True or not...?

Question

I heard from my friend (who's a bible thumper) that you're parents decide if you believe in god or not. Is this true? I'm not a Christian so I don't get it.............

we can think for ourselves, we have a brain! let's actually USE it, for a change!

Answer 1

First off, Wolfmother is an awesome band! Listening to "White Unicorn" now.

With that said, what Christ teaches and what Christians do are often two different things. Parents are taught to instruct their children with the words of God, but it is up to the child to choose their own path as they develop their own free will.

No one can choose what someone else believes. Christians are Biblically forbidden to make that huge of a judgement call about someone else. In the real world, it doesn't stop them from attacking what they *think* someone else believes.

Answer 2

It's pretty much true. If you're socialized into a religion by your parents as a child, it's very likely you will remain in that religion. (Statistically about 70-some%... Let me see if I can find the actual number.) Some people convert or become atheists, but traditionally this has been the way religion has worked since the dawn of time.

Answer 3

Religion is largely a matter of geography. Not many kids in Toledo, grow up to be Muslim and not many in Tehran grow up as Baptists.
— unknown

The great trouble is that the preachers get the children from six to seven years of age and then it is almost impossible to do anything with them.
— Thomas Edison, (1847-1931)

There is no absurdity so obvious that it cannot be firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to impose it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity.
— Arthur Schopenhauer

Give me child until the age of six and I will give you a Nazi for life.
— Adolph Hitler

Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt.
— Clarence Darrow

It is an interesting and demonstrable fact, that all children are atheists and were religion not inculcated into their minds, they would remain so.
— Ernestine Rose

I am now convinced that children should not be subjected to the frightfulness of the Christian religion.... If the concept of a father who plots to have his own son put to death is presented to children as beautiful and as worthy of society's admiration, what types of human behavior can be presented to them as reprehensible?
— Ruth Hurmence Green

Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.
— Arthur Schopenhauer

Finding that no religion is based on facts and cannot be true, I began to reflect what must be the condition of mankind trained from infancy to believe in error.
— Robert Owen

It is difficult, none the less, for the ordinary man to cast off orthodox beliefs, for he is seldom allowed to hear the other side.... Whereas the Christian view is pressed on him day in and day out.
— Margaret Knight

Imagine the people who believe such things and who are not ashamed to ignore, totally, all the patient findings of thinking minds through all the centuries since the Bible was written. And it is these ignorant people, the most uneducated, the most unimaginative, the most unthinking among us, who would make themselves the guides and leaders of us all; who would force their feeble and childish beliefs on us; who would invade our schools and libraries and homes. I personally resent it bitterly.
— Isaac Asimov, 1994

Answer 4

Statistically that is right, even allowing for plenty of individual exceptions.
Most people follow the beliefs of their own family and local culture.
Have a look at this distribution just in the USA and largely for Christians:
Where you're likely to be a catholic, or a baptist, or a Mormon or a Lutheran.

Similar maps exist for the world and its religions.

Answer 5

Huh?

I have never heard this concept before, but I have read that Christians believe that the greatest gift they can give their child is faith.

I guess if you don't teach and instill the concept of a god, or jesus, then most likely a child is less likely to believe in such concepts later on in life.

But even that is questionable, being that people can and sometimes do think for themselves when not brainwashed.

In my mind, I would like to think that the greatest gift a parent can give a child is an education, not faith.

At least with an education you can think for yourself, and teach yourself anything.

-Yes- even Religion.

Something Faith/Religion can not do.

Answer 6

NO. Traditionally, younger children, under 13, were unable to make a decision, and so if their parents were Christians, then they would be. When they turned 13, they could decide whether or not they wanted to follow their parent's religion.

Answer 7

Every person is responsible for their own actions and has the power to decide who or what they believe in. No other person can force another or decide for another what they shall believe in. If you are born to parents that believe a certain way, they may raise you in that faith but ultimately... You chose your own religion. Simple as that.

Answer 8

As a young child you generally pick up your parents' religion. You go to church with them, or not. So in that sense your parents do decide if you believe in God or not. Once you grow up, however, it's entirely up to you.

Answer 9

It is not right that your parents will be the one who will choose your religion.

Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Answer 10

You're parents are responsible for your well being both physical and spiritual. If you believe in God, and you have a child, it would be ridiculous for you to not see to the well being of your child's spiritual health. When the child is old enough, then he or she can do as they please. You don't let a 5-year-old decide what's good to eat for dinner, do you? You make sure that they are well nourished. The same goes for their spiritual well being.