Religion Is the Only Sin in the World

“It was a coincidence that you were born in a certain family and those people conditioned your mind in a certain way.

“They gave you certain ideologies, gave you a certain religious outlook, gave you a certain theological jargon; and you learned it like a parrot.

“I know that a child cannot do anything against it, he is helpless; he has to learn whatsoever is taught to him. Even without being taught he picks up things from the environment, parents, friends, the neighborhood. He goes with his parents to the church, to the synagogue, to the temple, and he is continually imbibing. Whether you are directly teaching him or not, he is being indirectly conditioned.

“But parents and teachers don’t take any chances; they don’t leave it just to indirect influences. They make every effort to directly convert the innocent child who comes into the world absolutely unconditioned, a pure mirror capable of reflecting anything.

“The society, the culture, the religion start painting on the mirror. They can paint a Krishna, they can paint a Christ, they can paint a Moses, they can paint anything.

“They can paint Karl Marx, they can paint Christianity, Communism, Fascism — anything. And the child is so helplessly dependent he cannot say no. He really has no idea of no.