The question is whether I feel the need to defend my faith. Now, Of course, I believe that every child should be encouraged to learn as much about their "native", or family's faith. And, of course, this will include they're being able to answer questions, answer the catechism, so to speak. However, what I think you're asking is whether, upon being assailed, if one should fight to defend one's faith verbally.

And, I believe, the answer to that question is negative. The reason is that God is great and has the power to reveal Him/Herself in the heart of the sincere seeker. So, I do not think that a person's belief system should be a debatable subject. In fact, my guru gave explicit orders not to preach to those who might be faithless.

Therefore, it appears that rather than going door to door, like many who proselytize, it is much better to maintain your own temple and your own spiritual practices and let others approach you in their sincerity. My guru would even go so far as to say that it was and offense to the Holy Name to preach to the faithless. If you think about it, God would not be very Divine, if He/She were accessible by the faithless and insincere.

The point is that God is in the heart of every living entity (Paramatma) and each person's true path may be a unique one. For some that path may be Catholicism in this lifetime. As I mentioned in another hub, Krsna even incarnated as Sankaracarya in order to fulfill the desires of the atheists. Krsna gives us free will to love Him or leave Him. Otherwise, what would be the point in our spiritual journey?

There is no way to defeat an atheist, except for them to realize for themselves, and, as the saying goes, there are no atheists in the foxholes. For myself, when I went through a very devastating time of my life, I was searching high and low for spiritual answers, and I went to many churches and temples, before I found what was right for me. And I think that is how it should be.

Bhagavad-Gita (5.29) "A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries."