Should you "force" your children to believe in your religion?

Question

yes parents should be accountable for their children, but should they scare their kids into believing ?

Answer 1

How dare people compare religions to manners and respect for others?
That has NOTHING to do with religion!
NO never force beliefs on others!
Wanna know who did that? The Nazis

Answer 2

the person that said a child raised one way has little chance of believing something else is WRONG. I was raised atheist. It was drilled into my head that there was no God and I was cool with it. Anyway, raised that way, made some very obvious mistakes based on a lack of moral foundation. My parents have that typical "well they're going to do it anyway" sort of parental approach that exonerates the parent from doing their best or even questioning what 'best' is. I love them but its true. They didnt threaten me with 'hell' if I did wrong. Their threat was 'if you get pregnant, you're not staying here'.

So I became a Christian at 25 despite their upbringing which under atheism is to reject God entirely.

I think you should 'force' your kids to live as righteous as they possibly can. The Bible has the best instructions for that (IMO) and I can say that in contrast, I am having a much easier time raising my two smaller children than I had with my oldest daughter because I have some actual GUIDELINES to teach them. Im not 'making it up as I go' and surprising as this may seem, God's way works. My kids dont walk around fearing eternal damnation.

Answer 3

It's natural for parents to do this, and I don't have a huge problem with it. I do object when believers complain about atheists teaching their children about atheism, as if this is any worse than the religious indoctrination the believers' kids are getting.
And, the problem with saying kids can make up their minds when they come of age is that most people, and you've got plenty evidence of that right here in R&S, just stay with the religion in which they were raised because they've been raised to believe it's the best, they're comfortable with it, and they really don't want to think about anything else. This is no different from someone rooting for the same sports team that his/her parents did, or belonging to the same political party.

Answer 4

I'm not sure what you mean by "force;" some people seem to confuse that word with teaching and parenting - we need more teaching and parenting in this world (I don't care what your beliefs are). Of course physical, verbal, emotional abuse and manipulation type of "force" are out of the question.


But I think it's totally fair to expect your children to participate in family activities, and respect rules of your house - for example, drinking alcohol is against my religion, but no alcoholic drinks in my home is also a house rule...and I expect that even if my child grows up and doesn't want to follow my religion, that she will respect the rules of my house.

Answer 5

That's impossible . All American children are born free and with that comes the right to choose for themselves . People can only be forced to do things on the outside , so if I forced my child to believe as I believe , it would be an outside show , and not an inward conversion . It's better to present to them why you believe what you believe and then let them decide .

Answer 6

Well I don't think you should force them. You should try. More than try use everything you've got. But God doesn't want you to force them into it. He wants people to want to believe in him not to be afraid to. But it's not like it's some game if your child doesn't want to don't just give up there this is important. I think that everyone should believe in God because without him we wouldn't be here right now. maybe wait a while and when they actually are old enough to know what your saying and understand try to teach them about God. Take them to Sunday school make them like church and god first. Make them think it's fun to learn about him. Like the Sunday school for kids. I hope you and your kids will believe in God and Jesus Christ eventually. To all God Bless.

Answer 7

You can not "force" anyone to believe in anything! What you believe (even children) is what they believe. I mean I can say "yes i believe in santa," but I'm lieing. One can only teach. Whether it be by example, words, and even Sunday school. You can not "force" the Gift on someone, you can offer, but only they can choose to except it.

The same way you can't force a child to love you, but you can force him to be mindful.
You can't force a child to respect you, but you can make them do as you say. No one can force a believe on you, because your mind is always free to do what it wants to.

Answer 8

Children are like springs: If you put them under too much pressure for too long, once you let them go they'll bounce all over the place.

You can share your beliefs with them when they are old enough to comprehend them, but to use these religious teachings to shelter them and try to make them who you want them to be will only cause them to have contempt towards you for it. They will not have respect for a person who enforced a religion on them when they were only 2 years old.

Answer 9

While I think children should be allowed to experience life and make their own decisions about religion, I can understand how, if you honestly believe your religion is right, you would be desperate to teach it to your children. You feel you would be doing a disservice to your children to NOT lead them in the ways of your religion.

If they don't buy into it, however, you should not force them to. You should be open to letting them work it out on their own, especially if you believe your god comes to people in his own way in his own time.

You really can't "force" someone to believe anything.

Answer 10

God's Word tells us that "If you bring up a child in the way he should go, he will not depart from it."

That means it's VERY important to teach children things of God, starting with simple things like the little tune "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so ..." Children are very receptive to learning about God and His ways. It's important that they be taught, so they have the foundation to stand on when their lives become more serious and and more difficult, especially in their teens.

That isn't "forcing," dear one, it's Good Parenting 101 !

God bless!