Should Parents Raise Their Child(ren) Into a Religion?

Kurtni:

The difference being is that religion is a causation, where as atheism is not. My diet is not caused by atheism, my marriage was not caused by atheism, where as some Hindus consider their veganism to be directly caused by their religion. Where as atheism is a passive trait, religion is an active trait with active effects or consequences.

I don't see Atheism as a passive trait, you are actively rejecting religion. Okay, so you can say veganism is caused by their religion, but so is the Atheists' diet in that they can eat whatever they want. It is because they are Atheists that they can eat whatever they want. It's because they aren't Jewish, because they aren't Muslim and so on.

Kurtni:

I said, quote "Atheists are all very different," how could I be implying they're the "norm" when my entire post was about the lack of unity between atheists? That doesn't make sense.

I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say. Going back to your first point and the second quote, you said you have to 'adopt' this system of beliefs in order to be included. That suggests that everybody starts off Atheist (thus it being the 'normal' and 'right' set of beliefs) and then turns religious which is not true. Before you come to it, yes everyone is born an implicit atheist but as I said before, I'm talking about explicit atheists who have consciously rejected religion thus adopting their own beliefs that gods and such do not exist.

Kurtni:

The fact that individual religions are different doesn't matter. A kid being raised as a Baptist isn't affected by Muslim culture, but they are affected by Baptist culture and fundamentalism for example. Its not as simple as believing in God or not, but adopting an entire style of life based on the unsubstantiated beliefs of your parents.

Yes but a Baptist raised child is affected (although I suppose indirectly) in that they don't practise Muslim culture, the same way that an Atheist child doesn't practise Muslim culture.

Again, you can either see it as nobody 'adopts' their beliefs (unless they convert when they are old enough to make a conscious decision) or that everybody (except implicit atheists) adopt their beliefs. Religion did not come out of explicit Atheism or at least not in the minds of those who are religious.

I think it is okay to raise your kids in the same religion as you, but I do believe it is wrong forcing them into believing if they're not really into it. Parents are a huge influence and their beliefs usually mold into the kid's own but raising them into the parent's religion is no problem, they'll eventually find their own belief or remain in the religion they were taught.

JeremyTheThirteenth:

I think it is okay to raise your kids in the same religion as you, but I do believe it is wrong forcing them into believing if they're not really into it.

I agree with this.
I think that learning to understand yourself as being part of a certain religion can be helpful with identity formation. I had minimal exposure to religion, and went to a Christian church only a few times, and I feel like I'm missing a big part of religious culture because of it. I can research and try to combine spiritual ideals in order to establish a sense of spiritual belonging, but I don't feel like I'll ever be accepted into an organized religious group.

My grandma taught me to believe in a mix of the Christian God and reincarnation, and those lessons helped me form a very distinct sense of morality at a young age, and see a purpose in life. I am completely dedicated to psychology and science, but I don't think those religious ideas interfered with who I am as a person, my primary beliefs that developed through knowledge, or made me more naive and unrealistic. I think they actually served as a foundation on which I can ascribe purpose and hope.

So everyone seems to be inferring 'religion' to mean 'Christianity'. Does anyone here have a difference of opinion if someone wants to raise their kid Pagan or Satanist or Wiccan or something less conventional?

I personally think it's wrong to raise a kid as a Christian Scientist and deny them medical treatment.

I don't really agree with it when people bring up a child telling them that a certain religion is true. Of course, it's the parent's choice, and the child might turn out to change their beliefs, but religion affects critical thinking skills and distorts your perception of the world. In Islam and Catholicism, it's considered a sin to question the religious texts and I think that, that has a heavy impact on the child's critical thinking skills. It's called indoctrination for a reason.

I don't see anything wrong with raising a child up with a certain religion, however, you should also inform them of other religions and allow them to make their own decision as they get older.

I don't believe that religion itself is necessary for a child to grow up, but rather, some of the morals that go along with certain religions.

@ Rachel-Marie
Most religions encourage you to convert as many people as possible. Encouraging a child to make their own decisions is strongly discouraged when you grow up in the church. My parents FREAKED OUT when I tried to learn about other religions. They thought Harry Potter was witchcraft.

I'm just curious what morals you think go with which religions? My sister was raised Atheist and we have a lot of the same morals (I was raised Christian), so I'm just curious.

I'm Catholic, and my parents always taught us about other religions. They always told us that when we got older it would be our decision if we continued in the faith or not. I think that's how it should be.

