The other day my older kid asks me about original sin-for the "non-believers"-that is a sin everyone is born with on account of Adam and Eve's stupid mistake in the Garden of Eden.When I start to explain,he cuts me off and says he know what it is,isn't it the Adam and Eve thing?What he said next really got me-he felt it was unfair to say small babies have that sin because he says,they are so tiny and couldn't possibly have sinned!He was sure they didn't!Wow!!

Organized religion is great and all but when one thinks for oneself-even better.So,I did not correct him and say,no,that is not how Catholicism works-the whole concept was probably cooked up by someone who wanted babies to be baptised as soon as possible,and voila!one more Catholic added to the rosters!!Imagine the torture parents who had lost children in vitro,or immediately after birth go through.My Mother lost a premature baby 30 some years ago and I know she felt better because one of the nurses there baptised the child before he died-the fact that the baby would not be in limbo-was so much of a consolation to her.The author of "The Chronology of Water" mentions a devout aunt who snidely mentions the fact that her baby was not baptised and would probably be in limbo-and I was just reading the book and wanted to get my hands on that woman!!
So I felt happy with that vaguely heretical statement coming from a 11 year old,and will encourage him to think things out himself-will definitely make him more of a human being and less of a follower!