At what age should a child be introduced to religion?

[polymath257]

Might be an adventist thing.  Or maybe generational.  Those channels didn't exist when I was a kid growing up in southern christianity.

When I was a kid we had ABC, NBC, and CBS.  PBS wasn't even a thing.

And the TV turned off around midnight making late night baby feeding when I was in my early 20s pretty boring.  By the time I had number 3, cable was a thing.

And they had those fun test patterns before going to static.

The dial for the TV had 13 channels, but only 3 worked.

I also grew up in central Kansas, so there were no good radio stations.

[arewethereyet]

When I was a kid we had ABC, NBC, and CBS.  PBS wasn't even a thing.

And the TV turned off around midnight making late night baby feeding when I was in my early 20s pretty boring.  By the time I had number 3, cable was a thing.

And they had those fun test patterns before going to static.

The dial for the TV had 13 channels, but only 3 worked.

I also grew up in central Kansas, so there were no good radio stations.

I grew up in eastern Iowa...if the wind was blowing the right way we could pick up WLS out of Chicago.  And sometimes, late at night we could hear KAAY out of Little Rock when it played the kind of rock now dubbed 'deep cuts'.  But the planets needed to be lined up just perfectly for that.

[The Grand Nudger]

One of the main reasons you'd go to church, was that there was nothing else to do, nowhere else to go. Good food, good music, all of your friends are there anyway. Never seemed to matter much, to me, that I didn't believe...and I wasn't the only one there who didn't. Then there was sports. Little league games were hosted on grounds. Then there were camps..where you'd send your kids to learn about the evils of sexual compulsion...you know, with limited adult supervision and a smorgasboard of youth and virility on display. Additional classes and workshops, that, if nothing else, were an oppurtunity for your parents to score free babysitting. Then..there were the carnivals. That was my favorite part. Me and a buddy of mine actually took our kids to one last time we went down to fish. Planned it to coincide, it was a blast. My entire life before I joined the service was in the context of one church or another. My grandmother was a bit of a religious tourist - she'd take us to different churches everywhere we went on the theory that it would "round us out". My grandfather wouldn't go because they weren't segregated - hell, it's a struggle to get him to go to the walmart. My first step father was a true believer, but he liked megachurches and charismatic christianity. My mother is one of those new age types - so we had a whole wall (either side of the fireplace....) that got turned into a bookshelf full of stuff on mythology, divination, and ritual/ceremonial/practical magic. When I was in st pete it was catholicism, when I was in the swamp it was evangelical fundamentalism. I managed to find myself in a kingdom hall once, even, lol. If nothing else, churches tend to have ac and that's something you think about alot in august if you, like me..have never lived in a house with ac. It's a hell of alot better than a shop fan blowing over a kiddie pool. I used to wander in and read magic book basking in that wonderful cold - imagining what it would be like to have lived in a world full of magic way back in the day. I had (and in some cases still have) relationships with congregations in florida, alabama, ohio, massachusetts, and connecticut. For alot of people, the final realization (if it ever comes) that there are no ghosts and goblins beasties and monsters and magic and heavens and hells is a relief. No more looking under the bed, no more drawing the blinds so that whatevers out in the dark can't see you. For me..it was a massive disappointment. Some kids might dream about being an astronaut when they grow up, or a race car driver. I was going to be a magician or a werewolf. I settled for infantry. Close enough for government work.

-and this is how I turned out. I think angrboda summed it up perfectly when it comes to kids in post 26. My own kids don't seem to be god believers but they're natural magical thinkers. They're growing up surrounded by christian and pagan imagery and stories. I'm not really concerned that my youngest would be introduced to any religion too early. If some nutball accosted us on the street and told him that he was going to hell unless he repented, he'd probably say "yeah, I've heard that" and walk.

@polymath257 re 13/3 - we had two working channels...whatever the gators were playing on and whatever had naked african women - and you could only get the gators when the neighbor wasn't fucking around with his airboat for some odd reason - which eventually lead to my grandfather trying to shoot him.

[arewethereyet]

My kids went to Vacation Bible School a few times because if they hadn't they'd have been the only kids home in the neighborhood.

[polymath257]

Vacation Bible School: the triple oxymoron.

[Ahriman]

My kids went to Vacation Bible School a few times because if they hadn't they'd have been the only kids home in the neighborhood.

My parents made me do that shit, and no other kids in the neighborhood had to go. I didn't grow up in a particularly religious area. I'm pretty sure not being able to score any Catholic girl poon made me turn out to be gay.

[arewethereyet]

My kids went to Vacation Bible School a few times because if they hadn't they'd have been the only kids home in the neighborhood.

My parents made me do that shit, and no other kids in the neighborhood had to go. I didn't grow up in a particularly religious area. I'm pretty sure not being able to score any Catholic girl poon made me turn out to be gay.

If you couldn't get it from a Catholic girl, you weren't going to get it anywhere else.

[h311inac311]

After they turn 12, but do so in an open and inquisitive way. They have to realize that they are free to be intellectually independent and that moral responsibility is more important than belief.

[highdimensionman]

It's not something worth teaching just let them work things out for themselves unless they ask you what that person on the streets is raving on about. Then you just tell them the truth. that son or daughter is an idiot following a little bit of old fiction, instead of learning the real world properly.

[John 6IX Breezy]

After they turn 12, but do so in an open and inquisitive way. They have to realize that they are free to be intellectually independent and that moral responsibility is more important than belief.

I find 12-14 an interesting age. Anecdotally I've noticed that most people who either leave religion or join religion do so at that period.