Should children read (or be taught) the Bible before they can be critical?

Answer 1

Well by that reasoning, we shouldn't teach them anything about anything. Just wean them and abandon them I guess...

Answer 2

The same question can be asked about anything else: history (different historians have their different takes on history); science (theories change); literature; bedtime stories; should children be taught any of these things before they can be critical?
The fact that many people who have been brought up in Bible teaching homes do not follow the Bible's teachings today proves that it is not brainwashing, and that children can well make up their minds when they are older regardless of what they are taught. Parents who do not seek to pass on their values and beliefs to their children, probably have no values or beliefs in the first place.

Answer 3

I vote NO! Children can be raised to believe almost anything, if effectively indoctrinated. I think that parents, schools, mosques, etc. should refrain from any type of religious indoctrination of children. Instead, I think that children should be allowed to reach their teens, without having any spirituality forced down their throats. Of course, many parents the world over do indoctrinate their kids w/ religion from the get go..................I'm afraid this fact makes religion an inexorable part of kids psyche, in many cases.

I don't know how we can promote a more religion-free environment for kids to grow up in. I'm especially worried about the Evangelicals and the Zionists. Both seem to do well at tainting the minds of the young w/ their pius propaganda. I fear that there will be a violent conflict between the religious and the anti-Theists. This will be a real bloody battle, but It's imperative that it happens, that the anti-Theists win, and that modern society can permanently jettison this fictive faith.

Answer 4

Yes.

There are lessons in the Bible that are fabulous for teaching children values. There's no reason why we can't begin teaching Bible stories from the time they begin learning how to talk and understand language enough to benefit from the stories.

(I understand that there are a lot of people who would really prefer to just burn all the Bibles in the world, but I ignore such people because they have nothing to offer their children or society in general except prejudice and ill-will. Open-minded people who are secure with their own beliefs aren't afraid of the way others live their lives, and they aren't the type to try to call someone else's religion "brain washing" or "child abuse" or anything else that is purely emotionally driven and not rational.)

Answer 5

If parents who are Christians love their children, they will teach them the bible from the moment they are born.

We believe those who are not saved end up in hell. Why would any parent willingly NOT teach their child to love the God of the bible? That would be the equivalent of someone not teaching their children to run in the street until the actually get run over.

Religion is very serious to people, and if they want to see their children in heaven, then they will teach them what they believe to be true.

Answer 6

Religious teaching, in my opinion, is a parent's responsibility and duty. Parents do make decisions on behalf of their children when they are not critical, because this is one of the fundamental functions of parents.... to take care of their children, to protect them, to give them the best they can. Spirituality is part of this. So my answer is YES, if their parents (who are the custodians of their children) believe in what the Bible teaches.

Answer 7

The bible doesn't teach critical thinking. It teaches the opposite.

But if you want all children to learn "the bible" before they can learn to criticise it, doesn't that take away from parental rights? What about Jewish families? Muslim? Wiccan? To say nothing of parents who chose to be agnostic.

Answer 8

Yes... and a big YES

Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it..

Teach them how to be respectful, obedient to the parents and teach them how to forgive, be merciful, be full of charity.

Teach them those virtues from the bible

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http://www.angdatingdaan.com
http://www.truthcaster.com
http://www.kaanib.net

or watch The OLD PATH channel hosted by Bro. Eli Soriano

Answer 9

Yes,I started reading to my kids when they were still in my womb.Yes,I have brainwashed my kids and guess what we all love each other,no fights,jealousy's or any of that crap.5 kids and one of them has even come home from the gulf war alive.Praise the Lord.

Answer 10

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6

If they choose another belief system later then so be it.
I've done my part in showing them the way I believe they should go.

Answer 11

I would say no, but then again I was capable of basic logical thought at a young age. I remember lying awake at night thinking about the concept of eternity when I was 8-9 years old. I think it might of messed me up.