Raised with religion

February 24, 2008, 10:10 PM

With most of the religious topics going around focusing on people's personal beliefs, I was wondering what people thought about people who are raised with a religion. By this I mean people who are born into a family who all follow a certain religion, and make commitments to that religion at a young age.

Personally, I am catholic, but if people ask now I will usually say that I am *supposed* to be catholic, or that I am agnostic. My whole family is catholic, and I was baptised before I could even talk let alone think for myself. This is one of the major flaws in the Catholic religion I think, as the whole concept of religion is based on faith and your personal beliefs. Even when I made my communion/was confirmed aged about 8, I had no idea of what I believed. I'm not going to go into what I believe though, as it is irrelevant (also I don't want to start any 'atheism v. religion' wars), but I know that there are a lot more extreme cases than this. I'm lucky now that I can form my own opinion without fear of being stoned to death, but there are a lot of religions/parts of the world where people are stuck with the religion they were born with, along with the strict rules and morals than come with it, regardless of what they personally feel.

Opinions?

February 24, 2008, 10:15 PM

It's all bullshit being brought up that way. It's just as bad as, if not worse than forcing your beliefs down someone's throat, since at a young age your mind is so impressionable that you can't form your own opinion for or against the matter. People should be given the choice of what they want to believe, and not have to be told what they want to believe.

February 24, 2008, 10:23 PM

I do agree that it probably isn't the right way to bring someone up but it all depends how you go about it. I've been brought up in Catholicism but have never had it shoved down my throat and once I reached an age where I could truly form my own opinions and views on religion my family respected that and put no pressure on me to think otherwise.
While its true that no religion should be forced on impressionable minds at such a young age it can be helpful for them to experience some form of religion in order to more easily have your own more well rounded view as you get older. It all depends what part religion plays in your life and if it is forced upon you in the sense that you are given no choice but to believe what you are told then that is obviously wrong

February 24, 2008, 10:36 PM

I personally was sent to a Sunday school and church for a few years when I was little, since my family was/is Catholic. After learning a whole lot of stuff, I decided that I didn't believe in all that and chose not to go anymore when I was 7, I believe. I don't know why, but I was a very opinionated and dubious child.

Now I'm 17 and Atheist, but I'm not exactly sure why. It's not like the religion was forced on me, because I actually had a good time at Sunday school and stuff, I think all of it was just too overwhelming for me.

So, I think it's alright to be raised on religion as I was (in moderate amounts) so the child can one day form their own opinions about it, I have a couple friends whose parents basically forced them to follow their respective religions, and I don't really believe that's how children should be educated.

February 25, 2008, 3:13 AM

thats the main problem that non religious people have with religion, and its that the children are indoctrinated, not given the choice to choose whether to believe or not.

plus sunday schools are actually fun, i enjoyed them, or so im told

and thats a great way to not get kids to think about what they are believing in.

Quote:

and I was baptised before I could even talk

thats not unique, i was baptised when i was about 7 months i think. but baptisms arent bad imo.

however im sure that there are good things about children being born into religion

February 25, 2008, 4:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Placebo

thats not unique, i was baptised when i was about 7 months i think. but baptisms arent bad imo.

My point was that some children (more specifically, babies) are pushed into religion without a say in it themselves, I just used baptism as an example. Sure, it's nothing big in most cases as a lot of people grow up to develop their own opinions, whether it be agreeing with the religion they were brought up with, or severely disagreeing, or somewhere inbetween like I am. However, in some religions (or even very strict christian families) people are forced into a religion which they are stuck with, regardless of whether they even believe in God/the teachings/etc.

I'm not saying that it's bad for parents to bring a child up with their religion, hell no. It can be really beneficial in some ways as it can broaden their knowledge and help them to form their own opinion. Having a religion forced on you is another thing though, and like I said (or think I said) in my previous post, completely defeats the general point of a religion.

February 25, 2008, 4:30 PM

I was baptised when I was a baby, couldnt talk either lol. And raised catholic. But since I seen Dogma back in high school (lol, I know!) I started to question is my reilgion all its cracked up to be. My whole family were baptised, but dont follow reilgion as they see it as a means of control and believe life is waht you make it.

I question my faith a hell of alot and do get angry very easily when bad things happen to good people and yet rapists, murderers and thiefs walk around.

February 25, 2008, 4:37 PM

I will personally raise my kids to be spiritual, but I will not shove religion down their throats. I will tell stories and have books from multiple religions and allow them to talk to me about religion when they are ready.

So what's the difference? I think raising a child to be spiritual is to teach them wonder. "There are many mysteries in this world and they are gifts" rather than "we have a God and a big book and you gotta do as they say!"

...but maybe I feel that way because I'm Wiccan and Wicca has a strict 'no proselytizing' policy.

...but even then, I wouldn't be raising my kids to be witches, because that is an incredibly hard thing to be in a Christian nation.

March 1, 2008, 11:49 AM

I was baptised a catholic before my earliest memories. And in theory it all sounds good and all. But then I notice few people follow what's preached as they should and there are many hypocrites out there.

I decided to break away and call myself Christian. I'm of no true denomination. I believe in the Christian God pretty much. My beliefs do differ in other ways though. I see the Christian God as being of a chaotic nature rather than a lawful one. Why? Because to me chaos represents an unlimited creative/destructive potential. I see it all around me. If God was lawful I feel that the world would be a very different place.

Just what I feel though. And I feel if I impose my beliefs on others, I'm forcing them to conform in a way they really shouldn't. To that extent I'll say I don't believe in raising someone in a specific religion when they don't really have the ability to know what they're doing.

I must say I admire Anthiena's approach. A spiritual side can be a great thing. To the extent I'd greatly consider a strong spiritual side important. Unless it also leads to a person losing their freedoms. Some spiritual beliefs seem to require it...

March 1, 2008, 12:59 PM

I was never raised to have a spiritual side, so maybe I am missing something that's important, eh?

I think the fact that I've seen so many bad things come from religion (wars, crime, priest scandals, crazy TV religious folk), I moved away from it and turned into a very straightforward and stoic person. I mean, I have a fun-loving side and I smile a lot and socialize enough to drive my teachers insane, but sometimes I can just be brutally honest and apathetic. When something goes wrong with me, I either blame myself or others. When something unexplainable happens, I don't know who to blame besides others. I don't think having a religion (even from birth) makes someone a better person exactly, but I just think it affects their personality and mindset. Either way, I think how parents raise their children affects them as adults over how exposed the children are too religion.

I like the idea of having parents expose their children to a variety of religions/beliefs. It might overwhelm some adolescents, but allowing them to have a choice after studying thoroughly should make a better impact on them.

Yup.