Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If your child is so frightened by what this other child tells him, perhaps it’s time to remove said child as a friend? Not every kid is a positive influence; and if your grandchild is that terrified, some sort of action should be taken.
Maybe the real and better answer is that children should not be taught that they could be doomed by a terrorist god who will send them to an internal lake of fire if they don't worship him. That sounds to me like just about any abusive relationship one hears about.
"Honey, you know I love you, but if you don't haul your butt down here this minute and give me sex, I'll pound you into a pulp". What's the difference between that and teaching your child that they will be eternally punished for not honoring their parent's god or religion?
As I mentioned, I give the evangelical parents credit as they immediately took steps to address their children from any further discussion of religion with my grandson. But it is their religion I blame, for what it teaches.
Maybe the real and better answer is that children should not be taught that they could be doomed by a terrorist god who will send them to an internal lake of fire if they don't worship him. That sounds to me like just about any abusive relationship one hears about.
"Honey, you know I love you, but if you don't haul your butt down here this minute and give me sex, I'll pound you into a pulp". What's the difference between that and teaching your child that they will be eternally punished for not honoring their parent's god or religion?
As I mentioned, I give the evangelical parents credit as they immediately took steps to address their children from any further discussion of religion with my grandson. But it is their religion I blame, for what it teaches.
The difference is - pounding someone into a pulp is a crime. Teaching children a prayer is not. What do you suggest? Go in with a SWAT team and remove kids from any religious home?
Location: As of 2022….back to SoCal. OC this time!
9,297 posts, read 4,570,402 times
Reputation: 7613
Quote:
Originally Posted by normstad
As I mentioned, I give the evangelical parents credit as they immediately took steps to address their children from any further discussion of religion with my grandson. But it is their religion I blame, for what it teaches.
Lol...so, basically the parents handled it & the kids are still friends?
The difference is - pounding someone into a pulp is a crime. Teaching children a prayer is not. What do you suggest? Go in with a SWAT team and remove kids from any religious home?
As a society, we have within the space of little more than a generation, gone from virtually everyone supporting corporal punishment, including in school, to it becoming at the very least viewed as aberrant, and many now view it as criminal.
Similarly, we as a society can, and I suggest should, dissuade the teaching of religious beliefs, until such time a child is an adult, or at the very least, has enough cognitive ability as demonstrated by being able to understand basic geometry and algebra, which demonstrates some grasp of logical thinking. This is not an overnight project, but I see the likelihood of it occurring organically substantially more likely now than 10 years ago.
The point is, leave your religion in your home, your head and your place of worship. If you are indoctrinating your children, ensure they keep their thoughts in the same constraints. Religion has no place in the public sphere; it damages innocent people, it causes 7 year old grandchildren to have nightmares because the beliefs are discussed publicly. The right of freedom of religion stops the moment the exercise of that right affects others negatively. There is no excuse
The point is, leave your religion in your home, your head and your place of worship. If you are indoctrinating your children, ensure they keep their thoughts in the same constraints. Religion has no place in the public sphere; it damages innocent people, it causes 7 year old grandchildren to have nightmares because the beliefs are discussed publicly. The right of freedom of religion stops the moment the exercise of that right affects others negatively.
Absolutely - religion of any kind belongs in the home. It has no place in education, government, etc. That said, we don’t belong in other people’s homes to ‘govern’ what is taught - except where it’s a matter of law and safety. A child telling your grandson something which frightened him does not qualify.
The common prayer...…..
"Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray to God my soul to take."
How the ***** could that not scare a young undeveloped mind'
Not to excuse it, as I agree its' very wrong, but it never frightened me. In my experience, people vary a great deal, even as children, in their vulnerability to such notions, just in the same way that some people won't lose sleep over an HP Lovecraft tale and others will.
My daughter was traumatized by the story of Rumplestilskin when she was in first grade, as she was terrified that some ugly little man might creep into her room and take her from her family. She was, so far as I know, the only child in the class who was thusly traumatized, but I did ask them to tone it way down, bearing in mind that any child under the age of 10 has challenges separating fantasy from reality. Something that you'd think professional educators would be well aware of. So it's not just fundamentalist hellthreat that can traumatize a child.
How didI handle it? Like everything else, I just intellectualized the matter when it was presented to me a few weeks shy of my 6th birthday. While it was true that I was worthy of eternal perdition, there was a way out, which was to accept Jesus. So I ticked that check box and moved on. Easy-peasy.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
