(October 9, 2011 at 4:36 pm)franklludwig Wrote: This is not about bad things some people do in the name of Christianity (by the way, what gave you the impression the article is only about Christianity?), this is about religion itself. Teaching a child religion, whichever religion, and in whichever way, induces feelings of fear and guilt in the child. And filling a child with feelings of fear and guilt is emotional child abuse.
I agree that parents should raise their child as they think is best for him or her, provided they remain within the law and common sense. (And for the countries that still haven't outlawed physical abuse, I should add that no parent should be allowed hurt their child.)
Child abuse is forbidden in every country in the Western world (as far as I know), but some have very vague definitions. My definition is that child abuse is anything that harms the child physically or emotionally, and that applies to smacking and spankings just as much as to exposure to religion.
I was raised in a religious household going to mass every week. Never have i ever been the victim of ANY kind of emotional abuse. Neither my parents nor my church threatened me with Hell or Death. EVER. You seem to think that the religious bombard their children with threats of Hell, however the VAST majority of christians, at least in the US and in Europe believe that any good person can go to Heaven - in direct contradiction with their book, but they dont read it anyways
People transmit who they are to their children, and religion is part of this. You can't ask someone not to transmit their religion just like you can't ask them to transmit their culture, their language or their values. If religion is "emotional abuse", then taking your kid to the Corrida in Spain also is abuse.
