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.
Interesting points made by all posters!! As a kid I was (physically) forced to attend church.Was mandated to watch religious speakers on tv and sit through hours of nightly bible classes at home,etc. By the time I reached 15 I told my mother that I wasn't going to church anymore.I refused to watch the tv programs and bible classes she conducted. I felt I was being drowned in religion and I began to hate every aspect of it. When I had children of my own;they,by their own choice,attended different churches with their friends. They went when they wanted to and discussed the sermons,etc. with me when they came home. I never forced or mandated any of my children to attend church. To this day I have yet to go back to church and I never will. I'm not saying that all kids will react as I did by having religion shoved down their throats but,on the other hand,I'm not saying they won't either....I am a firm believer that a young teenager or anyone else for that matter has every right to make their own choice!!!!
For some people, religion is a huge part of their identity and their sense of community, and it IS very important that their children follow their path. I don't think it's anyone else's place to sneer at such people for feeling that way, even if you can't identify with it. Their kid's rejection of their religion could be crushing to them. As so many have already pointed out, if their kid doesn't share those beliefs in adolescence, they're going to have issues to deal with, and this is something parents have probably had to deal with since some Ice Age teenager decided he wasn't going to pray to a carved-ivory pregnant fertility symbol anymore.
As members of a family, I guess we all have some power to crush each other. Such is love, I guess. From my point of view, I don't really have the right to put pressure on who my kids are thereby requiring them not to crush me. If you are requiring attendance under duress, your children have already rejected your religion. So it is hard to see the point.
In my opinion, the only thing you can really expect FROM your kids is that they strive to be the best them they can be.
It is a parents responsibility to see that their children are taught right from wrong,get an education,have manners,respect for themselves and others and we as parents can only keep our fingers crossed that our kids grow up to be upstanding hardworking citizens that we can be proud of...I have 5 Daughters that I am definitely proud of!!!
It is a parents responsibility to see that their children are taught right from wrong,get an education,have manners,respect for themselves and others and we as parents can only keep our fingers crossed that our kids grow up to be upstanding hardworking citizens that we can be proud of...I have 5 Daughters that I am definitely proud of!!!
Absolutely. But we cannot dictate or mandate what they believe.
I am so glad you posted this - I was thinking of starting a thread on the same thing! Do we really have to right to tell our children what to believe? After all, the point of many religions is faith, and faith is a personal learned thing. Once they are teenagers it is their job to figure out what they believe and think. I think it is more fair to say to them: "This is what I believe, and this is what the religion I follow teaches." And answer their questions honestly - there is nothing wrong with saying "I don't know."
For the record I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic schools, so I was in church every Sunday, Feast day, Holy Day of Obligation, funeral, wedding, First Communion, Confirmation, Baptism and Confession. While I received a great education and a pretty firm understanding of Christianity/Bible, I rejected Catholicism as a whole in my teens, and Christianity not long after.
I've been involved in debate for many years with a particular interest in religion and the real irony is that nobody will ever reject god/church/religion/Christianity unless they are raised in it. That's just a fact.
Now, people raised without religion may or may not "find" religion later in life, when they are an teen/adult. It may be temporary or it may last, everyone is different. But they don't reject anything without first experiencing it with an open mind. Those who never go down the religious path don't reject because they never accepted.
Most people in on here are against it due to personal negative experiences. They have all the right to speak up.
They do. It was a personal negative experience for me as well. I just like people to consider the opposing point of view. Parents who insist their children attend to church or synagogue aren't usually doing so because they are stupid or abusive. It goes deeper than that.
I am so glad you posted this - I was thinking of starting a thread on the same thing! Do we really have to right to tell our children what to believe?After all, the point of many religions is faith, and faith is a personal learned thing. Once they are teenagers it is their job to figure out what they believe and think. I think it is more fair to say to them: "This is what I believe, and this is what the religion I follow teaches." And answer their questions honestly - there is nothing wrong with saying "I don't know."
For the record I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic schools, so I was in church every Sunday, Feast day, Holy Day of Obligation, funeral, wedding, First Communion, Confirmation, Baptism and Confession. While I received a great education and a pretty firm understanding of Christianity/Bible, I rejected Catholicism as a whole in my teens, and Christianity not long after.
Well said. A larger problem may be the parents' overall lack of acknowledgment of the teenager as an individual with thoughts and beliefs of their own, and no longer a malleable young child.
Find a church that has good youth activities, whose youth-group stresses outdoor recreation, volunteering in the community, or volunteering on traveling work-trips.
Avoid a church that trains its children to proseletyze or defend narrow fundamentalist beliefs. Give your children the freedom to try different churches and to pick one that's comfortable to them - even if it's not yours.
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.
