Is it right to teach religion at a very young age? Yes, fine, religious beliefs might be a "very important teaching", or a "moral necessity", and is primary in life to you religious fanatics, but don't you think by telling them at such a young age you would develop a close minded child? Don't you think if you told them at a teenage age the child would have more liberty, flexibility, and "autonomics" and make their own decisions if they'll except this religious belief or not? The brain is still developing in the child, so giving him this type of knowledge might cause the child to "record" it into his brain, and so causing him to follow this religion as an instinct, furthermore, because of this, it would be harder for the child in the future to get off the religion or at least develop some small doubt, in other words he would be stubborn and close-minded to anything in relation to, or in contradiction to his religion. Don't Mis-interpret what I'm saying. I'm not saying that I don't want it to be taught at a young age BECAUSE I have intent for him to get off his religion, or reach some doubt of it, but instead I'm saying in a positive optimistic view that, not teaching religious beliefs at such a young age but when this child's brain is already fully developed, he will be able to make his own individualistic decisions regarding the religious beliefs. If they ask you tell them the TRUTH. Tell them it's UNKNOWN, and that nobody knows it's true and that crazy people in white trench coats are still investigating it. Wouldn't you like to give your child some freedom and let him decide whether he'll accept it or call it blasphemy, instead of "unintentionally" "accidentally" forcing it into him at a young age?

ready, set, debate

That is for the parents to decide.

I know, but I'm individually trying to form a conclusion of what is best, as well as coincidentally some other people. This is to debate what you think is best, not to force it down a parents throat, so I don't know what your point is. I never said it wasn't the parents decisions, I'm just making them think a little more, while letting them take initiative into a decision, IOW I'm "helping" on their decision, or I'm simply just "giving suggestions", I'm not putting it as law, I'm asking a persuasive question. Furthermore more, a thread like this, like many other threads, is productive and might make particular individuals, reach different, maybe better conclusions, think more, and be intellectually competent, which I think can increase peoples IQ. So by saying that it is for parents to decide is not disproving the point of my thread. So that's a pointless nonproductive statement. I'm not trying to bash or flame you, I'm sorry if it sound's like I am, or if the post sounded kind of inadequate, but I'm really just telling you what I think about such statements like yours.

Well I don't know about all the rest but I can honestly say that I was taught religion at a very young age, and it has in none but positive ways affected me. So I come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter what age you teach religion at, but HOW you teach it.

hm, interesting, thank you so much, much more productive . If you expected a debate, or contradiction to come out of my mouth I'm sorry , I came here to WATCH the debate.

Let me ask another question. If two parents are vegans, is it wrong to raise their kids eating only vegan foods? What if the kid comes home from school one day and they say, "mummy, Johnny was eating a sandwich with something called 'ham' in it, it looks really nice, can I have some". What does mommy say? Most vegan parents will have their kids eating a vegan lifestyle. And as long as the kids are getting the right nutritional needs, then what's the harm with that. The child has no say in the matter. They can't tell their parents to buy meat, because their parents buy the shopping and do the cooking.

And when the child asks "why don't we eat meat", the parent will then go into a discussion suitable for a young child that will explain why eating meat is unhealthy (and perhaps unethical), and how eating vegetables is a better option.

Yet when two Christian parents go to church, they are expected to..... what, exactly? Leave the child at home with a babysitter? And yet when the child asks "Is God real", the parents are expected to...... tell them that no one really knows, that they're too young to be thinking about such things?

I certainly can understand where you're coming from, but I think that the parent has the right to bing their child up in whatever Faith they like, and I don't see anything wrong with it if they do.

~ Regards, PA

I am not really fond of the 'religious' lifestyle perse. I think it is great to teach your child about your religion, but I also think it is important for the child to find religion for themselves as well. It's a positive atmosphere to raise your child in a certain religion, but I think it is more beautiful to find that perfect religion for themselves.

And what if said parent is filling said child's head full of bull, like telling him/her that blacks are evil, demonic people created from mud, and the Evil Joozz are out to get him if he doesn't spend 18 hours on his hands and knees in prayer? At that age, narrow-minded, dumbsh** beliefs held by parents can have serious psychological impact on their children, so at the very least you have to create a distinction between what is acceptable for children and what amounts to psychological trauma.

I think think the right way to raise a child is to tell them the truth. Don't tell them that God exists and don't tell them that God doesn't exist.

Well I believe its really up to the parent.As for me yes im going to instill my beliefs in him along with the morals and rules that most of us have seem to have forgotten.I mean a child is not born to with the idea that their is or isnt a god,or any kind of understanding of right or wrong.I believe when the age is right and he or she decides that my religion may not be suitable for them I wont hold it against them,its kind of like the sayin of "you can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink"

Well i dont see how that compares with understanding the teachings of the bible to lil children...

