Teach children about Jesus at a young age,

[Foxaèr]

states Billy Graham.

Well, duh, how else are you going to indoctrinate the next generation?

Evangelist Billy Graham said that introducing children to Jesus and the Christian faith at a young age will help strengthen their faith later on.

http://www.christianheadlines.com/blog/b...g-age.html

[Minimalist]

Sounds like a great reason for not exposing kids to this jesus shit before they are old enough to develop their own bullshit detector.

[J a c k]

I answered the door to a JW once and had a funny conversation. When I told her I'm atheist, her face was like she saw a ghost. Then she saw my son standing next to me and asked me what I teach my children. I asked her what she meant, and she said, "I mean, you teach them atheism?" lol! I laughed, my son laughed. I explained that there's nothing to teach regarding atheism. What will I teach him? Looky here, son. There's nothing there, nothing there, nothing there...
Nah. I teach him to think. To question. In fact, my son (9) doesn't like my atheist point of view, and calls himself an agnostic. The whole time my son was standing next to me smiling. He wanted a debate. lol! He loves to debate with me on many topics. 

I'm glad the brainwashing stopped with me.  I was brainwashed and it shaped my life so much, that now I'm having to do a lot of damage control. Fuck Billy.

[Minimalist]

This was in the late 60's.



They must be commercially available by now.

[Cecelia]

I think children are far better off waiting until they're old enough to think for themselves. Unfortunately religious people make this nearly impossible. My children have been exposed to the ideas of religion. Though most of them think it's pretty stupid on their own.

[Joods]

Interesting story: When I was pregnant with my youngest daughter, her father informed me that he wanted her to be a vegan. When I asked him why, he started rattling off about clean and unclean meats and how his family are a bunch of seventh day adventists. I laughed and told him it was not ever going to happen. Primarily because he doesn't attend his family's church and because I refuse to serve her a different dinner while he chowed down on a steak or a burger.

When she was around five or six, he tried to tell her she was going to go to hell because I had given her some bacon and she ate it. When she came back home to me, she was clearly upset and I told her that what her dad said wasn't true. I literally had to undo all the lies he fed her. To this day, she enjoys bacon and ham. Bacon is her favorite. She's 13. He full well knows that she eats bacon and ham here and it pisses him off because his attempted indoctrination didn't work.

She's asked me about god and jesus. And I've told her that in 2000 years, god has never showed up so his people can see him, therefore, until there is proof that he exists, he isn't real. We have also talked about the bible and I have shown her some of the contradictions it contains. Teaching her to think for herself and question things is the best thing I can do for her. However, if later in life, she becomes a believer, I will not turn her away for it. She's allowed to come to her own conclusions about things. Smart girl, that one is and I'm damned proud of the way she's turning out.

[robvalue]

Hah.

Teaching your kids that invisible dragons control the world from a young age will "help strengthen" their belief in this as an adult as well. It's called indoctrination you fuckbrigades.

I'm a vegan, but not for some stupid religious reason and I don't go around threatening others into compliance.

[Huggy Bear]

Indoctrination? please, Since when is teaching a child to love their fellow man indoctrination?

Matthew 22:36-40
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

The second commandment is like the first because in loving your neighbor, you love God.

Matthew 25:40
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

If everyone loved their neighbor as themselves we'd all be living in an utopia.

If "indoctrination" makes a child a good human being, how is that a bad thing?

---

As far as not eating unclean meats are concerned:

1 Timothy 4
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

[Cyberman]

Sounds like a great reason for not exposing kids to this jesus shit before they are old enough to develop their own bullshit detector.

Tobacco companies have the same philosophy, with similar results.

[Joods]

Indoctrination? please, Since when is teaching a child to love their fellow man indoctrination?

Loving your fellow man, one you can see and talk to is one thing. Loving an imaginary being is another. I choose not to lie to my child by telling her that she is loved by something that will never sit with her and eat lunch and answer the all important questions he's been dodging for the last 2000 years. I'd rather teach her about reality than a fairy tale. 

---

Matthew 22:36-40
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

---

The second commandment is like the first because in loving your neighbor, you love God.

So the book says, but until there is actual proof of god, these are just words with zero guarantees of anything. My reality is that again, until god accepts my offer to buy him lunch and answer my questions, he is not real. 

---

Matthew 25:40
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

---

If "indoctrination" makes a child a good human being, how is that a bad thing?

That's the thing, there is no proof that "indoctrination" makes a child a good human being. If that is the case, then why are the vast majority of prisons filled with religious prisoners? So much for good humans. If a person can't determine what is good and what is bad, what is right and what is wrong, they lack empathy, not religion. 

Indoctrination is a bad thing, in my opinion, because
1. it uses fear and love both at the same time, to cause someone to love some entity that they will never meet face to face in their lifetime. 
2. It teaches them that it is okay to lie to others. Religious people constantly cherry pick which parts of the bible they want to believe in and often times, teach children that the story of the Ark was real. The story of the ark was not real. Neither was the flood. There has never been any solid, concrete evidence of either one. Both made up stories. Yet, these are two of the biggest lies taught to kids in sunday school. 
3. It teaches children that if they do something and god doesn't like it, they will go to hell. What bad things could a child possibly do that would warrant that sort of fear to be placed in their head? 
4. It teaches them to be followers instead of developing proper critical thinking skills. 
5. It teaches them that they are not supposed to question god or religion. That they are to just comply and follow (read: love god)
6. It teaches them that it is acceptable to be confused because they aren't supposed to challenge religion or god. 

---

As far as not eating unclean meats are concerned:

1 Timothy 4
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

If you were a Seventh Day Adventist, you would be following the OT. This is what my ex's parents follow and what their church follows. They go off the OT and what it says about clean and unclean meats. However, they too, cherry pick what parts of the OT they choose to believe in. 

If his parents weren't in their 90's and rather frail, I would love to debate them on the parts of the OT that talk about women with short hair, wearing mixed fabrics, eating dairy and meat in the same meal, slavery and the rest of the unpleasantness that is there. I would debate my ex about it, but I am extremely low contact for a reason.