Vote for the August 2012 book of the month

[Scott]

Please use this topic to cast your vote for the August 2012 book of the month. The poll will be open for 10 days from the time of this post. Whichever book has the most votes by then will be the August book of the month. You can click on the following links to learn more about each book:

The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer

Fatal Strategies by Jean Baudrillard

The New Universe and the Human Future: How a Shared Cosmology Could Transform the World by Nancy Ellen Abrams and Joel R. Primack

The use of the word 'coercion' must be qualified to clear up the debate on the topic in order to avoid misunderstanding and unfair labelling on the on the roles of religion in the formation/education of young minds. Is guidance - be it parental, moral, religious, educational/school etc should be viewed as abuse to young minds? Isn't it in every society there is what we call 'age of consent and discretion? That until any kid reach this stage s/he is to be guided by parents and other institutions that would act as parental persona to these kids. Now, I would like to ask a similar question: Are schools guilty of child abuse when they forced kids to believe that religions are myths and that science is the only true way to perfection and the only true moral/ethical guide? In what way that institutions ( religious, state, parents, atheist's group) do not commit abuse in guiding kids? What constitutes coercive acts in guiding one's young mind?

To teach children a belief in supernatural contrary to the evidence of their own senses is an abuse of mind.