Wow wish I would have noticed this back when it got started.
I read these books when they were pretty much fresh off the printing press and I loved them. I was 10 when I read the first one, and no I don't think that they had a real effect on me in terms of religious beliefs. My parents have never sheltered me from reading anything or from seeing a movie I was old enough to see. They are still some of my favorite books to date, and it actually surprises me to find out that the author is a committed atheist.
I agree with whoever said that sheltering your children leads to immaturity. The people who do not have a solid foundation for what they believe in are the people who have never had those beliefs challenged. It's infuriating to speak to people like this because they live in a bubble and unable to even understand concepts outside of what they were brought up to believe in - they are intellectually crippled, which is far worse than any physical handicap.
I was raised protestant/catholic, and am no longer either although I have an absolute belief in God and I think the church has a decent handle on what God has in mind for us as human beings.
Final soapbox point, for all you parents who read this: censor what your children can read and they will ultimately learn to not respect what you say. So many people polarize against their parents beliefs because the parents tried to control what the children could see and when the child saw there was a whole world out there beyond their home they tend to embrace it.
I don't think polar bears are going to make your kids sin.
