Derbonic

Is teaching Faith in the form of Fact or Truth to children child abuse?

Ask me and I will elaborate.

Skepticologist

I'm not sure where you're heading with your question, but I can tell you I'm very concerned that my five grandchildren being raised by my fundamentalist christian son and his wife will reach adulthood without ever developing the ability to think critically.

Is that child abuse? Probably not, because they're physically well cared for and genuinely loved. But their world views encompass only 1 to 2 degrees of the 360 available.

I can't have a meaningful conversation with my son, and I hate to think the same will be true with my grandchildren.

__________________
"I am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of."

Clarence Darrow

hell_raiser195

I would say it is abuse because it like brainwashing someone. The only regime in which someone would tell people what to think and believe is called a dictatorship. People must have to right to come to their own conclusions and think for themselves, its called free will.
I speak from expirience. I came from an family of athiests who wanted me to have a good education and up bringing and though sending me to a catholic school between the ages of 2 and 11 would be a great way of achieving that. At this school I was taught that God, that the Bible, that Catholicism was FACT. When I left that school at 11 years of age and went to a faith-free school I was surprised to meet people who told me they were muslim/sikh/jewish/pagan etc. I tried telling them they were wrong. Even at the age of 11 I didnt understand religion because I had been brainwashed into beliving that God was fact. I was confused and felt disrespected because someone had forced their opinions onto me. I am now athiest, but I feel in some ways my childhood was tainted and I was living a lie.

I would discourage anyone from doing this to their own children, and if I ever have any I will never do that to them

Mustainez

Well, I guess, and I think all children should have a right to believe what they want to.

greywolf90

just wait until your grandkids grow into teenagers. majority of kids rebel from their parents (i.e. your son).

__________________
"for there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so."- Hamlet

GX

It definitely can be abusive depending on what is taught
1) "You are sinful by nature and birth" - the message kids may get: dont trust yourself, lower your self esteem, your are guilty just for being born
2) "If you have sex you will go to hell" - the message kids may get: this beautiful urge you are feeling is unnatural and you will be destroyed for expressing it
3) "If you dont believe in a specific way, you will perish" - the message kids may get: There is a dictator watching your every move and if your mind so much as questions these beliefs, you will be destroyed

I would call this emotional or the very least spiritual abuse

Geshtinnanna

Anything out of moderation can be considered child abuse.

__________________

AB517

Only if you are afraid.


For every twist you do to the left, I can to the right. Where does the truth lie?

Twist it ... flip it ... rub it down.


Llook at what’s on TV these days, that’s way worse.

Vinterland

Ok, is it child abuse?

__________________
And on we walked. Suddenly we heard a voice crying, "This is the sea. This is the deep sea. This is the vast and mighty sea." And when we reached the voice it was a man whose back was turned to the sea, and at his ear he held a shell, listening to its murmur.
And my soul said, "Let us pass on. He is the realist, who turns his back on the whole he cannot grasp, and busies himself with a fragment."
—Gibran Khalil Gibran, “The Greater Sea.”

Derbonic

Then why dont you post your position in stead of being snotty and condicending?
Being afraid would be something someone who was raised in a major religion would bring up now isnt it? Why would someone be afraid to think that the faith of some is not the truth?
There is quit a bit in the bible and torrah (sp?) that people just ignore that is pretty brutal and nasty. Not that TV is all that great. I can turn off the TV.

__________________
You can do it your own way, long as its done just how I say.~the hypocrit