Why are parents commissioned to teach their kids about god? (churches, atheist)
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Biblical passages such as Deuteronomy 11:19 has always been puzzling to me. Many Christians have used such passages as justification to drill their brand of Christianity into the heads of their children (without thought) as something noble. My question is, WHY are parents required to do this? Clearly, a parent will teach their children their flavor of belief and besides, isn't it telling that kids have to be TAUGHT god??? If, as some claim, belief in god is innate, but we suppress it because of our "evil nature," why aren't we left to discover god on our own, whenever and if ever?
If not the parents, who?
In the secular sense, who has control over the education of your children? You or the teachers at school?
If you answered, "the teachers," then you're guilty of shifting your parental responsibilities off onto a third party and denying that you are the ultimate authority.
Humans are born with a capacity for language, but it's still a good idea to speak to your baby in your own language and try to get them to speak it. They might develop some sense of "God" on their own without instruction, but perhaps it would just be the equivalent of babbling without any supervision or communication. (Yes I know "all theism is babbling", but still...)
Perhaps is the flaw in this statement. Perhaps you are correct, perhaps you are wrong. The statement does not stand on its own.
InsaneInDaMembrane asked... why aren't we left to discover god on our own, whenever and if ever?
That's an interesting question and one that I think probably has many psychological answers. In general, my guess is that parents who feel the need to pass on their religion to their kids do it because they have a strong emotional need for religion in their lives.
They feel that if they do not pass on their religious beliefs then they are leaving something out that would make their children vulnerable in life. They believe that they themselves would be missing an essential component in their lives, be it morality, kinship, etc., and that by not passing it on, they would not be fulfilling their parental responsibilities.
Parents also pass along many things that they have been conditioned to accept from their own parents, rightly or wrongly so. Spanking and physical abuse is one example. The things we see and hear from our parents are considered to be the truth and acceptable. Developing biases against other religions, from the things we hear our parents say, is another example.
That's not to say that we can't make up our own minds as we get older, however difficult that may seem. Many of us are able to reassess things in our lives that differ from what we may have been taught early on.
That's correct, I'm not sure. Anything is possible, including the possibility that god doesn't exist - a stance spiritual, religious (and therefore close minded) people will never take.
In the secular sense, who has control over the education of your children? You or the teachers at school?
If you answered, "the teachers," then you're guilty of shifting your parental responsibilities off onto a third party and denying that you are the ultimate authority.
Isn't it the same with religious instruction?
Sort of. Board of education members are elected by the parents. So, in a sense, the teachers are controlled by the parents. Parents have the ultimate authority to educate their children privately (in which case they're paying twice).
That's correct, I'm not sure. Anything is possible, including the possibility that god doesn't exist - a stance spiritual, religious (and therefore close minded) people will never take.
Not true. I'm completely willing to admit that God may not exist, and if he doesn't, it doesn't matter if I believe or not. It only matters if he does, so I believe for that reason alone.
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