Eating vegan food...is not hard to understand...they will eather hate the taste of it or love it...not rocket science lol

BUT the bible is different....kids get taught it at school...hence the reason for childrens bibles....they can understand them ok..after all I did as a child


But........there is a difference between US and lil children.............wanna know what that is??


Little children will not argue, bicker and fight over religion and take it that seriously.................ADULTS do

So in reality the kids put the adults to SHAME when it comes to religion lol

Yes, it is wrong. It's child abuse to me.

Children are programmed from millions of years of evolution (oh noes... The "E" word!!! ) to trust adults for their survival. So brainwashing them into some fanatic and outrageous idea is just wrong. This can be clearly shown by telling children santa, the easter bunny or getting a child to run into battle high on coke with an ak47 in hand ready to murder and rape... That children can be easily manipulated into any belief.

Apparently analogies are not helping just as I expected. See, the differences in culture can make and vary what belief is acceptable as good and which is not, so comparing vegans to Christians, or better yet, teaching racism to teaching religion cannot be done as their is a sociological difference. The difference is societies opinion on both differ, racism is considered "bad" and religion is considered generally "good", so analogies wouldn't work, as different analogies would get different responses and conclusions. Which means that there wouldn't be a concrete specific conclusion on the person, so I think it would be better to try to use another system and method of thinking, instead of using analogies in this case. Actually, no. Do anything you want. What you decide depends on your culture, and it's general knowledge and not too make decisions according to it would be impossible, because your train of though depends on it, if it didn't it wouldn't make any sense. So please forget what I said and continue.....
Another post to delete
I'm wasting posting space!

Even though christianity had a positive effect on my grandmother (whom I was raised by 1/2 of my childhood) it was almost devastatng for me. I had terrible nightmares and paranoias. I could not stand being alone-it was hell.
What do you expect when you are taught there are devils and demons and a loving cruel god lurking everywhere ?
And then see a movie like the Exorcist or Rosemary's Baby etc. ?

While I hold no respect for "faith" (gosh I hate that word-there is something so pathetic about it)
I do agree it is up to the parents. But that parent needs to deeply research exactly what they are teaching. And hopefully read up on the psychological development of children. A good parent will be able to tell if their child is doing well on this "diet" of faith.
I have seen positive outcomes for both-christian & atheist children in my observation. I really think it depends on their parents and other "numerous" factors.

The main thing is that they are loved, educated, have set clear boundaries, a positive nurturing atmosphere and that the parents are good moral examples-believers or non-believers alike-and this is entirely possible.

They had a programme -the British BBC "Child of our Time"- and found the children raised in the Buddist faith to be in the best mental,social and emotional condition. They also were shown to have the most empathy in tests and were the most self- confident in themselves and who they were. These kids were raised in Britain and meditated almost on a daily basis. Alot of them had no television in the house- -some parents felt it was a negative distracting force in the house. I kind of agree-although I like it


Most children here (Germany and West. Europe) are raised agnostic,atheist and i do not see any worse behaviour than of those in the USA-who are mostly christian.

Please see the "red"
Could this depend on the religion you are teaching? What falvor o faith are you talking about?

Whatever you decide you still have to deal with the questions of what happened when Fluffy the cat died.

it's all faith in general, and I don't see how it depends. Care to explain?

As long as the parents are not teaching them to harm others or themselves I think it is "right". And by that I mean acceptable.

yes it's acceptable, but is it the best choice in your individualistic opinion? To me any religion occult or cult, "right" or "wrong" have the right to be taught, unless it's in contradiction, or has anything related in contradiction to law and societies implicit/explicit norms and values, but I think it is better for it to be taught when the child is older and possibly less naive, and able to make a decision with much more wits and freedom if they'll accept the religion or not. You see, children and all kinds of spawn, and heirs depend on the parent and anything told to them they will accept in a premature and naive way, which I personally consider to have some rough Cons whether bad or good.

Religion is one thing belief is another. As a parent Yes I will instill in MY children What I believe in.. I follow the teachings of the Bible, which to me IS Gods Divine and Holy Word. Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. ..(notice the word way is utilized not the word ways ) Iv seen children that are now adults brought up such as this and to me they have made great people. My children are an heritage from God, It is my responsibility to raise them in the way of the Lord.

in MY opinion? i'm a freaking atheist (when referring to the god of the 3 major denominations).

but aside from that, i dont believe the government should intervene if the religion isn't causing harm to anyone. I was raised catholic, put in a Church of Christ, became Messianic Yahudah, then became my own.

someone can open there eyes if they really want to.

