Gods immorality.

[robvalue]

Indeed.

God only talks to people who were forced to believe in him as a child? What kind of sick weirdo is he? Real things don't work like that. They don't need sneaking in the back door.

[Vincent]

This is what pisses me off. We get bombarded with how self evident it is that Christianty (or whatever) is true, yet few parents dare let their kid get to even the age of 7 before indoctrinating them. Let alone older.

What are they scared of? That God is going to mark them down on those childhoods years? Or that if they don't program them early their kid won't believe all the mythology? No one needs to be indoctrinated to believe in mathematics or gravity. Or anything that has reason behind it.

I have 5 kids -- all indoctrinated so as not to grow up and be like you. You see, once you believe there is a God, all the rest makes sense and falls into place.

This is... sad to me. Rather than brainwashing your kids with the religion, why not simply teach it to them, and allow them to make their own choice whether or not to believe it? Why push it on them, why force it down their throats? Are you so insecure about your own beliefs, so fearful that your children will view it as ridiculous or have the audacity to question it too much? Does that not say more about the belief itself than anything? After all, if God is looking out for them, then you should be able to give them a choice and trust in your Lord that He will not lead them down the path of *gasp* atheism. 

My parents shared their beliefs with me, but in the end they allowed me to make my own decision, and they respect me in spite of what I chose. And I respect them for that. I was not indoctrinated. And when I have kids of my own one day, I will not force them to be atheists. I will let them explore and examine religion as much as they please, if it so interests them. I'd simply advise them to use their critical thinking abilities when doing so. And if a day were to come when my child professed to be a believer (of any religion), I would respect his decision and love him all the same, and not treat him any different. Because every kid deserves a choice. 

A child should never be indoctrinated with religion.

[robvalue]

What happened to all this free will I keep hearing about?

Programming a kid is taking away that free will, making the decision for them.

I agree. If I ever had kids, I would educate them about all the religions, explaining what they believe and why. I would, upon request, give my beliefs and own them as such. I'd make it very clear that they are free to choose to be a part of any religion they want, or to be an irreligious theist, or an atheist. It's up to them to come to their own conclusions.

[Time Traveler]

What happened to all this free will I keep hearing about?

Programming a kid is taking away that free will, making the decision for them.

I agree. If I ever had kids, I would educate them about all the religions, explaining what they believe and why. I would, upon request, give my beliefs and own them as such. I'd make it very clear that they are free to choose to be a part of any religion they want, or to be an irreligious theist, or an atheist. It's up to them to come to their own conclusions.

That is exactly the philosophy my wife and I raised our daughters with... letting them know they are free to choose and come to their own conclusions. As a young teenager, one of my daughters asked me, "Dad, what are we?" regarding religion. I told her, "We are nothing. I am an atheist, your Mother is somewhat undecided, your aunt and grandparents are Methodist, and you are whatever you decide to be." After age 12, they were allowed to attend church with friends and family, but none of it ever "stuck" (thank goodness). Today, they can't understand why anyone would actually believe in Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, Leprechauns, or God. (I keep telling them there are very good reasons to believe in Leprechauns, showing them logical syllogisms and challenging them to disprove their existence, but for some reason they're still not buying it. Go figure.)

[Redbeard The Pink]

This is what pisses me off. We get bombarded with how self evident it is that Christianty (or whatever) is true, yet few parents dare let their kid get to even the age of 7 before indoctrinating them. Let alone older.

What are they scared of? That God is going to mark them down on those childhoods years? Or that if they don't program them early their kid won't believe all the mythology? No one needs to be indoctrinated to believe in mathematics or gravity. Or anything that has reason behind it.

I have 5 kids -- all indoctrinated so as not to grow up and be like you. You see, once you believe there is a God, all the rest makes sense and falls into place.

No. Things make sense and fall into place when our beliefs are aligned with the truth, and there is nothing demonstrably true about the claims of your religion.

[robvalue]

What happened to all this free will I keep hearing about?

Programming a kid is taking away that free will, making the decision for them.

I agree. If I ever had kids, I would educate them about all the religions, explaining what they believe and why. I would, upon request, give my beliefs and own them as such. I'd make it very clear that they are free to choose to be a part of any religion they want, or to be an irreligious theist, or an atheist. It's up to them to come to their own conclusions.

That is exactly the philosophy my wife and I raised our daughters with... letting them know they are free to choose and come to their own conclusions. As a young teenager, one of my daughters asked me, "Dad, what are we?" regarding religion. I told her, "We are nothing. I am an atheist, your Mother is somewhat undecided, your aunt and grandparents are Methodist, and you are whatever you decide to be." After age 12, they were allowed to attend church with friends and family, but none of it ever "stuck" (thank goodness). Today, they can't understand why anyone would actually believe in Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, Leprechauns, or God. (I keep telling them there are very good reasons to believe in Leprechauns, showing them logical syllogisms and challenging them to disprove their existence, but for some reason they're still not buying it. Go figure.)

Nice work

That's is exactly what I would do, if I ever had them. Which I won't. Except maybe by adoption in the future.

Theists don't seem to grasp that if they were surrounded by people who believed in Santa, and they were scolded for daring to ask questions about him, and people were randomly attributing things to Santa all the time, we'd have a load of Santa believing adults. It's no different.