Is it wrong to learn about other religions and spiritual concepts?

Question

Would you object to your kids hearing about reincarnation, wicca, or another belief that you do not hold yourself? What if your kids switched religions and became pagan.

Answer 1

It is not wrong to look at any kind of religion if they give glory to Jesus.All your answers are with Jesus and if you have a personal loving relationship with Jesus then that is your answer.It is not about religion.It is all about going to Jesus and knowing Him.

Answer 2

The more children learn about other religions and beliefs the more caring understanding and well-balanced they will be in later life. Although personally, I would not bring my children up in any religion. I believe that people can have morals and be socially productive without being a part of a religion. I am Japanese, and follow Buddhism and Shinto, but even so, I do not dismiss other religions out of hand. Without knowledge of other cultures, the only thing children will learn is fear and hate. I would have no problem if my children followed a different religion to my own as long as it was what they truly believed, as this demonstrates maturity, thoughtfulness and level-headedness.

Answer 3

I am a person who has learned about a great many religions in my life, and I do not believe that knowlege is ever wrong. I believe that keeping someone ignorant of other beliefs IS wrong. If one's religion is so weak that you have to "protect" it by hiding truth, then that religion has a serious problem. I also believe that the more we know about each other, the better we will all get along, and the more value we will see in others' beliefs, even if we do not share those beliefs. If fear of the unknown is all that is keeping you in a religion, then it's a pretty poor excuse for a religion.

Answer 4

As a child I was encouraged to explore beliefs and concepts. I'm sure my mother always assumed that would be within the "Christian" beliefs. My father had no deep seated beliefs of his own. He is now a born again Christian, and my mother has remained true to her Christian foundation. I, however, am a Pagan. We've debated concepts over the years and now except that, when it comes to the core beliefs, its more a matter of terminology and goals. We all want to live in harmony and balance. We all want to love one another and work toward peace. We all want to live a life of goodness and prosperity. So now my mother will call me and say "pray for...", then she corrects herself and says .. well, meditate or cast a spell or do whatever it is you do! LOL

We have achieved acceptance that we may not believe in the same things on "the how and why" .. but when it comes to the "do" ... we are the same.

Answer 5

My Dad was Presbyterian and my Mom was of the United Church. I went to Sunday school for a few years but when I was 13, they allowed me to study other faiths and spiritual concepts.

I was fascinated with magic and dragons. I read about them the most. Then I read about alchemy, voodoo and spells, astrology and ghosts, tarot and palm-reading and found them to be too difficult to grasp and were rather unbelievable. As I grew older I became fascinated with philosophy. Socrates, Plato, Seneca, Zoroaster .... I read them all and they really enriched my knowledge and wisdom. I studied the other religions too and even helped a Hindu woman write a children's book about Diwali.

I studied paganism, Karma and Wicca but have also decided, as faiths, they are not for me. I prefer to remain a free-thinker. I believe in a Higher Power but do not claim to know who or what it is. I just know I wake up every morning thankful for a new day, go throughout the day laughing at life's coincidences and gaffes, and go to bed at night happy with all the things I learned from the good and the bad.

I raised my daughter the same. She is fascinated by all faiths, as I was. She has many friends and has attended Catholic masses, synagogue, temple and mosque services. She's tolerant of all religions but, like me, is sceptical of the sanity of 24 hour a day religious fanatics. She is young, (22) and still doesn't know what she believes in. But she doesn't suffer from guilt or shame or wory about whether her actions are being observed and noted. She does not feel pressured by threats of sin or hell. I'm confident she'll discover what she believes in in her own time.

I think it was one of the best gifts I gave her.

Answer 6

My son (who is now 33 years old ) made his own decisions about his faith. He has chosen his own path with his faith,but it is not because we shoved it down his throat. Instead, we taught him what we thought was right, and trusted him to make good decisions. Spirituality is not some sort of metaphysical buffet line where you sample until you get filled up. If they heard about these things in school (and I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they had), I have no problem with that, but their time with us would be spent in the faith which we are honestly convinced is the true faith. What they do as an adult is their choice, which we would respect, and for which they would bear any and all consequences.

Answer 7

no, its not wrong to learn about other religions. if people would have an open mind about other religions there would be more peace in the world.

a persons religion holds alot of insights to there values. to understand the person better, you really need to know what they hold true in their heart, be it wiccan, christian, jew, muslim, whatever.

and if my kids became another religion then my own, that would be fine. everyone has the right to choose their own religion. in fact i choose to educate my kids on different religions and let them choose instead of jamming my own religion down their throat, like alot of parents do...

by the way, for the most part, you can tell who had religion shoved down their throat since birth on this question. yeah, i know some people are going to be mad at that statement, but its true.

Answer 8

religion and spirituality are very personal choices. Personally, if i have children in the future, I would want to bring them up in no set religion but to educate them on the various ones out there and their differences so they can choose to follow what feels right for them. If they chose to belive in something I did not belive, this would be totally fine with me as. what matters most is producing young people who are caring, tolerant, accepting, and understanding of the diversity of people and cultures in the world. Education in the best way to achieve this! :)

Answer 9

It is not only correct for everyone to learn about other religions than their own, I would encourage it of not only my children but all people.

Religions that do not encourage such inquiry and education are simply fearful that they may lose followers. So the place themselves as "the only true religion" and preach ignorance and intolerance toward other religions.

Answer 10

The Gospel of Mark tells That we can drink any deadly thing (false Gospels) I have made it my business to learn of all religions and try them against the word of God.

The process of elimination. You can't see what is true without seeing what is wrong.

My Children have been brought up in the nurture of the Lord.
Paganism would not be an option for them. They know too much. I love it when Jehovah witnesses come to my house, they are always welcome, but sadly enough they no longer come.

I wait on my steps with my Bible in hand and they visit all of mt neighbors but me. I never argue or am I ever rude, I even provide lunch. The Mormons don't visit me anymore either.

I would love for Wiccans to come, though I have never seen any , do they proselytize?

Answer 11

no friend its good 2 get knowledge about other religion b/c i hav seen many people in this secttion who don't know about others religion completely and even then ask question or answers question in a very stupid way i hate this type of behavior
In my think every 1 should know atleast the basic knolwdege of others religion