Ravenstar Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 I'm all for the "some people believe..." approach. This^^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolaida Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Ugh, yes, I'd say it really distorts the child's worldview. If you do stuff wrong, it's not just about how it was wrong, but about how you not only disappointed your parents but also Jesus. And you don't get help for disorders you might have, just told it's in your head and prayed for. You could have parents where they believe their will IS God's will and will manipulate you to believe so. Also, about Sunday school, some of the most damaging stuff done to me was IN Sunday School by overly-enthusiastic teachers. I happened to be the oldest in not only my family, but generally in the sunday school at the church I went to so it was constantly drilled into me that I was an example to others. A Sunday School teacher really triggered my OCD about the ceaseless praying. I didn't suffer from scrupulosity until that teacher went on about how disappointed she was that I wasn't praying ceaselessly and in my "walk" I should be at that stage by now. Never mind that I was only eleven. My parents were bad in that aspect, too. It's always about the "walk" and where you're at with the lord. I'd never put a child through that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilith666 Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Even I can remember a catholic prayer book of sorts, that had a artist's rendering of a person laying on a grate with fires burning underneath them, to suggest purgatory. What kind of shit is that to show to a toddler? Why is it I remember something like that? Must've made a serious impression. Ruth Bell Graham's Xmas book for children, One Wintry Night, describes several biblical myths. One illustration shows Samson's face after the Philistines had removed his eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RipVanWinkle Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Any activity can be child abuse if taken to extreme. But with respect to religion, in America the atmosphere is such that it would have to be very extreme for it to become child abuse. But it has happened. Think of the mormuns and their former practice of polygamy. There was a group that separated from the main church and continued to practice polygamy. The head of one of these groups was convicted of, I don't remember----statutory rape? Polygamy? child abuse? incest? I don't remember the specifics. I'm sure some of you will. But these were extreme cases where a man's daughter would become his wife and similar outrageous things. Do you remember the book and movie: The Cider House Rules? The written rules were one thing; the real rules were unwritten and a part of the culture. That's what it's like with respect to child abuse in the context of religion. The written statutes say what the legislature decides. The enforcement, well, that's another matter. However, it was decided by the Supreme Court years ago that medical treatment of life threatening illnesses of minors could not be refused on the grounds of freedom of religion, which the Christian Scientists contended. But nevertheless, abuse is extremely hard to prove if it is part of a religion's practice. And the reason it's hard to establish is because of the culture and the judges' response to the culture. My wife and I helped a 14 year old boy years ago who's mother had mental problems to such and extent that she would wake her son up at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning to read bible verses to him. She also woke him up to tell him motorcycles where being raced on the roof of her home and a lot of other bizarre behaviors. She was mentally unbalanced. When this behavior was brought to the attention of the authorities they did nothing to remove custody from her, which is what they are required to do in the case of child abuse. It took many months, but the court finally placed custody with father from whom she had hidden the boy for years. But the only reason the Court had that case before it was because the father filed for a change of custody. Otherwise, nothing would have changed. I know this is not a perfect case to show the impact of religion on the result. But the crazy bible reading in the middle of the night had no impact on the state agency. bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Babylonian Dream Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 If you let your husband or wife say the things to your children that you let God, replace "God" with "husband" or "wife", you'd get your kids taken away in a heartbeat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SquareOne Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 It's intellectual abuse at the very least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SquareOne Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 "God will torture you forever if you don't accept Jesus." <<< Acceptable statement that society must respect. "I will torture you forever if you don't accept Jesus." <<< Unacceptable statement punishable by imprisonment. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burt_Lemur Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 I voted YES, although I know that my parents had me baptized into the Catholic Church as an infant thinking of it as the best thing they could do for me from their indoctrinated perspective. My parents were good people who wanted the best for me. But my hope for the future of humankind is that parents will show that they want the best for their offspring by NOT having them baptized into any faith at an age where an infant has no life experience and no way of being involved in the decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Endemoniada Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 I voted yes. I certainly believe that pushing a fear based religion, such as many forms of Christianity, is tantamount to child abuse. I am willing to respect the right of a religious parent to teach their kids about that religion, but I do not believe the 1st Amendment should give them a carte blanche as it were impede their education or to abuse them in any way. The trouble with Christianity and other religions like it are that it is very difficult to avoid doing that without going the route of the UU church (which would be lovely, imo). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milesaway Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 that's why when i have kids, i will let them decide for themselves if religion is something they wanna get involved in the way my mom did for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrianime Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 that's why when i have kids, i will let them decide for themselves if religion is something they wanna get involved in the way my mom did for me. Just make sure nobody sells them religion as the coolest thing in the world before you get a chance to let them think for themselves. Gullible kids will eat that crap right up. It's one thing for an adult to venture into religion out of choice (which is a shame). It's another thing for a kid to be introduced to and sold religion before the kid fully has the capability to skepticize, ask questions, and imagine other alternatives (even if they are also just guesses). I was going to a site called atheistparents.org before. Atheists have had trouble with family members, or even community members essentially converting their young children. Imagine a 5 year old coming home strongly convinced his parents are going to hell? It's effed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milesaway Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 that's why when i have kids, i will let them decide for themselves if religion is something they wanna get involved in the way my mom did for me. Just make sure nobody sells them religion as the coolest thing in the world before you get a chance to let them think for themselves. Gullible kids will eat that crap right up. It's one thing for an adult to venture into religion out of choice (which is a shame). It's another thing for a kid to be introduced to and sold religion before the kid fully has the capability to skepticize, ask questions, and imagine other alternatives (even if they are also just guesses). I was going to a site called atheistparents.org before. Atheists have had trouble with family members, or even community members essentially converting their young children. Imagine a 5 year old coming home strongly convinced his parents are going to hell? It's effed up. don't worry, i won't let that happen. their crap won't fly with me. what's really fucked up is that they know the gullible will buy into it, especially kids. they know kids don't know enough to question what they're being told. they know kids trust adults, and they take complete advantage of it. fortunately the xtian "friends" i thought i had are all now long gone from my life, so they won't be an issue. the friends i had for years are still around. turns out our lives and jobs took us in separate directions for awhile, and now we're playing catch up. i can't imagine a kid coming home terrified of something like that. any adult who'd put that in a kid's mind is sick. it's one thing to do it to another adult who's in a bad place in life, bit doing it to a kid is despicable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts