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Should We choose our Childs Religion?


Sherapy

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In my family this is a big deal, Should we as parents choose our childs religion???

Do we do more harm or good by this practice???? For me I Certainly express and live a viewpoint which very clearly gives an example of my awareness of God?

As a parent I know that for a time I am my childs definition of all things, until they begin to think for themselves ( We refer to that as Rebellion) As parents if our child chooses to find their own path to God should we insist they see God in our way or allow them to see God in their own way? Do our children have our okay to question our values?

I'd apprciate your perspective on this whether you have children or not.

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to some extend a parent should,but who are they to decide what religion is right for them?

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I would say that you should express your own views on religion to your child, but don't punish them if they disagree or have their own views. Preaching good morals (Love, tolerance, mercy, and other religion-neutral morals that are widely esteemed), and letting them use these morals to find what they believe may be the best path for you to take.

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my parents raised me catholic. I am atheist. This doesn't mean that my mother loves me any less, To quote from Batman, "its not what you are inside, its what you do that defines you". It shouldn't matter what path your children take, as long as it makes them happy. You are their mother and with motherhood comes unconditional love. Show them that you Love them no matter what, and you will find that perhaps they will follow in your footsteps.

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We should raise them to be aware of religion. All of it.. every stem of it. let them make an informed choice later on and support what they choose.

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absolutly... exposure is good. Parents shouldn't feel that their religion is like a "legacy" that must be continued with their children.

Children should be exposed to all sects, religious and non, so that they may make an informed decision at the right time in life.

Think of it this way... you never make an uninformed decision before purchasing a car, why would you make an uninformed decision when choosing a religion? A car will deteriorate after a few years, but what you choose as your faith will be with you for your life.

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Teach him about God himself instead of presenting him/her with religion then the rest will be up to him/her, we can't choose other ppl's own path, after someone knows what God is about it's up to us to follow his path or not.

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We should let our children decide who and what they want to follow.

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How can you let them decide if you never teach them. Teach them while their young then once they get older they are on their own then they decide I say.

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Well they wouldn't know about religion unless we told them, but what if we gave them sources or people from a number of religions and let them here what each religion is like. But we shouldn't tell them what to believe, especially if it isn't in their wish to do so.

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What I plan on doing with my children decide. I was raised Catholic, baptised and crap all when I was 5, but I more follow the Buddist religion.

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a parents role is to protect and educate.

in this sense a parent should open as many doors as possible to a child and guide them on thier path. teach spirituality and religion the same way one teaches all other topics. teach each one as part of the greater framework. teach them all within their historical and cultural contexts.

if you don't have any background in the areas it is your opportunity to learn as well. learn with your child as well as teach your child, and never be afraid of having your child teach you something as well.

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Does this not come down to whether faith is a matter of choice or not. This is not an unimportant question. For my part, faith is wholly outside the realms of choice, and you can no more choose to believe something than you can choose your ethnicity. If you believe that faith is 'unchoosable', then what point in advocating one denomination over another; if you believe it is 'choosable' then why 'choose' for your child?

Devil's advocate, I'm playing. wink2.gif

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I do think there's a lot to be said for instilling the virtues of religion - caring for others, turning the other cheek, sanctity of life - in children, but not that they should be indoctrinated with one particular strand, one particular church, until they're old enough to make their own choices.

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Like someone told here earlier, tell your kids about your God. Teach them and show them what kind he is. But leave them and yourself open-minded. In time they will choose by themselves, what suits themselves the best,e be it Buddha or Allah.

Most important is that you support them, whatever they choose (as long as it isnt Satan, worshipping evil shows they have something wrong in their head).

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I'm a stay at home Mom, lots of kids running in and out lots of diversity I live in Southern California, (not saying we are more diverse ) Kids are talking God let me tell you I am amazed at the things I hear, so unless you live on an island religion is a very common thread that runs through society, The main thing I hear ( kids aged 5 through 13) Church is boring, all of my kids friends believe in Hell,

Does it matter more that my child is brought up in the ways of the lord as specified by the Bible, or that my child is a good perosn and that in the end it only matters (to you) the person you have been?? My Dad takes the first position, I the second. Why would I need to use fear as a means to teach, why isn't love enough> Doesn't Love always prevail, Shouldn't I teach my child to see the perfection in all things? Or is that not my place but religions job, How could religion do a better job than me? these are the issues in my family? Any thoughts my friends.