And I'm not saying that people without a religion don't have morals, sorry, that part came out a little wrong.

I think that, no you don't have to but, it's the parents choice.
Because a parent is the one that makes the rules or no rules, and you eventually get old enough and then you can decided whatever the heck you want.

So my opinion is it's the parents choice. Now when a kid does get old enough and decides I don't want this, I want this or whatever, then the parent shouldn't say they can't.

I also don't believe it destroys critical thinking for example an atheist believe in only the natural, and if anything supernatural is put in front of them they usually go for the natural answer to it.
Same for a religious person it goes both ways wether you believe in something or not...

I practice Wicca, but other than that I'm not what you would call 'religious'. I'm not gonna shove any certain religion down my daughter's throat. When she's old enough, she can choose what she wants to believe.

Well parents can do whatever they want to teach their kids things. My sister is agnostic and my family was raised Catholic. We all can change.

So to answer the question, yes. When there is basic values of a religion, kids can explore that religion. They can see if they like it and choose differently when they want to.

Also, some families are very religious, so there's nothing you can really do to stop them.

@ treat02
A very religious family in the US that just killed their second child using faith healing and denying medical care was sentence to prison time.

So maybe there is something we can do to stop certain extremists.

@ dru is beautiful.
I agree, about stopping people like that. But normal non-murderous parents cannot be stopped. And those parents that do things like killing their own child can't exactly be stopped. I mean, we can't stop murderers before the commit their first murder. I just don't see how we can stop parents from spreading beliefs to their own children, even if they believe in things like that. Obviously we know killing your child is wrong, but I have a feeling if the US did anything about it, bad things would happen. As much as people protest against it, there's not much we can do about it without creating a big drama.

Personally, I think it's fine to raise a kid up in a religion, but I don't think it's right to force the child into staying in the religion if s/he doesn't want to.

@ treat02
The parents I'm talking about had already committed one murder.

Raising your child into a religion can be damaging depending on what beliefs you try to force on them along with that religion. It is entirely possible, for example, to raise a child as a Christian and yet not shove certain beliefs-such as homophobia, which is extremely prevalent in some denominations-down their throats. Also, encouraging them to make their own choices is, to me, pretty important. You shouldn't be able to make the decision regarding someone's immortal soul; that's theirs and theirs alone. The problem stems from when the child starts going outside of the religion because, to put it simply, quite a few parents freak out.

I think its fine to raise your child in the religion that you were brought up in however, don't follow the "old school" rules. It may sound contradictory when I say it but, I mean it's fine to raise your child to believe in a God or whatever it is you believe but don't go around hating gay people because it's "in the bible". I grew up Catholic, went to a Catholic grade school, and went to church every Sunday. I didn't grow up hating people or talking down against anybody. Thanks to my parents, I have that "well-rounded education" where we never took everything literally out of the bible. As I got older, I became more exposed to different religions. My parents were fine with me exploring other religions, getting a better understanding of what other people believe so that I'm not sheltered. That is what other parents need to allow there child to do as they get older. Give them the space to study different beliefs so that they make that decision for themselves. Nowadays, because of personal things, although I will identify openly, more or less, as Catholic, I think I lean more towards being a deist. You should be able to make that decision as you get older without any pressure.

I personally don't think a child should be raised in religion. Maybe when they're older, discuss that there are a lot of different religions and that some people believe some things and others believe another. However, I do think religion can be seriously damaging. We always hear about how violence in TV or books and stuff is 'harmful' to a child, yet not one of those people steps forward to maybe discuss how telling a child that they'll burn in hell if they screw up is even more damaging.

Which, they do openly say things like that in churches on Sunday if Hell is being discussed. Also, I mean, let's not kid ourselves, the bible is not kid friendly. The story that's frequently repeated to children is the story of Noah's ark, and that story is the story where God goes nuts and massacres the entire planet. Another one of the most commonly repeated stories from adults to children is the story of Jesus.

The baby Jesus part is fine, but let's all remember that the story that is the basis for the Christian religion is a guy being brutally whipped, forced to drag a heavy cross down a street, nailed to said cross and then stabbed in front of people. Oh and three days later he rises from the dead. Am I saying people should never hear these stories? Absolutely not, but I'm not sure how we can look at those stories and think that it's appropriate to tell them to kids.

No, why on earth would making your kids believe your myths be a good thing? That is like raising your kids to hate Sea-hawks or to be a Republican simply because you feel it is right.