Should fundamentalist Christians be allowed to adopt children?

Question

-I personally do not agree with their lifestyle.
-The fear, anger and hatred that they fill these impressionable minds with is frightful.
-They encourage these kids to give 10 % of all they have to a preacher so that he can drive a Mercedes, and so that he can build a multi-million dollar building in the suburbs.
-They teach their kids that they will burn in the fiery pits of hell if they do not conform to their very narrow belief system, (beliefs that are not agreed to by the majority of the world)
-So is this the healthiest environment for a child to be raised? I think not.

But, should my personal opinion and belief... mandate who can and cannot adopt children?

It seems that the fundamentalist Christians try to let their beliefs and opinions mandate laws...as they do not want gays to adopt, etc...

So, should we be a society where beliefs/opinions of the majority become law? And if the majority's beliefs are not Judeo Christian is that o.k.?

Answer 1

I do not believe anti-gay Fundamentalists should be allowed to adopt innocent children and indoctrinate them into the anti-gay lifestyle. That's an immoral lifestyle that's harmful to the participant and to others in society. My religious belief is that anti-gay Fundamentalists are sinful and refusing to repent of their sins. However, my religious belief should not be used to create a law to allow these sinners to adopt or not adopt. Personal religious beliefs should not be used as a basis to create any law under which others have to live.

Answer 2

Sadly the stereotypical Christian is what you see on tv, wearing a rolex in some mega huge church. But this is not what was initially intended for followers of Christ. Meant to be humble and pious, Christians were never meant to be prideful or boasting how disgustingly rich they are.

Also, wouldn't it be better to be brought up in a home where there are absolutes, lines that should not be crossed and no double standards? (Yes i know they plague the church but ideally and hypothetically)

It is true that the majority of the world does not believe Christianity... but does that make it wrong? The majority of the world doesn't know you exist... does that make you disappear?
In America where the majority and the popular vote rule, laws should be designed to specify morals; but the obvious question is where do we all agree. Some wish America to be a Christian nation as it was founded but that has long since passed. We should at least agree on ethics and morals, but on the matter of if Christ died for your wrongdoings and forgave you, and if you can be saved from that fiery pit if you only believe, you dont have to do good things but it is nice, all you have to do is believe in God

Answer 3

I suspect that this just another attempt to cloud the most important issue here regarding adopting children, by doing some fairly ridiculous stereotyping and using the ol' building the straw man up to just knock him down strategy.

The real issue here is that family researchers are quite aware that children do much better on average with the consistency of having one mother and one father, than with single, divorced and blended family parents. Gay parenting is likened mostly to the blended family issues, which involve a much greater possibility of the children experiencing physical and/or sexual abuse. Another aspect is that gay coupling (2 to 6 years, and this is with extrasexual relationships within the duration) is known to not have even close the duration that heterosexual coupling does (22 years, with only 33% admitting to just one extrarelational affair). This means that since the longevity of gay coupling does not last throughout one's childhood, it is also likened to the single and divorced parent family, where there is an extremely high frequency risk of mental health, school performance, criminal history, and even suicide childhood issues.

So, you see the problem here? It's not about really about one's view of how to raise children, whether with a traditional religious view or not, that is of the most importance, but rather whether children can placed in homes that most likely would avoid the very precipitators of dysfunction that you would desire to promote!

Answer 4

First of all, not all fundamentalists tithe, I certainly do not.

Secondly, most (I cannot speak for all) show their children the err of the other beliefs. Those who do not, usually accept the other beliefs.

They teach their children there will be consequences for their actions because they are fearfully and wonderfully made, hence they have a creator who is like a parent, and that they can or can not obey him but there will be consequences.

They teach that the child is loved, not only by them but by God, who created everything and that while there are consequences for their actions he loves them so much that he sacrificed himself to save them from those consequences, and all you have to do is accept his gift of salvation.

They don't fill the children with fear but with knowledge, most don't fill the child with hatred but love.

What don't you agree with in the christian lifestyle?

No murder? - are you for killing people?
No cheating on spouses? - do you like to cheat on your spouse?
No promiscuity? - are you in favor of people sleeping around and spreading STD's?
No children having sex? - are you in favor of 12 year olds having sex?
No being an alcoholic? - are you in favor of letting alcohol rule your life?

I could go on...

Ok, so I wouldn't call myself Judeo Christian, but still fundamentalist Christian, just to straighten that out.