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"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink"

The same principle applies here. You should show your kids what religion you practice, but let them decide. Myself, I'm raising my kids up Christian, but ultimately it's their choice if they want to follow or not.

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Of course it matters more that that your child will be a good person, but you can use religion and God to help them become a good person. I don't mean that going to church is important. I mean that showing that God loves them and that they are very important to him and you, you give them self-confidence. There's a lot of bad people there who believe in God as well and are very religious. So religion and God alone don't do any good.

You don't have to use fear as a mean to teach them. Sometimes it's just easier. Like telling them to wash their teeth, otherwise the boogey man will come and take all your teeth. Or you could just tell them the plain truth. That teeth will rot away if you wont wash them. Basically it's the same. It's just showing them the reality. There's always consequences for every action.

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if you beleive spirituality is a personal thing, then you should teach both "what YOU see as perfection" and as many tools as you can to allow your child to find his/her own view of perfection.

when it comes to things like religous texts, i say teach that "some people think of this book as...., but i see it as...." above all else it is important to teach an understanding between "my view" and "the view".

teach spirituality (whatever that means to you) separate from the mythos of all the religions. teach what religions are in the social context (what role they have played in all of man's societies). teach the common themes of the religions for in these themes you find the nature of man.

be careful with subjective terms such as "good person". teach how they are relative and not absolute (when the child is ready).

traits that allow for the functioning and success of the child in the world are what are important, not where they come from.

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Doccy you hit on something big here, that I have even over looked, there are Universal laws put into place that for every action there is a consequence. You also said "sometimes its just easier to use fear to get them to do something, See I want my kids to do things because its easier to be Good and I'm concerned (very )that religion uses Fear as its main teaching tool. Straight across the board some more or less than the others but nonetheless Fear is the main idea. (I am not bashing you I hope you do not take this that way) So can we agree that maybe experience may be the best teacher and that if I focus on cultivating my childs Gooodness I may have an effective way to teach, even though my Dad totally Disagree's?????

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Sure we can agree. It's you who's the mother anyway. Mothers with a healthy mind know best how to raise their kids. You are an important example to them. So be careful what you will do or say in front of them. Beat them and they will beat their close ones. Show them love and they will show love to their close ones. That's the way it works.

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Doccy, that was very simply and beautifully put, I don't know if you have children but if you do you are an amazing Mom and if not you will be an amazing Mom.

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I do think there's a lot to be said for instilling the virtues of religion - caring for others, turning the other cheek, sanctity of life - in children, but not that they should be indoctrinated with one particular strand, one particular church, until they're old enough to make their own choices.

699837[/snapback]

Pro 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

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"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink"

The same principle applies here.  You should show your kids what religion you practice, but let them decide.  Myself, I'm raising my kids up Christian, but ultimately it's their choice if they want to follow or not.

699909[/snapback]

Well said TaintedDoughnuts, Well said! thumbsup.gif

I couldn't have said it any better!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm Catholic, but I haven't practiced my religion for some time now. I drifted from the church, because I have views and beliefs that differ from the teachings of the church; so that's one of the reasons that I haven't attended Mass in a long time.

But I'll always be Catholic, it's just that I'm not a very good practicing one - at this time.

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"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink"

The same principle applies here.  You should show your kids what religion you practice, but let them decide.  Myself, I'm raising my kids up Christian, but ultimately it's their choice if they want to follow or not.

699909[/snapback]

Well said TaintedDoughnuts, Well said! thumbsup.gif

I couldn't have said it any better!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm Catholic, but I haven't practiced my religion for some time now. I drifted from the church, because I have views and beliefs that differ from the teachings of the church; so that's one of the reasons that I haven't attended Mass in a long time.

But I'll always be Catholic, it's just that I'm not a very good practicing one - at this time.

700545[/snapback]

I was too. Until i found out I can talk to the father without a priest! It is awesome to talk to the father without a human claiming he can and I can't!

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