I have another question...if religion is a part of your everyday life how are you going to conceal it from your children?

I think you should not teach them religion but to teach them the bible.

as Solomon says in proverbs 22:6 " train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old he will not depart from it .

We are not faithful and simply taught that when our beloved pets died -that they are dead.

While my children were sad for a while-they learned that everyday with your loved one is a treasure. And they learned not to take anything or anyone for granted.

When they aked me if there is a heaven ,I simply stated-"Honey I don't know". And hell (as etenal torture) ? "Definitely not, and that hell is here already for some and at temporary periods of time- for all of us ! "

I never said the government should intervene with the beliefs, I see a tiny misinterpretation, I said as long as the BELIEF doesn't negatively intervene with the government or law it can be taught, so you're not contradicting me at all. Anyway, maybe individually you were able to let go off the religion, but we're talking in general though. Analogy: Smoking is hard to come off, some have stopped but for some it's hard, especially if they were taught to smoke at a young age, and religion is also hard to come off, some have stopped believing in religion, but for some it's hard, especially when it was taught at a young age, therefore freedom to individualistically choose if smoking is bad or not, and if religion is true or not, is hard in the future because of it being taught at a young age.

I don't mind religion being taught but not as FACT which a lot of schools tend to do. I hated my school's for teaching religion as fact which was wrong, it is not okay to try and teach that God is real unless it can be proved or be taught that it is just a belief and that it is not known if God is real or not or any other deity.l.

You would just simply answer it's unknown, or you can tell them all the tons of possibilities of what happened when the cat died, and then tell them that we are not sure which if these possibilities is the correct one, and let them take the decisions, because those kinds of topics are sensitive.

Do you mean reliance on organized institutions and rituals are hard to give up? I know that inside various reigious institutions a lot of the beliefs vary among the believers themselves.

you told me to give my individualistic opinion. i gave it to you along with my individual experiences because i feel that experience and opinion go hand in hand.

and believe me, i cringe when i see parents and churches indoctrinating children. Raping of the mind? Perhaps. But they have that right, and it's really very sad to me.

i agree, it does make it harder to let go of the personal god ideology when raised in a monotheistic religion. But am i bitter toward my parents for making me go to church at a young age? No. I know they did what they thought was best.

Here in Germany they have to teach christianity or ethics.In public grade school-because of church funding (they want 10 % of their income when they grow up later-so in principle they are not really giving anything accept faith,guilt, horny priests, heaven,hell and hope) But I noticed they teach christianity as a story or several-not as fact. But this is because the school system will not tolerate it any other way. The concept of hell is never mentioned . Thanks to the (school system).

Exactly -I see it as the raping of all logic and reason.

Heard of Jesus camp-the extremism of christianity ?

Of course it depends, on one hand you can have faith that exalts equality and open mindedness and any sundry of acceptable behavior in a socieity or you can have one that teaches xenophobia and distrust of those that do follow the "word" of a given belief system. Is this general purpose faith one that teaches subjagation of others. so of course thye faith depends.

Yes, they have the right, and that's exactly why I recommend them not to do it, because if I didn't the thought wouldn't even run across their head so they'll make the decision rashly, and that's what I don't like. So, in order for them not to make such a rash decision, I'm giving "suggestion", because since they have the right to, we have to try to prevent them from using that right to choose that decision rashly and carelessly by giving them suggestion and thoughts on the subject, but usually they still end up making the decision which is sad really, just as you said. I know ALL parents did what they THOUGHT was best, so did parents who taught children about the easter bunny and claimed it to be real? but was it best? Instead of thinking irrationally and rashly and saying, "I'm`a teach my child religion because I BELIEVE it's true, and because I BELIEVE it's important and best" or "I'm`a teach my child about the easter bunny because it's funny, and I BELIEVE this well liberate and expand my child's imagination", instead of doing that, think about the Pros and Cons: Will this affect my child badly in the future? Will my child continue believing in the easter bunny and be ignorant about it? Will it stop my children from having freedom of choice to let go? etcetera

It IS abuse if the child is brought up with an ak47 in hand ready to murder and rape-

I don't care for religion standards, but raising a child to embrace God, guiding them to develop that relationship with their creator encourages them to open their heart and spirit which is a far cry from being taught fanatical or outrageous ideals. As side from the ak47, rape, and murder assumption , this can be a very positive and wonderful part in a child's life that can last a lifetime.

Based upon your beliefs and your faith.
There is no proof that what are called spirits, claimed to have been witnessed and interacted with by many over thousands of years, do not exist.

