Dealing With Intolerant Christian (and Religious) Parents- The Spanish Inquisition and You

This post was inspired by one of my friends, who shall go unnamed, along with the countless other people with religious beliefs that differ from their and have cost them that relationship, whether they are young or old.

I'll start this off by saying yes, I am an atheist. So what. The internet is the atheist's domain, especially when the three most popular operating systems in the world were created by atheists.
I have a fairly good relationship with my parents, although my father insists that I'm not an atheist as I "don't have enough knowledge to be an atheist."
I'll also start this off by defining atheism, so, if you do come back at me for this, I can say "I told you so." Atheism is merely the lack of belief in a god, gods, deities, etc. Nothing more. I typically attach several more words when referring to myself, which I won't today, for the sake of salience.

Parents constantly demand respect from their children, every day. However, they fail to realize that they often don’t respect their kids. Respect is a two way street, and parents must realize this. They cannot punish their kids for liking a certain band, going along with a certain trend, or having a different philosophy. They must heed the words of Voltaire: “I disagree, but I defend to death your right to say it.” No matter what they believe, they must respect that their child is a human being, and entitled to make their own decisions, including those of a religious nature. The worst possible argument for a certain set of religious beliefs is “That’s what my parents believed in.” Parents impressing their religious beliefs in their children will ultimately fail humanity, and turn the population in unintelligent sheep unable to think for themselves, and parents punishing their children for different beliefs should not be considered loving parents.

Religious beliefs are not something to expel someone out of a house over, nor are alternate lifestyles or sexualities. Parents are not the morality police; no one is the morality police. There are no legal punishments for being an atheist or Buddhist or a Satanist or a progressive Christian. There are, however, consequences for abusing a child over religion, or running them out of the house over it. These parents, are, at least, no better than the image of the “blasphemous” beliefs they hold. If they really care about their beliefs more than their children, then they do not deserve to be parents. It is that simple. One can almost see children booted out of their house over their beliefs as an opportunity to find adults that care about them, not their beliefs, an unfortunate opportunity, but an opportunity nonetheless. The kids would finally find a place where they belong, instead of a household dominated by bigoted, corruptive, unjust religion.

The only course of action for parents to take is, of course, talk about it. If the parents personally know they cannot make a cognizant substantiated argument for their belief system (which no religion can), then they have no reason to be mad at their children. No, even if they have a reason, parents have no reason to punish their kids over beliefs. Parents often forget that children too are protected under the First Amendment, and that denying them the option to choose their beliefs is denying them the right of freedom of and from religion, and ultimately showing them you don’t love them.

Denying your children this is denying them a brain to make decisions with. It’s their life, and it’s now or never.