Tuesday, March 19, 2002
Do We Do Our Children Harm?
My last post mentioned brain washing at the end and I don't use that very lightly. How does one come to believe in a god and in particular, a god as presented in Christian myth? You might be under the mistaken impression that you so choose your faith but that is extremely unlikely. You most likely accepted the faith that your parents instilled and that which they believe. Oh sure, you may have shrugged off portions of it like a 6 day creation but by and large the truth is almost all of a religious persuasion followed their parents upbringing. This is of course true for a mutlitude of things and not just one of religion but let's stay the course here. Perhaps you don't believe me but ask yourself, how is it that those of one faith are not born of another? Do Christian children become Buddhists? Do Muslims become Jews later on life. Extremely rare to say the least.
Why is this so? Well, we teach our children about god when they are that their most vulnerable idiologically speaking. There's a certain amount of conditioning involved to be sure and it sticks with most of us into our adult lives. This conditioning inflicts upon our children a rather one sided point of view and not one born of free will. It's certainly not from a desire to know god as suggested by many Christians. We teach our children in the best manner to which we know and part of that manner was the way we were raised, as god fearing ourselves. We are responsible to teach our children yes ... but some things are better left to learn for themselves. If you truly believe that god wishes to be known and his is the one true light, I suggest we leave that up to them to find out for themselves.
My last post mentioned brain washing at the end and I don't use that very lightly. How does one come to believe in a god and in particular, a god as presented in Christian myth? You might be under the mistaken impression that you so choose your faith but that is extremely unlikely. You most likely accepted the faith that your parents instilled and that which they believe. Oh sure, you may have shrugged off portions of it like a 6 day creation but by and large the truth is almost all of a religious persuasion followed their parents upbringing. This is of course true for a mutlitude of things and not just one of religion but let's stay the course here. Perhaps you don't believe me but ask yourself, how is it that those of one faith are not born of another? Do Christian children become Buddhists? Do Muslims become Jews later on life. Extremely rare to say the least.
Why is this so? Well, we teach our children about god when they are that their most vulnerable idiologically speaking. There's a certain amount of conditioning involved to be sure and it sticks with most of us into our adult lives. This conditioning inflicts upon our children a rather one sided point of view and not one born of free will. It's certainly not from a desire to know god as suggested by many Christians. We teach our children in the best manner to which we know and part of that manner was the way we were raised, as god fearing ourselves. We are responsible to teach our children yes ... but some things are better left to learn for themselves. If you truly believe that god wishes to be known and his is the one true light, I suggest we leave that up to them to find out for themselves.
