the family. They're dependent upon their parents usually until 18 or 22. Many children figure out the truth anyway and just learn to lay low while living at home. My kids sure did, it is only as adults that they push back to their ultraconservative Fox news watching daddy. But unless you know the family situation intimately, don't mess with family dynamics. You could put them in an stressful if not abusive situation.

@HippieChick58 I don't really worry about all that. If I see someone I think I can break of nonsensical beliefs, I try. I've been successful numerous times and any fallout that results is acceptable losses in my book.

This.

If I could add or clarify one bit though. I don't think it needs to get very far (like the example of a body count, though I don't think you meant that to be the start but rather a clear example everyone should be able to grasp). One's delusion preventing me from buying birth control or even alcohol on Sunday is a bridge too far. Tooth Fairy is probably a good example of the extent we should allow false beliefs to go. I can't think of a possible negative effect on others that results from children believing in the Tooth Fairy.

@JeffMurray Perhaps you've seen the news from Paris of the young muslim who thought he'd protect the prophet Mohammed from being shown in Hebdo depiction. The wacko searched out the offending teacher and beheaded him. Police killed the wacko after the fact.

@racocn8 I did. And I absolutely agree that things like murder, war, rape, honor killings, and genital mutilation are all very good reasons to not allow people to believe in their delusions. I was simply stating that it doesn't even need to be that extreme. I am for denying people the ability to continue to believe in their delusions for something as simple as them enacting laws that prevent me from buying alcohol on Sunday. Any thing that religious people do that negatively impacts others is a good enough reason to try to take their delusions from them. Hell, supporting a business that eats up property that doesn't contribute to their community because of the tax free status is a good enough reason to try to turn everyone atheist.

@antireligious

Same here.

@antireligious at 9 years old, I went to a ‘revival’ meeting and very few people were coming forward at the end of the service , when the call went out to come to the alter and ‘be saved!’ My friends were urging me on, but I resisted. The service ended and we went out and got on the bus to take us home, so my friends were still begging, pleading, telling me how this might be my ‘last chance, etc! So I finally relented and went back inside the church and ‘got saved!’ This made no sense to me then and I never felt the ‘pull’ that my young friends felt as we aged. Inside I was an imposter, but I kept trying to get connected to god and it never worked for me! I did keep going through the motions with church, until my 30s...when I chucked that belief and grew firmly into my disbelief!

It's a theoretical. There are people that you can be pretty sure would abandon their belief. In those cases, your claim wouldn't really apply.

I'm thinking Salem witch trials.

I'm my experience, the people that realized they were wrong didn't end up hating me.

This is not true at all. This is the same argument as people saying hating racists is just as bad as being a racist.

@JeffMurray Not a valid comparison, more like if you denied jobs, education, voting rights, civil rights to racists, then you would be as bad as the racist. I chose not to waste my time hating or being angry, it only hurts the person hating or being angry

@glennlab Precisely. Saying that an atheist trying to convert people to atheism (seemingly, or at least consequentially, for the good of society) is the same as JW or Mormons is the same type of argument as saying hating racists is as bad as racism.

If taking the blue pill meant they would vote against equal rights for their fellow citizens, they shouldn't care whether or not they wanted the red pill.

@JeffMurray granted, but I'm not sure how this comment fits in with the op.

@Cyklone My assumption was that the OP was asking if they had the right because of reason X .