But, how do you keep it from your child if it is a part of your everyday life? The more you try to hide something the more curious they become.

Here's a doku just about this subject.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skEJ008jjY8

No, it's not known whether it is or not. We don't know if it's real or not so you can't teach a child at a small age, because it will get recorded in the child's brain that it is. It's like PERMANENTLY hypnotizing a person into NAIVELY believing something, and in my opinion, that's bad, because then it's a trickery into getting someone to believe something unknown and not giving them the options to form an individual opinion. I repeat, they should tell them when they're older, when they're less naive, so they can make a better decision according to the individual with freedom. If they ask you out of curiosity you can't hide it, you tell them, but try to leave it in an open way, instead of claiming it to be true so the child makes the decision.

So raising a child to worship a monster is somehow better then making them rape and kill? Telling a child to worshp a being that has murdered defenceless little babies is fanatical and it is outrageous to me... Among the other lovely items that the bibical god has commit and other religions gods and goddesses have done according to belief.

My point earlier was to show that children are built to trust adults therefore they are very easy to manipulate.

Yeah, very positive indeed... Last week a christian terrorist was sentence to prison for planting an IED next to an abortion clinic and had other "immoral" society freedoms on his hit list... In the middle east there are young children with guns screaming "death to jews"... In northern India there are little hindu children being taught to hate and even one day kill muslims... In Israel, little jews are being taught that muslims are a lesser being and can be slaughtered on a drop of a hat... See the problem with teaching fanatic religious ideas to children is that they fully believe it and then they grow up to be adults.

How many conflicts in the world right now are thanks to faith? The US is involved in a handful of them and is already invaded 2 counteries lately due to religion. But hey, the dead and wounded men and women over there fighting religion don't mean anything... They're just pawns because religion is really... positive!

Stories and pictures of ghosts begin before kindergarten. It is not something that can be hidden from them without major isolation. It is a part of virtually all civilizations.

Well, I understand in that case, but instead of claiming it as true, tell the child that people do not know if it's true, and that some people believe it, and some do it, because by doing this, you're leaving the child open to make her own decision if this is true or not.

Any fanatic belief is dangerous, not just religious ones. Some are brought up in total faith in a political party as if it were a god for example, that can do no wrong and make no real mistakes.

It is believing in any type of infallibility from a group of people or what they produce that is the real danger.

Yes true, so when the child finds pictures of ghost, she will probably be coming to you, and asking if it's real. If you claim it to be true, she will trust her parent and naively believe it, instead of doing that, tell the child that no one knows if they're real, and if you believe it, say it in an unsure matter, "I think they are but who knows". So then the child will be left with an open gateway, and so she'll make the decision. And even better if she doesn't ask you, because out of curiosity that means she's investigating herself and making her own hypothesis. All I'm saying is to give a child liberation to think, but unfortunately there are some fanatics that are close-minded and that everything they say is true, these parents are exceptionally dangerous, because out of their belief that everything they say is right, they will tell their children that it is true, or thath that is absolutely false not letting the kid think for himself/herself. In the case of these parents, I would advise to make their claims when their child is older and usually less naive.

How about just saying that scientists and others are studying the subject and start teaching what science is. I do not think anyone really thinks it is too early to start learning about that.

LOL, I think we're misunderstanding each other, because that's EXACTLY WHAT I'M SAYING. If they ask you tell them the TRUTH. Tell them it's UNKNOWN, and that nobody knows it's true and that crazy people in white trench coats are still investigating it, but to me that's not my definition of teaching, that's just giving assumption. It's never too early to teach science, because, difference is, science is not a belief, or unknown, it is proven fact. If science were a belief I would've said not to teach it at a young age, or claim it as true to a child at a young age, because it's a belief, not fact. You can also tell your child some hypothesis or assumption, or a belief if you want to, but if you're going to make a decision like that, don't state it as true, say you're UNSURE if it's true or not, that's a more open response. You're not contradicting me. I seem to have expressed myself incorrectly, and have forgotten to put that small detail in the 1st post. I'm`a add changes to it in a sec.

Nor vice-versa.

Why can one not just say "maybe" or "I don't know" if this is the case ?

My must we present the world as black and white -when it is not ?

heck yeah. with the amount of voices screaming at kids these days, their head is going to be filled with something. i have to make sure that it's going to be the truth. later in life he can decide what he wants, but for now I have to do my job.

And that is where you come in and explain. There is murder, poverty etc. too (media or on the street). It is your job to explain to the best of your abilities.

yes it is

exactly, and always begin the sentence with "I think..." don't make it seem as a fact.