Ok go for it!?

[gindygoo]

Well that makes perfect sense. Until a person becomes more aware of the world about them, all they'll know is what they've been taught.

This leads me onto a question I've pondered quite a bit!

Do we think that indoctrinating a kid into religion should be classed as child abuse?

It is in my mind completely wrong.

As I said I wasn't given a religion, but, at the same time if I'd have decided to follow one, my folks would've supported me in that choice. As they did when I told them I was gay.

Shouldn't all kids be given a "clean slate" and be allowed to choose whether they'll follow a religion or not?

Religious people will never agree to that, because, if, for example, hell were real, it would be extremely important to avoid it.  More important than teaching your child to not stick its hand in a fire.

Once one has the belief that there is a hell to be avoided, one is going to act on such beliefs.  This is why people's beliefs are really a matter of public concern, because they influence behavior, and their behavior matters for others.  For more on this idea, you might find the essay entitled "The Ethics of Belief" by William Kingdon Clifford interesting:

http://ajburger.homestead.com/files/book.htm

There is no way a responsible parent is going to not teach their child about what they regard as the most important thing to learn.

So, the only solution that would work is to convince people not to believe silly things.  Otherwise, they will pass it on to their children.


By the way, I was raised as a fundamentalist Christian.  My parents were very devoutly religious.  They believed that they were doing the right thing in teaching me to believe in Christianity.  It was not malice on their part.  It is that they sincerely believed it, and so they taught it to me.  (Fortunately, I questioned things anyway, even though one is not supposed to, because I thought that it made no sense to prohibit questioning, because if it is really true, no examination of it could prove that it is false.)

I certainly wish they had not taught me to believe such nonsense, but I understand why they did it.

Fair comment!

I do despair though that kids are taught this rubbish. It really saddens me.