Don't beliefs/opinions ALREADY mandate the law?
We have laws against killing, and if there is no absolute right then it's just someones opinion.
We have been changing the laws so that two men can marry, when marriage is defined as between a man and a woman, that's an opinion right there.
Just about all our laws would be considered opinion or belief, if God doesn't exsist and there is no absolute right and wrong that he laid out for us to follow.
So your question is whose opinion should we follow?
Well I certainly don't want to follow yours, yours contradicts itself.
I would rather live a christian life, than whatever your suggesting, personally the promiscuity, the sadness, the emo kids and the druggies, the messed up people, I don't like that, I don't call that progress, I call that regression, and I think we could all do well to live as best as we can, personally I think thats Christian morals.

Also, most fundamentalists can have children (save some medical condition) and gay people can not, no offence to the gays but doesn't this show you one set of created to bear children?

As always, feel free to email,

Jessica

Answer 5

You have a point. Nevertheless, no parents is definitely worse than fundamentalist parents. A loving christian household is the best environment for an orphan to be raised in. If your are sincerely worried about their intolerant views, do something about it. Try to establish a respectful dialog with the prospective adoptive parents, to help them out of their narrowmindedness. Miracles happen.

Answer 6

I work with a fundamentalist guy. He and his wife had four girls. Then they went to Kazakhstan to adopt about five years ago. Now they are trying to adopt a Guatemalan boy. My feelings are mixed on this one. I know he's a decent guy and he's almost certainly improving the lives of these kids, but he also doesn't have the consent of these children. They are destined to be just as indoctrinated as his biological children are. Of course, when they are adults they can do as they please, but in the mean time--despite the improved material life--they didn't really ask to become fundamentalist Christians did they?

Answer 7

I think you have clumped together two things that are opposite; There are no real believers who agree with the Phelps doctrine; We are very much ashamed at that "clan" as you call them; I think any home that has two loving parents, a mother and a father, should adopt children if they so desire, to give a good and loving home to needy and orphan children

Answer 8

I like this post. It reminds me of that movie that's coming out soon, "The Golden Compass". It has a lot of Christian watchdog groups up in arms because of the movie is atheistic in nature. They're touting all sorts of claims that it's going to brainwash children into disbelief.

What none of these people are willing to admit is how much Christianity has saturated EVERYTHING in family movies and prime-time television. Is that OK? Sure. It's art and expression and the beliefs and ideas of the artist are free to be expressed in these pieces even if they're packaged for mass consumption. When the dog vomit religious moments get to be too much for me to handle, I change the channel. However, when a filmmaker decides to take a book based on atheistic ideas (or satirizing religious ideas) and turn it into a feature film, it's "evil devil's work" and is "brainwashing our children" and the thought of just, well, avoiding doesn't seem to make any sense. IT HAS TO BE STOPPED!!!

That sounded like a digression, but it had a point. Authoritarian Christian-knows-best BS is getting old. They try to push policies steeped in their beliefs and destroy that which they believe doesn't jive with Jesus. And over an arbitrary book that's even less applicable today than when it was first compiled. It's sick.

They push and peddle their crap religion 24/7. They work to destroy anything that isn't their ideal. And they do it all under some banner of being just and righteous.

Should they be allowed to raise their close-minded children and practice their close-minded religion and justify their bigotry and hate with their warped views on their own religious text? YES! But they should keep all of that **** to themselves. Their children, their religion, and their bullshit.

I look forward to the day that people can keep their faith in their homes and in their churches and let the rest of us live our lives how we see fit.
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And a side story. I work at a BMW dealership. I cannot tell you how many customers are church leaders that have bilked everyone in their ministry for money to own a BMW. One such minister has THREE! WTF?! He runs a Spanish-speaking ministry that specifically targets recent immigrants. How can anybody justify that and pretend to be a Christian?
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To Jim, I'm speaking specifically of FUNDAMENTALISTS. There are many, many good Christians. The small portion of Christians who do all the things I'm talking about are the most visible, but certainly don't represent all Christians. One of my roommates is a very devout Catholic. He's a good person. His family is composed of good people.

And you're right, I do hate fundamentalists, but I don't try to justify my hatred with a book that supposedly preaches love. That would be insane. I just hate them for who they are: selfish, narrow-minded, sad people.

Answer 9

#1. There is no such thing as a "gay" Christian, so stop deluding yourself. And secondly, you are either a Saint or you ain't. There is no seperate room for fundies, moderate, etc. Christians in heaven. So this is just another proof that you are a wolves in sheep's clothing because you belittle other Christians while calling yourself a Christian. HA! But your definition of love is already distorted, so I'm not surprised you are bashing Christians who "understand" and obey God's Word.

Answer 10

Fortunately normal people and not you make the rules. But you may aways move to one of the more advance nations, perhaps France will do.