Does teaching faith sacrifce thier abilty to reason?
Is it abusive to shied them from the supernatural untill they are old enough to make up their own mind?
2006-08-30 04:17:17 · 18 answers · asked by Real Friend 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
In this country, they're not allowed to. There's a difference between teaching faith and teaching dogma.
I don't think it's abusive. Each individual is responsible for their own spiritual development. If you don't feel your spiritual growth is adequate, go find a way to improve it.
Even if you shield others from the supernatural, they will still seek it, especially if they are unfullfilled. That goes both ways though. By enforcing your ideas about faith, you may unwittingly drive them to other ideaologies.
2006-08-30 04:22:10 · answer #1 · answered by Earth Queen 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The term "supernatural" is an oxymoron. Teaching anything that is known to be true is good, and anything shown to be false as truth is abuse. Evidence suggest a source to the universe, but there is none to suggest that said source has a personality, so the source should not be called a "creator" in any volitional sense. Specifically, the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God has been shown to be false, both through logical incompatibility of qualities (e.g., absolute love and eternal damnation) and sceintific evidence. Strict atheism is also a metaphysical claim about God, and should be avoided.
2006-08-30 11:28:09 · answer #2 · answered by neil s 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I am i guess athiest.. but i was raised prebyterian by my family...(i was a sunday school dropout when i was 6) but what my point is , is that ther eis nothing wrogn with teaching a child about religion.
but i dO think it is wrong for the religion to be taught in a way that states that that and ONLY that is the truth... childrent need ot be taught both the religion and the idea of evolution and about science. they need to know that only SOME people beleive in god and that other's don't.. and they need to know the reasons for both beliefs.... if i were to ever marry a man who was of full faith, then that woudln't bother me at all, as long as he understood that i have my beleifs and they will enver change, and if he tried to teach my duahgter about religion that owuld be fine also as long as he made it clear to her that she doesn't HAVE to beleive it.
so in long and short i don't think teaching religion to children from nonfaith families is wrong, but it needs to be approached in an open ended manner that allows the child to decide weatehr they want to believe it or not.
the moe somone knows abotu something the better they are able to make a knowledgeable desicion.
2006-08-30 11:33:21 · answer #3 · answered by joyfulpriss 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
If God's going to come a knockin', regardless of who or where you are... he shouldn't be afraid of the fact that atheist parents raised their kids to be rational, right?
I mean, so what if children are raised atheist? If god's in charge of everything, then that was all part of his plan. And all that needs happen is for a "missionary" to approach that child when he's older, and his eyes will be opened.
I think that's fair. :) I'll go ahead and raise my heathen children to seek real answers to their problems. If they end up falling for religion when they get older, then I'll just have to submit. Because to be quite honest, I can' t fathom a rational person being coerced into such a thing. (Children, on the other hand, are highly susceptible to such nonsense...)
2006-08-30 11:26:55 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Of course not. All parents have the right to teach their children their beliefs, at least in America, and that's a good thing for everybody. In this culture, children will easily learn that other beliefs exist, even before adolescence.
2006-08-30 11:19:55 · answer #5 · answered by GreenEyedLilo 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
When people give birth to another human being that human being is in their care for a few years. They take care of their charge in the way they think is best. It is not abuse to teach your kids what you feel is right BUT all opinions can be presented to teach the child to think for themselves.
2006-08-30 11:23:25 · answer #6 · answered by a_delphic_oracle 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
No they are raising their children as they seem fit as well. Children, all children will make up their own minds about God and faith at some point.
2006-08-30 11:19:45 · answer #7 · answered by Debra M. Wishing Peace To All 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
One of the definitions for "abuse" on dictionary.com is: 2. to treat in a harmful, injurious, or offensive way.
Now, the only type of person who would believe that instilling atheism in a child is "abuse" is the same type of person who, in my opinion, would hamper their own child by fostering a desire to embrace supernatural explanations for things rather than by encouraging critical thinking skills and the discovery of viable explanations.
2006-08-31 10:15:31 · answer #8 · answered by wrathpuppet 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
1)Absolutely not! What an absurd idea!
2)With some people it does...read some of the posts
3)Absolutely not! What supernatural? What exactly are you talking about?
2006-08-30 13:18:47 · answer #9 · answered by irenaadler 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
1) No, they aren't.
2) Yes, it does.
3) It's not a shield from "supernatural" but from arbitrary non-pragmatical beliefs.
As a non-theist, I want my kids to respect life & humanness.
Then, it is up to them to choose a religion or not, when they are adults.
Religions are so word-addicted. How dare believers impregnate kids with tons of charming words...
2006-08-30 11:25:57 · answer #10 · answered by Axel ∇ 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