Religion

I think that everyone should be free to choose what religion they want to follow when they reach an age to do so. Many religions recognise that, before a certain age, a person is not intellectually able to make personal choices and, as a result, the Roman Catholic Church (and many other Christian churches) have a ceremony of Confirmation, the Jewish religion has Barmitzvah and so on. Ideally, every child should have an education which introduces them to the concept of religion and to the beliefs and customs of other people, teaches them tolerance for other people's beliefs and the freedom to choose their own path. Unfortunately, most religions by nature are NOT really tolerant. Nearly every religion implicitly believes itself to be 'the best' or 'the only true' religion and so religious education by members of that religion (including the parents, of course) is inevitably biased. Children will tend, therefore, to either follow their parents' religion or to reject it (and perhaps join another or follow none at all) at a certain age. This rejection of one's parents' values is a natural (but illogical) step in becoming a person in one's own right. It is the beginning of a (healthy) need to question and test all values and hopefully arrive at a reasoned choice for one's own life. Sadly, few people ever really reach the stage of a genuine logical choice (partly because most religion is based on a basic illogicality - 'faith'), so they will either blindly follow the religion they have been educated in or spend many years testing and searching for a set of rules and beliefs that they feel comfortable with. -------------- With regard to the point that Stary1 raised (that this might be considered a 'poll type' question under MyLot's Guidelines). MyLot is REALLY all about encouraging and learning the 'art' of discussion (in my own humble opinion, after having been a member for more years than I care to count) and a big part of initiating a successful discussion is careful wording. "Do you think ..." often tends to introduce a question which can be satisfactorily answered by 'Yes' or 'No' and so many topics which begin like that are considered 'poll type'. Most questions which use the words beginning with 'Wh...' (and the word 'How') are of the kind which tend to discourage one word answers, so "Why do you think that ...?", "What do you think about ...?" and so on are generally better introductions than "Do you think ...?" because they make it impossible to answer just 'Yes' or 'No'.

You raised a very good question, but also very common to think of. Everyone has the choice to follow for example, God, or not. The only thing parents have on them is the right path. Unless you grew up in a non Christian family then you really don't have a 'right' path in front of you. That's when church and religious studies come into hand. Then you have the right path in front of you. Now it's time for you to find the right from the wrong and so forth. Because there are so many false preaching out in the world. You can choose whether or not you want to follow the right path.

I think parents should leave religion out of the picture. When the child is old enough or when the child starts to question everything about the world, she/he should have the right to find the answers or find the best spiritual path for them. Although, some kids ended leaving the church they were raised in because they thought things did't make sense, or they just simple found a new religion.

I think children need to be introduced to a religion. At some point parents have to recognize their children are adults and can decide for themselves. While they are young parents should guide them. If parents do not have a religion perhaps they could educate their children in the fact there are religions, but an intro needs to be made, ..in my opinion. Welcome to myLot Harmonics…..as I typed this it occurred to me this is probably a yes/no discussion that just might be deleted. Be prepared.