What IS good, and how do we determine it?

[Randy Carson]

We also send our children to school where they are forced to accept, believe and do all sorts of things.

No, Randy. They don't have to believe. Only to learn. Which is necessary.

Everything we "learn" apart from personal experience is based upon the rational idea that we can "believe" what reliable people tell us.

They are threatened with going to the principal's office, losing their recess, staying after school, and other forms of immediate public humiliation such as having to stand in the corner, write "I will not talk in class." on the blackboard 100 times, etc. In my day, we were even paddled by the teacher and the principal.

We do this every day all over the world, and no one gives it a second thought.

I don't know what kind of school you went to, but I've only seen the above things in American tv shows.

Public schools in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina (c. 1966-1978)

If that does happen, it's not comparable to threatening with eternal torture. Eternity in pain, Randy. Doesn't compare to a visit to the principal's office.

In the mind of a child who has no real ability to cognitively deal with the concept of eternity, the pain of a spanking in the principal's office might be more scary.

When I reached the age of 16, my parents gave me a choice. I decided to sleep in. When my kids reached the age of 16, I gave them a choice. They chose to sleep in.

And that is representative of all catholics and the catholic church how? I'm talking about the organization. Not individual cases.[/quote]

See Cato's post above for additional anecdotal support.

What are those reasons?

I'm not fucking talking about it with someone like you.

Fair enough. But if it is that bad, then I'm pretty confident that whatever happened to YOU, it's is not the common experience of kids growing up in the Catholic Church.

For a moment, I'm going to be coldly rational.

1. Your experience cannot be generalized to every other Catholic.
2. Your anger and hurt would be rightly focused on the individuals involved but wrongly attributed to the entire Catholic Church.
3. Your resentment against God is understandable but off-target.

I don't know what your experience was, but I'm pretty sure that until you begin to address it correctly, the healing can't begin.

What is moral about NOT telling someone the truth about a real danger?

You don't know it's a real danger but threaten them anyways. [/quote]

See Cato's testimony above for a clearer picture of Catholic catechesis on the subject of hell.

What is moral about threatening children with being tormented for eternity to get them to obey?

Nothing. Which is why it is not a common Catholic approach to disciplining children.