Overkill?

Without being too self-analytic, something I hate in others (who I suspect, in my heart of hearts, are too stupid to get any useful sense out of the analysis anyway), I'm wondering if I'm not laying it on too thick with my kids when it comes to religion.

I am becoming the sort of grumpy old man who shouts at the TV anyway (particularly during beauty product commercials) but I've found myself trying to counter ALL the religious propaganda that I see on telly for my kids' benefit. Partly because I believe that they should grow up with a healthy skepticism about, well EVERYTHING, but also, I must admit, because it outrages me that people on the TV - in politics and elsewhere - feel free to slip in god references wherever and whenever they can and remain unchallenged about it. I'm sure they don't think of it as propaganda, but it certainly feels like it. If it were a mainstream political opinion, there would be an 'opposition' speaker ready to counter it, but religion has a free ride.

I particularly object to the media dragging up some random cleric to comment on anything with a moral dimension, like they have a monopoly on morality.

What's more disturbing is the religious 'education' they get at school. Supposedly it's a state school with no religious agenda. In fact, the head teacher is a born-again type, and they regularly invite the local vicar in to brainwash the kids. One teacher told my son that the big bang was just silly and that god made the world in 6 days etc.

I've noticed that my kids (10 and 7) are echoing my thoughts on religion, and that's somewhat gratifying, but the last thing I want is to indoctrinate them. I've tried having open discussions with them about it, but basically they're not that interested, and would rather talk about Pokemon, Lego or Hannah Montana. It's easy to see why religion is so pernicious. Kids are much more likely to take in a very simple explanation than a complex one and religion has all the easy answers to just about everything. Admittedly this is all more or less variations on the same answer "God", but the real answers are never that simple, or perhaps it's just my presentation skills that are the problem.

It's a really fine line between equipping them with the critical facilities to question religion and actually doing what religionist parents do, i.e. telling the kids what they should think.