How old should children be before they're introduced to religion?
By Penfencer
@Penfencer (297)
United States
March 20, 2007 11:52pm CST
I know at least where I live (in Alabama, USA), many children are indoctrinated with Christianity at a very early age. They're taught to be very pious and to go to church frequently and to read their Bible and all, and in some cases, parents punish their children for not doing those things. I've always been curious as to what sort of effects that early indoctrinization has on a developing child's mind.
I know my parents were never particularly strict about religion. We rarely attended church and prayer was never enforced. My parents usually kept their religion to themselves and didn't try to force it upon myself and my siblings, for which I'm glad.
I made my own religious choices when I was a teenager, and I made them after several years of deciding what was the best "religion" for me (I eventually settled on my own personal form of agnosticism), but I sometimes wonder if people question their religion and wonder if they'd have chosen the same paths if they hadn't been so saturated with religious ideas as a child.
What do you think? Should you push religion on a child at an early age? Or should you leave religion to be something the child discovers for himself/herself when they find the time is right?
1 person likes this
5 responses
@gfelix (12)
• United States
27 Mar 07
If religion is part of your life, it should be part of your children's life as well. Our children have been going to church with us since they were born. Since religion is part of our family life, I never thought about not taking them. As parents there are a lot of decisions we have to make for our children. What they eat, their schooling, what they watch on tv, etc. If we tell our if you don't want to go to church, you don't have to. Most kids are going to say, "okay, I'm not going." But, we don't say "If you don't want to go to school, you don't have to." Or "If you don't want to brush your teeth anymore, you don't have to."
2 people like this
@Penfencer (297)
• United States
27 Mar 07
I just have a hard time accepting that administering religion to your children is as simple a decision as deciding whether or not they should brush their teeth. If anything, there's not much difference between one toothbrush and another or one brand of toothpaste or another...whereas two religions can lead to radically different lifestyles. No doubt a Christian mind-set has some key differences from a Hindu mind-set, for example.
The question I suppose becomes one of whether or not you could be accepting of your child's decision to change to a different religion at a later point in life, if they should decide the one they've grown up with is not for them.
@DiamondWings (176)
• United States
27 Mar 07
I believe what the Bible says about training up a child in the way they should go. I went to a Catholic Church and left that church on my own decision at the age of 13. I also made up my own "religion" and got into the occult and found myself going down the wrong path. Fortunately, people were praying for me, and at the age of 32, I received the Lord Jesus as my Lord and Savior and have never been the same. He picked me up, forgave me, made me a new creature and someday I will spend eternity with Him. What joy and peace I have! I don't have to work at being good, the Holy Spirit helps me. When I fail, as everybody does, I'm forgiven and able to start again. Perhaps if I had been exposed to the saving grace of a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, rather than religion, I would have avoided a lot of heartache. Yes, children should go to a Bible-based, LOVING church. Punishment won't bring them to the Savior. Jesus loved little children and we all need to go to Him as little children.
@steerpyke (396)
•
24 Apr 07
Would you refer to a eight year old child as a Republican, a Marxist or an Anarchist, no so why do we force religion on them before they reach adulthood. Anyone given a fair and balanced education should by the time they are adults be able to make their own mind up as to what they are all about religiously, politically and socially.
@mjsdls (1840)
• United States
27 Mar 07
I believe that our children should be taught about what this nation was founded on. It was founded on God and the Holy Bible. Without not being taught moral values children keep getting less and less respectful to others. Most do not respect themselves or anyone else. I do not serve a religion, I have a personal relationship with Jesus.
@Galena (9110)
•
27 Mar 07
they shouldn't be introduced to any religion unless they show interest.
so, they take interest in what you're doing, you tell them why, but explain that not everyone beleives the same thing as them.
they meet other religions at school and are interested, you tell them a bit about what they beleive.
but you should never ever teach a child that any particular religion is the only true religion. they have to be free to draw their own conclusions and find their own path
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