A parent's choice?

[Acriku]

Teach them at the age where they won't consider it with thought and just go along, or teach them at a mature age where they can consider the options?

TMA many atheists do not become atheists as an act of rebelling. There are those who do, but they don't stay atheists for that reason for long, unless they are a child their whole lives.

[Elite47]

But teaching is a form of persuation. If your child was persuaded into a specific belief, he didn;t come to that conclusion by himself. If u wanted to bring religion into your childs life, i would teach about religions in general... NOT a specific one. Thats just setting the kid up to be persuaded to that specific belief.

[TMA_1]

sorry gob, I only meant the beginning part about how many atheists tend to be rebellious teenagers. that should clear it up kinda.

Anyways about this stuff, too much laxity in our western societies have made it impossible to be a respectable father in other ways than the norm. Lately there has been a lot of "open mindedness" and "tolerance" teaching. This will only lead to deluted and homogenized children. It is pretty obvious that children need structure. You may not respect how I view raising children, but your views go back only a few decades. I hate to see the test tube children you foster in the next couple of generations, I predict that society will not benefit from it.

Also acriku, keep your qualms about me outside of Dune2k. I can tell you are attacking me even more based on past instances and how you are acting now. You did the same thing to people before that you talked about to me, so just temper it a bit please.

[Acriku]

My post was not biased in any way. Please do not disregard my post because I posted it, and not ACE or GZA.

[TMA_1]

no not at all, and why would I disregard theres? dont jump to conclusions. its very dangerous and leads down to the path of ignorance.

if children dont have some sort of structure, and arent raised in a pattern, then they will come up with their own rules. This is very well founded in psychology. You need to train a child at early age the basics of every important part of future development. This isnt done in a tyranical matter, or in a loose one either. By giving a child too much leeway, they will take it and come up with their own rules. These rules they create are chaotic because they are patterned after anything they find directly interesting to their own ideals. This could be great, but most of the times a child will learn to take ideals from things that should never be taught to a child.

[Acriku]

I said do not disregard mine, while you regard ACE's and GZA's if you read it carefully.

You don't have to teach them religion, like many here have said - teach them morality (which is one of the ways morality continues to form as I've said in another thread). Morality can stand without religion.

[Gobalopper]

If I goto church, something a large majority of Christians do, I'm not going to leave my children at home. I'm not going to force them into my chosen religion when they are old enough to make up their own minds either. If my child decides at some point to not be a Christian I'm not going to hate them for it.

While my children are growing up I am going to teach them my own values and those I have from my parents and I see no reason why that is a bad thing. Why is it a bad thing for parents to teach their children? Now forcing your children to accept your views is wrong and almost always backfires especially among teenagers.

[TMA_1]

yes, wish I could have stated it that way Gob. but no, I had to do it the old stupid Titus way.lol ;)

[Elite47]

I would ask them if they wanted to go to church. If they did, then good. If they didn't, i would ask what they would rather do(like sports, non-religious sunday school or something else that is constructive).

Im saying you should not try to teach your child one specific thing, but teach them about the whole idea. Like teaching about religions, not chrisianity specifically.

EDIT:

its like if u start talking about and teaching your child christianity. now the chances of him becoming christian rather than something else are much higher. He was swayed closer to christianity, but farther away from other possabilities.

Im not saying this is always a bad thing, but i know i would personally rather be left to find out on my own what i believe, rather than be influenced. I mean i used to think i was a christian just because lots of ppl are christian, and my family is somewhat christian. its because i grew up around it. If i woudlve grown around many religions early on, i wouldve found out i didnt actually believe in God a lot sooner than i did(only a couple years ago).

However,you can never go wrong teaching a child morals.

[Acriku]

Teaching them one religion all of their lives is a passive way of forcing it on them. Especially when you teach them this religion when they are impressionable. What I would do, is teach them all about science if they want, and morality (knowledge is power). When they are old enough to make their own decisions, I can tell them about religions, and other options, such as naturalism or atheism. But sometimes a parent can't help the child's peers, and sometimes those peers influence the child's decisions.

