Will you give your child freedom of religion?

Question

Or will you preform some kind of ceremony against their will as a baby and force them into your beliefs? 75% of religious people get their religion from their parents, will you be part of the problem? Or teach your children about the historys and principles of all religion and let them choose their own, or non at all if that is what is in their hearts.

I am in no way against people choosing an organized religion, but I do think it is wrong to force your religion on your children before they have aquired the reasoning capability to judge for themselves.

I think many of you are forgetting that religion is a personal decision. One that effects the rest of their lives. Not one based on traditions or facts.

Answer 1

my kids picked their own.
in my religion, you don't inherit salvation from your parents.

Answer 2

To be honest with you, I find this question a little shallow. I think you've probably been hurt by a religious person or peoples and are lashing out. I have so many friends who this has happened to. There are nasty people in church, just like there are nasty people everywhere. And, big shocker, not everyone in church is really a Christian. Some are just there for the appearance of being there.

The reason I don't think you have fully thought this out, is that you can't "force" salvation on someone. It is a clear choice you make for yourself. Do I feel that it is my responsiblity to teach my children what I know to be truth? Of course. Just as I talk to them about not smoking cigarettes and not doing drugs, I also talk to them about my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I will love them no matter the path they choose, but I'm concerned with far more than whether they are politically correct in this mixed up world of ours. I'm more concerned about their souls and where they'll spend eternity. They are aware of the other religions out there and their basic beliefs--it would be pretty hard to keep them from knowing since it's in every movie, on every television show and there are others in our community who practice various religions.

It isn't that I will LET them make their own choice; they will do that by default. I can't make that decision for them. However, I would be heartbroken if they walked away from salvation and turned their back on Jesus. The alternative is not so good.

Just my two cents.

Answer 3

You aren't against organized religion, but yet you condemn that 75% of religious people getting their beliefs from their parents (I would think it would be higher).

To you religion may be like a pair of shoes that you walk in and try on for fit. But you're views can't be open to the fact that it may be about more than a religious belief but more about the passing of a culture from one generation to another.

I choose to pass the richness of my heritage on to my children so that they understand my culture's history, as well as a structure which I do believe is stronger for my child than other religions; and I will teach them they can too pass it on. It is the greatest gift I can give, and I will not let anybody tell me that their insecurity makes our choices wrong.

Answer 4

Just because someone participates in a worship service toward some religious deity or recites religious doctrine does not mean that their heart is in that religion.

Many people disband their religion seeking the right one either physically, emotionally (no longer caring), or mentally (doubting the things they have been taught), but many eventually choose a path either the one they were on, a similar one (such as a different denomination or sect), or one that fulfills their desires.

Answer 5

That's kind of a loaded question!

I personally don't believe in anything, but I do want my children to make their own choice. Besides, with my luck, if I tried to tell my child that there wasn't a God, they'd probably turn into a devout Baptist!

The current plan with my fiance: introduce our children to all religions. We have enough family and friends that we have connections to a wide range of beliefs that we will teach our kids about regardless of contradictions. They can sort through that mess once they're older.

Answer 6

Well, if you waited until they acquire the reasoning capability to judge for themselves, that would mean they would live the first 16 to 18 years of their lives with NO religious training. They need that early training to know there is a higher power, and parents are the only ones that can provide that. Once they reach adulthood, heck yes, I would allow them to choose their own course with my support. Only exception would be if they went the route of some creepy cult or something, then I would have a problem with that.

Answer 7

I don't have any children, but if I did I would bring them up to think for themselves and when they become of an age to make the decision about their religious path I would let THEM choose.

I was raised Baptist, my parents did however care enough to allow me to seek my own road. They aren't too sure of what being a pagan means, they do however know I didn't make the choice lightly.

Answer 8

Yup! If I have kids, I plan to let them choose their beliefs freely.

My family didn't do this to me and now I have a LOT of tension and issues with them because of it. I feel alienated and occasionally subhuman(depends on which person I'm dealing with, nastier people in my family do this, not all of them, thankfully), like I don't matter or don't count or sometimes even don't DESERVE to have an opinion because I'm not the same, that I rejected the religion they "gave" me.

I wasn't even a year old when I was baptized. I slept, I ate, I pooed my diapers. I didn't do much else at the time, so I had no idea what was going on, let alone was able to comprehend what the ceremony meant for me and, supposedly, the rest of my life. I grew up, explored this big world that I live in, and learned that what I was "told" wasn't necessarily "right".

I tried to find a path for myself, but for my family, if it wasn't the same religion as them, it didn't matter. I'm atheist now, but had I been pagan, buddhist, hinduist, catholic, baptist, methodist, it wouldn't have mattered. If I was anything but lutheran, I was just as bad as an atheist. Because it was clear that I was either "for" them and one of them or "against" them and different, I ended up giving up on religion quickly enough.

Figured it was pretty pointless if it was their way or nothing, so rather than finding another belief for myself, I just shunned it altogether. It's cost me emotionally, but even faced with pain and heartache at things said and done and the stress and tension I face(especially at the holiday season), I can't bring myself to conform, just to save my sanity.

I'd rather my kids chose for themselves. They won't face the pain and heartache and estrangement that I did because I didn't "make" them, they chose to themselves. They'd be respectful and tolerant because not only would I teach them to be so, but I'd encourage them to explore and learn about other faiths, not just what I tell them to believe. I'd have a good relationship with them that I don't really have with my family because I would have encouraged open discussion without fear of hearing "You're wrong!" or "If you don't repent, you're going to hell!" every time a discussion comes up and someone wants to disagree.

If parents want to indoctrinate their kids, it's not my place to tell them otherwise, as the kids are theirs not mine. But when it comes to my own children, you couldn't pay me all the money in the world to force my children to believe something because "I said so" from infancy before they understand what they're being told.

True belief comes from the heart because you mean it, not because you're afraid to do otherwise.

Answer 9

i trust the non secular guidance of childrens is the duty of human beings. What the youngsters pick to trust, is a separate count number, altogether. once you're a criminal man or woman, you'll take excitement in all the freedoms and household initiatives that contain adulthood.

Answer 10

My wife and I have discussed this ourselves. I was brought up Catholic, she was Baptized but not brought up with any specific religion.

We've both agreed not to Baptize our child, and instead will expose our children to multiple religions from an early age (via parables, etc. for children). Then, as they grow to the age of 10-12, we will have them more deeply experience each religion and let them decide.

My wife and I want to introduce our child to spirituality, not organized religion. They can decide for themselves if one religion is better for them than another, but spirituality is universal.

Answer 11

You see, religious people will disagree with you, because indoctrinating children is the most important way that religions perpetuate themselves and try to swell their numbers and influence.