Should parents who shove religion down their kids throats be prosecuted for child abuse?

Question

I mean, who in their sound mind would seriously force a kid to believe in fairy tales as being true?

Answer 1

Those parents do not care about their child's welfare or their freedom to choose. They force their religion on them because they think more of their religion than their child.

Not surprisingly the churches are loosing members fast each year, even the catholic church. Perhaps it is because the children are being forcibly indoctrinated that as they get older they rebel and leave the church!!

In an ideal world religion should play very little part in a child's upbringing until it is old enough to understand what it is about and make a sensible decision for themselves.

Not just child abuse but human rights abuse.

Answer 2

no, i'm still a firm believer that as long as you're living under someone's roof you respect the decisions that they make. now, if that child for some reason feels it's wrong, they have every right to call the authorities and be taken into child protective services. chances are they won't, because honestly being raised in a christian household is by far better than growing up without parents.

edit: i think some atheists need to get their head on straight as to what actually constitutes child abuse. i myself am an atheist who grew up in a christian household. at no time did i ever feel abused. i thought some of the rules of christianity were stupid, but i waited till i was old enough to move out to express my own feelings, and made sure not to insult the people who fed me and housed me. that's just rude.

Answer 3

A parent has the responsiblility to raise their child with all the knowledge they need to become either a proper woman or a proper man. That means nutrition for his physical wellbeing, it means education and understanding for his mental wellbeing, and that means God for his spiritual wellbeing.
What would be wrong is to leave out a little person's spiritual side, which we all have.
When a parent provides guidance to a child it is not "forcing religion down their throats", its teaching them. You sound like a little
12 year old who doesn't want to clean up her room. Mommy and daddy are being mean to me. Wa boo hoo.
Give me a break. Your mother should take that computer keyboard the hell out of your bedroom until you grow up.

Answer 4

Parents who do this are in some ways abusing their children. They should have the freedom to choose, but parents who are very religious don't even consider this.
If a child shows interest in a particular religion they should be able to find out more, but should be reminded that there are other religions and people believe all different things including evolution. I make no big deal out of the the things my kid says about religion....even when he announces that he might want to be a spiritualist!!
He has asked to be christened and I have told him he will have to wait until he is older before HE decides. It can be difficult because the brainwashing goes on at school, but he seems happy to wait till he is older.

Answer 5

It depends on how you define abuse. There's no doubt that religious indoctrination is a vile and despicable form of mind control. I think that such indoctrination quickly becomes abuse when the child begins to express opinions of their own and resists his parent's blatant attempts at brainwashing. Every child is entitled to develop their own set of core values. Parents who use force to compel their children to believe religious superstitions against the child's will are not in their "right minds" and should face legal consequences.

Answer 6

When I was a kid, I had the whole Heaven/Hell thing shoved down my throat. Long story short, for a period of time when I was in my teens, I was literally terrified of burning in Hell for breathing the wrong way. Almost every time I was out on the road, I would wonder if a car would swerve left of center, strike me and kill me, and then I would be cast into Hell for not doing this or this just the right way.

I can honestly say that if I ever have kids, they will NOT live with that kind of fear. If they want to be religious, then fine. But I will not force anything on them, and I will surely wait until they are old enough to critically examine what they are being told by the powers-that-be.

To answer your question, I think that forcing THIS KIND of religion on a child is abuse. However, teaching good morals is not.

EDIT: To the people who thumbs-downed me, feel free to email or IM me explaining how I am wrong. I would love to hear it.

Answer 7

We have a very narrow definition of child abuse in my country, and religion is not child abuse.

I believe making kids learn a religion is manipulative and flawed, but it is still legal.

Certainly a good religious parent should raise their child to understand all religions and why those parents made their choices, but kids can't enter into contracts... not with businesses and not with gods.

Answer 8

I doubt the threat of prosecution would help. Christians in particular just love feeling persecuted - it makes them feel like holy warriors and martyrs to the Great Cause.

But it would be a great day for the world when parents realised that forcing such rubbish on children too young to see the flaws and illogic does *constitute* psychological abuse - as Dawkins (PBUH) has pointed out.

A whole lot of consciousnesses need to be raised before that happens, alas.

Answer 9

First, you must categorically demonstrate that the religion in question is unquestionably false and always harmful. Absent this, you will have quite a time of it in courts. Incidentally, you can't force anyone to believe something. How many of these kids who are taught one thing grow up to discard their faith?

Did this happen to you?

Tom

Answer 10

To you it may be a fairy tale, but to those of us that believe, it is not.