[TMA_1]

thats cool, but I have to agree with gob on the fact that it is not wrong at all to bring your little child to church. I think its great.

[Elite47]

its not great to grow up thinking youre a christian when one day u finally figure out u never truly believed that(u just think u did).

[TMA_1]

well if you raised your child right, they wouldnt have that problem. I have known people (some of them are my friends) who have had that same problem. they grew up "christians" but never really believed in the first place. it is up to the parent to be mature and understand how children work. all and all, it isnt about faith in God, its about how you raise a child in general.

[Elite47]

point is... the only reason i thought i was a christian is because of my environment. My mom never told me i was christian, i never went to church. I just flat out thought i was christian for no apparant reason other than i wasn't old enough to figure out what i believed for myself. If i would have been educated about ALL religions then i would have realized i dont believe in a God a lot earlier.

All it takes is like a picture of God on the wall in your house, to influence a child that it should believe in God. just like if Buddha was on the wall, i would've probably thought i was buddhist.

[SurlyPIG]

"Actually I've seen a lot of kids who have grown up in a religious household throw it away when they get older."

True, but that doesn't mean all will, or even a majority. I guess it really depends on how they were introduced to the religion, rather than what the religion was. I would think that if you teach a child your religion, and nothing else of other religions or philosophies like theism, but don't force it on them and always say it's their choice, they would be very likely to be a part of that same religion. I would also think that if you forced it on them they would almost certainly question it, rebel against it etc. People want to have options. They may not want to take them at all, but they want them. If they don't have the option of joining another religion or leaving their own, they will probably fight for that option, and since they faught for it, they'll probably take it.

I think the only wrong here would be forcing a religion on a child. If it works, they'll be a part of that religion for all the wrong reasons. They never had a choice! If it doesn't work and they rebel and 'quit' their religion, that would also be for all the wrong reasons.

Other than that, I don't think there's really a right or wrong, here. There are drawbacks to each approach that are impossible to weigh against each other, I guess each parent must tiptoe this line to the best of their judgement. I can see why a lot of inter-faith couples split up over these kinds of things when they have kids. On the one hand, you want the kid to have the same morals and values as you. Morals and values are a part of religion. On the other hand, I don't think I like the idea of Muslim children in the middle-east learing from their Shiek in their Mosque that a man is worth two women. You can't really pick and choose which religions can be taught generation to generation and which cant, it's hypocritical. On the other hand, if parents can't raise their kids the way they want, who will? The government? That would definately suck, and TMA's nightmare of a conglomerate society would come true.

Personally, I would actively teach my kids values first and foremost. I'd passively teach them about all kinds of religion, or lack thereof, and let them decide what best fits with their values.

I would definately teach them not to hate any religion, or be biased against them, though. I mean, just because you're not Hindu doesn't mean you won't enjoy Yoga or become a vegetarian or anything, so it's good to keep a relatively open mind in that respect.

[Caid Ivik]

When you have your first child, for those who are not yet fathers, will you immediately push your religion onto the child when s/he is young enough? Or will you teach it toleration, and teach him/her many different beliefs of the world, and allow him/her to reach her/his own conclusion?

For myself, I would to the latter. Looking back, I would rather have my parents letting me choose my beliefs, rather than being brainwashed (which is what children are being done with anything that they cannot understand but are demanded to believe it, like Santa).

If you already have a child(ren), then by all means tell us what you did do :)

I would raise them with all values I was raised. Theological problems will they seek for themselves. Some things of religion aren't too important. Important is to live for those values - morale, responsibility, love and hope - and let they are in any religion they want, these things they must have always in mind. The problem of "Santa" isn't actual in Slovakia, we receive gifts straightly from Jesus, what can be easily explained by God's creations ;D