Religious Ranting
3 September 2011 00:04![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mimi_sardiniaFor those who don't feel like reading a rant about modern society and religion, I have included a cut, so you don't have to read. I just need to put this somewhere so I can get it out of my system.
So recently the subject of raising a child ina religion has come up on TV. It's probably not a surprise it came up on Can of Worms, an Aussie TV show that is specifically about tackling tricky subjects (and doing it in a fun game show format), but it just reminded me of something that niggles at me.
The problem I have is with the idea that people should raise their children with no religion at all and let them decide when they're older.
In my opinion, that's a load of slag.
It sounds to me like a recipe to raise children as atheists.
I have always been of the opinion that the best idea is to raise a child with a discerning mind, then no matter if they are raised in a church or not, when they are older, they can choose to believe or not to believe.
I was raised in a church, and to this day, I have yet to find anything I believe makes more sense to me than what I learned in Sabbath School (Sunday school for a Saturday-observing church).
Of course, this goes both ways, someone raised in an atheist household has the right to make up their own mind as they grow older, they are just as likely to choose to believe in God as someone raised in a church is to not believe.
The part that really erks me is the underlying implication that people who are in a church shouldn't raise their children in the beliefs they have. The child will decide when they grow up, just as those hypothetical children raised with no specific religion will decide.
I think the real issue is parents raising thoughtful, open-minded children, allowing them to make their own choices as they grow up, and accepting those choices when their adult children make them.
My mother would probably be a bit sad and upset if one of us three totally left the SDA church, but I think she would eventually accept it in favour of still having some sort of relationship with her children. After all, she did pretty much that with her brother.
So recently the subject of raising a child ina religion has come up on TV. It's probably not a surprise it came up on Can of Worms, an Aussie TV show that is specifically about tackling tricky subjects (and doing it in a fun game show format), but it just reminded me of something that niggles at me.
The problem I have is with the idea that people should raise their children with no religion at all and let them decide when they're older.
In my opinion, that's a load of slag.
It sounds to me like a recipe to raise children as atheists.
I have always been of the opinion that the best idea is to raise a child with a discerning mind, then no matter if they are raised in a church or not, when they are older, they can choose to believe or not to believe.
I was raised in a church, and to this day, I have yet to find anything I believe makes more sense to me than what I learned in Sabbath School (Sunday school for a Saturday-observing church).
Of course, this goes both ways, someone raised in an atheist household has the right to make up their own mind as they grow older, they are just as likely to choose to believe in God as someone raised in a church is to not believe.
The part that really erks me is the underlying implication that people who are in a church shouldn't raise their children in the beliefs they have. The child will decide when they grow up, just as those hypothetical children raised with no specific religion will decide.
I think the real issue is parents raising thoughtful, open-minded children, allowing them to make their own choices as they grow up, and accepting those choices when their adult children make them.
My mother would probably be a bit sad and upset if one of us three totally left the SDA church, but I think she would eventually accept it in favour of still having some sort of relationship with her children. After all, she did pretty much that with her brother.
