Posts: 17169
Threads: 462
Joined: March 29, 2015
Reputation:
30
Telling children that they are going to hell is abusive?
January 28, 2020 at 9:30 am
(This post was last modified: January 28, 2020 at 9:32 am by Fake Messiah.)
Christians recently yelled at muslim children that they are going to Hell unless they repent and accept Jesus and that was deemed abusive, harassing and offensive by passerby and even Republican house speaker.
So does this mean that when Christians tell their own children that they are going to hell is also abusive?
Or is it abusive only when they tell it to children that are not theirs? But then again nuns and priests tell kids that they are going to hell if they displease Jesus.
Or is just an act of yelling abusive and it's not abusive if you just tell kids that they are going to hell?
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
Posts: 3034
Threads: 12
Joined: October 1, 2018
Reputation:
20
RE: Telling children that they are going to hell is abusive?
January 28, 2020 at 9:32 am
I've already been to Hell and back. It was called 12½ years of Catholic schools.
"The world is my country; all of humanity are my brethren; and to do good deeds is my religion." (Thomas Paine)
Posts: 1630
Threads: 95
Joined: October 22, 2018
Reputation:
7
RE: Telling children that they are going to hell is abusive?
January 28, 2020 at 9:37 am
"Coercive control" is now a crime in the UK. Telling ANYBODY, let alone a child, that they'll go to hell unless they XY and Z is clearly an attempt at coercive control by my mind and so should be illegal. A particularly striking example is where the fundies say "You have to BELIEVE or you'll go to hell" as nobody is in control of what they believe, people just believe what they perceive to be the truth.
Posts: 28414
Threads: 524
Joined: June 16, 2015
Reputation:
90
RE: Telling children that they are going to hell is abusive?
January 28, 2020 at 9:51 am
(This post was last modified: January 28, 2020 at 9:58 am by brewer.)
Don't forget about the jesus cannibalism.
And christians wonder why people want to kill them.
Being told you're delusional does not necessarily mean you're mental.
Posts: 6112
Threads: 53
Joined: September 25, 2018
Reputation:
20
RE: Telling children that they are going to hell is abusive?
January 28, 2020 at 2:12 pm
Since hell is make-believe, I would say it's harassment, not abusive.
Posts: 5165
Threads: 514
Joined: December 26, 2013
Reputation:
60
RE: Telling children that they are going to hell is abusive?
January 29, 2020 at 12:03 am
Definitely abusive and mentally scarring
Posts: 46401
Threads: 540
Joined: July 24, 2013
Reputation:
109
RE: Telling children that they are going to hell is abusive?
January 29, 2020 at 8:43 am
In catechism class, I can recall one of the other students asking the Sister if people would go to hell for not believing in hell. I've always found her reply rather neat: 'As Catholics, we are all required to believe in Hell as a place of everlasting torment. Whether you choose to believe anyone is actually there is entirely up to you.'
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
Posts: 9176
Threads: 76
Joined: November 21, 2013
Reputation:
40
RE: Telling children that they are going to hell is abusive?
January 29, 2020 at 9:06 am
Just imagine being muslim, where your parents tell you that you'll go to hell if you don't follow islam, then some christian comes up and says you'll go to hell if you don't change religion. Sounds like either way you're risking hell, so there's always going to be someone telling you that their god is going to toss you into a lake of fire for not sticking with the right religion.
Works the other way around too. That's how you know this hell thing is bullshit. You're damned if you do, and damned if you don't.
Posts: 46401
Threads: 540
Joined: July 24, 2013
Reputation:
109
RE: Telling children that they are going to hell is abusive?
January 29, 2020 at 9:30 am
(January 29, 2020 at 9:06 am)Chad32 Wrote: Just imagine being muslim, where your parents tell you that you'll go to hell if you don't follow islam, then some christian comes up and says you'll go to hell if you don't change religion. Sounds like either way you're risking hell, so there's always going to be someone telling you that their god is going to toss you into a lake of fire for not sticking with the right religion.
Works the other way around too. That's how you know this hell thing is bullshit. You're damned if you do, and damned if you don't.
That reminds me of the old joke about the missionary telling the Aborigine about Hell. When he's done, the native falls silent for a minute then says, 'Let me see if I've got this right. If I don't worship your Jesus, when I die I'll go to a bad place where I'll be tortured forever and ever, is that right?'
'Precisely!' beams the missionary.
'But I only heard about Jesus today. If I had died yesterday, would my spirit have gone to this Hell of yours?'
'Oh, no,' says the missionary. 'Jesus would understand that you've never heard of Him, and would not punish you for not knowing about Him.'
The Aborigine grits his teeth, grips his spear a little tighter and says, 'Then WHY did you tell me about him??'
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
Posts: 33224
Threads: 1415
Joined: March 15, 2013
Reputation:
152
RE: Telling children that they are going to hell is abusive?
January 29, 2020 at 9:37 am
The issue is that theists tend to have a backwards view of what loving means. After all, those incapable of seeing what a monster their god is will erroneously view their own actions of saving someone's soul as loving.
"Never trust a fox. Looks like a dog, behaves like a cat."
~ Erin Hunter
