CHILDREN DON’T NEED RELIGIOUS INDOCTRINATION
Religion supposes that if a child is not indoctrinated or religiously instructed by the religion something else will do it. How that is supposed to justify religion doing it is not explained!
Religion says that we are sinners and are thus slaves to
sin. It is said it may take a lifetime to become significantly less enslaved.
Religion sees sin as being full of promise but which lets you down in the end.
So sinning is you lying to yourself and about being drawn to something that
looks good but which is far from good. So sin conditions you. Sin is
conditioning. So the doctrine that we are all sinners ADMITS THAT OUR TENDENCY
TO BE CONDITIONED IS VIRTUALLY PATHOLOGICAL AND UNIVERSAL. That being the case
we must be extremely careful about how we deal with children and others who have
this tendency. But in fact we see religion caring very little about truth and
virtue and the emphasis is on making the child a Catholic or whatever.
We are all conditioned day by day by the influences and pressures around us. A
child is far more susceptible to conditioning than us adults. Religion
recognises this which is why religion considers it so important that it gets
children classed as members and makes sure they grow up thinking the religion is
true. Even if they become atheists later in life, there will always be some
traces of the brainwashing. For example, the ex-Christian might still feel huge
self-disgust with having sex.
The book Christianity is Not Great says, "We don't mean to force anyone to stop
paying cult and homage to their deities ... as long as public safety and human
rights are not infringed". But children are being harmed by being brought up as
Christians when they don't know about the violence commanded by God in the
Bible.
Religion if man-made will have some terrible elements among the good elements.
What about children who are conditioned to believe it all? It will haunt many of
them forever. Most of the unacceptable stuff is put there in childhood by those
who raise the child. If the child is raised in a faith that says there is
nothing in her that pleases God and that eternal torture in Hell is possible and
the child is given no chance to form an alternative view or if the child is told
to feel responsible for killing Jesus on the cross by her sins then not only are
the doctrines bad but the way they are presented is simply abusive. The child
was never allowed to make a choice.
Children just see pornography when they see nudity or
near-nudity. Christian psychiatrists say that too. So why are we showing films
of Jesus being nailed to a cross and his almost nude image hanging there dying?
Is that not hardcore pornographic snuff movie type stuff?
There is no need for teaching religion to a child. If anything the moral
principles that every system agrees on - be it Mormonism or Humanism or whatever
- should be taught. However, even morality should not be taught though many
would disagree. Controversial moral teachings like blood transfusions being
immoral and contraception being absolutely forbidden by God should not be and
there is no doubt that people should agree that this is so.
Parents should give good example and explain why they do the things they do.
This is letting the children teach themselves by observing their parents and
those around them. Children must not be told how to behave but must see good
example and its benefits. For example, if they see their mother refusing to get
angry but remaining diplomatic when somebody insults her they will learn from
that provided she explains why she did it.
To tell a child what to believe is an act of violence against that child for
they will feel they have to abide by rules whether they make sense or not. This
would result in very harmful conditioning that will haunt them destructively for
the rest of their lives. Nobody can obey rules they don’t understand or be asked
to do it without feeling their freedom is belittled. It makes them feel they are
stupid for they are being treated like they are stupid. That is one reason why
the doctrine that God does things and makes rules that seem very bizarre to us
is so cruel and harmful.
No conditioning is harmless. It is out to stop you being your own person. It is
out to make you live somebody else’s dream. If you believe in God then you are
living the dream of the religion that teaches you there is a God.
Children do not need religion like adults do (if adults need it at all!). They
have little interest in prayer and learning about God. This suggests that the
need for religion comes from the insecurity that surfaces as one is growing up.
INDOCTRINATION IS SECTARIANISM
Teaching a religion as the truth is blatant sectarianism which no state can
tolerate. There is no reason why one religion should be imbued into a child and
not another for they all differ and each one says the others are wrong.
Allowing a child to be conditioned by religion is pleasing the clergy and giving
them the advantage not God. This isn’t about God. It is about power and money.
Religion has no right to command parents to indoctrinate and have their children
indoctrinated. Religion has no right to use the public schools to indoctrinate
children. It is very irresponsible because it is plain that human beings in
general and especially children are too easily conditioned and taken advantage
of.
Religion says we sin a great great deal and need to repent every day. Religion
says that sin is a product of being conditioned by irrationality. If we are
indeed so irrational and easily conditioned then that makes it clear that
religion is consciously manipulating easy targets.
Conditioning a child to need the Church and its God makes the child fearful of
the loss of faith and leads to fundamentalism which thrives on the fear of
modernity and that on top of the secular agenda is to stamp religion out.
CONCLUSION
The clergy has manipulated parents and society to help them obtain new recruits.
This is not in the interest of the child. If the law will not stop this, then
society should make it unacceptable. Child protection has progressed in ways
that people never imagined would happen. It is time some unpleasant surprises
appeared for the clerical regime that seeks an unfair advantage over children.
Debate and integrity are vital but the problem with
people of faith is that often they mistake the brainwashing they got as children
and force of habit for faith. I think there are less people of faith in religion
and among its leadership that you would realise. If faith is good then what
passes largely for faith certainly is not. Real believers would see God as a God
of evidence and respect evidence so much that if it led them to atheism or
another religion they would comply. Belief should not be equated with closed
mindedness. Religion concentrates so much on indoctrinating children that
it seems that this is not really about instilling faith but making the children
think they have faith and to keep them trapped for life.
Religious Indoctrination is Child Abuse.
UN News - Children's right to freedom of religion or belief must be protected,
says UN expert
The United Nations expert on religious freedom is calling on all Governments
represented at the UN General Assembly “to respect religious practices by
children and their families and support families in fulfilling their role in
providing an enabling environment."
The "expert" Heiner Bielefeldt is a Catholic theologian. He says, "“The rights
of parents to freedom of religion or belief include their rights to educate
their children according to their own conviction and to introduce their children
to religious initiation rites.” Does that include Satanism or some religion that
kills animals for sacrifice such as Santeria? Reason says the parents should
share values about how to treat others with their children. That is what they
have the right to do. It is silly to imagine that parents have the right to tell
their children not to lie or steal or Satan will drag them down to Hell or Jesus
will send them there. There is no concern for a child's right to freedom from
religion who gravitates towards secular interests or spiritual as opposed to
religious ones.