I would absolutely teach them, but I would try and teach it in such a way that they would be able to ask questions. My whole life I was simply told that my church was true, or at least that is how I took it, being a pretty proud kid, I think it was probably just the way I heard it. I wish that I had thought about it earlier, instead of just barely. I want my kids to think about it, to know, instead of just repeat what I say.
Re: Children's Religion
Originally posted by King Castle
do you think it is okay to force your religion on your children?
When your child is old enough to understand everything religions contemplation requires then yes, i'll gladly inform him their are many religions, and they cannot all be correct. They can however all be incorrect.
I'll let him know that no matter what his muslim friends in school say, he is not going to burn in hell for eating pork. I'll let him know that i, his father, would never construct a torture chamber in our basement and damn him there for eternity if one day he didn't love me anymore or questioned my morals.
I'll tell him he can be of whatever faith he wants, but thats all it is , is faith, i'll ask him to make informed desicions about how he wants to live his life, and whether the wrathful , vengeful, slave condoning God of the bible is really a better moral guide than say..his own father, mother, uncles or grand parents (all of whom are not religious - but good, kind and selfless people none-the-less).
I'll force nothing on my children save good manners and racial tolerance (being mixed race ofcourse it will come rather easy to them), but i'll inform them of ALL the options i know of, something that many religious parents don't do.
Re: Re: Children's Religion
Originally posted by red g jacks
well i'm a godless heathen and my girl is muslim. so i guess if we had a kid they'll choose whether to believe or not based on who they love more.
My husband's father is christian and his mom is a Roman Cathloic and she raised my husband and his sister to be Catloic so it seems to me that either both parents have them raise to believe in both or just one of them.
Re: Re: Re: Children's Religion
Originally posted by ADarksideJediAll my relatives were raised Roman Catholic, they are from Italy, so that's just how it was. Everyone married Catholic except for my family. My father married a fundamentalist Pentecostal Baptist. Now I'll tell you that it did cause a lot of friction inside the family once children were born. How should they be raised?? A divorce happened because of the religious conflicts amongst other things, but religion was a major factor. Also, I experienced the same thing myself. Since I was raised Baptist and looked outside of my faith, my ex couldn't take that either, so a divorce happened.
My husband's father is christian and his mom is a Roman Catholic and she raised my husband and his sister to be Catholic so it seems to me that either both parents have them raise to believe in both or just one of them.
I wasn't trying to change him or his beliefs and I promised to raise the children in his, which was our, beliefs even though I had changed my own. But for some reason he felt that if you don't believe every word from the Bible to be true, then you don't have any morals at all. He also felt that if you didn't believe the Bible to be true, then you don't believe the 10 Commandments should be followed. I thought that was silly. Why would a person lose all their morality just because they didn't believe everything in the Bible to be true?
Are only Christians the ones with morality? I believe that many relationships fail because one changes his or her view on religion or politics.
I think it can work if there aren't any children to be raised, but if there are then it, in many many cases, just won't work. You must stay the same, no change, no growth and keep your mouth shut. I unfortunately loved to share what I read thinking we could grow together, but he felt threatened by it. Even today, my Baptist, immediate family is waiting for me to come back to the faith and pray for me all the time, which I don't like. I've been deceived by demonic spirits, they say. It doesn't matter how good a person is if you're deceived by Satan and you don't deserve for your children to be around you. They'll be going to Hell in speaking with you.
The Catholic relatives were much more open, honest, non-judgemental, sincere and comforting along with my Atheist, Buddhist and other friends.
Needless to say, I've lost a whole lot of respect for the Protestant Christian faith.
word... but i don't think its fair to break it down based on denomination. i was raised in the catholic church and they have some of the snootiest people who will look down on any other form of christianity... my fam moved to the south and my mother started taking my brother and sister to a methodist church cause she found it was more of a fun and interactive environment for kids, to make them enjoy church and church based youth groups etc.. and some of the local catholics had a hell of a time gossiping about that little dose of apostasy.
i think some people are just confident in their views and others are insecure. the insecure ones are actually the people who get super defensive when others dont agree with them or when their family/loved ones start to stray from whatever their traditional beliefs are.
Are only Christians the ones with morality? I believe that many relationships fail because one changes his or her view on religion or politics. I see what you are saying but it is not always like that.My husband and I share the same Religion but not the same with politics which he has no interested in as much as I do.We still get along fine.