I have removed this response from the 'Religion and the age of consent' thread to here because it is an interesting topic and certain people taking part in the discussion in the '.....age of consent' thread are behaving like obnoxious arrogant pathetic insulting fools and they are ruining what could be an interesting discussion!
Children act better than they do and they should grow up!
Concerning the indoctrination of children to religion, here is an argument in favour of religion in childrens lives, what do you think?
Pavlos & Dayton please don't get involved if all you are going to do is clog the discussion up with arguments and insults at one another.
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I wish I had been indoctrinated by religious parents when i was younger. It would have made rebelling more fun!
Instead i had parents who worshipped the T.V and the only mention of God was in the form of a cuss or a curse.
I would have loved to learn about God, or at least had some sort of religious background, so at least it would have given me an understanding of religion, as well as spirituality, even if i chose not to accept it when i got older.
Now I am learning about different forms religion as part of my degree. One of the things that has struck me with all the religions that I have studied so far is the sense of community and orientation towards family life each of them seem to have.
As a child being part of a religion must have enriched life a great deal. For example, the religious festivals, customs, different types of food and dress amongst many other dimensions which make up a religion.
Not only do the family share in these things, but usually the whole community.
I would have loved that as a kid. Instead we spent Sundays being told to shut up because something was on the telly, and there was little family closeness or the feeling of sharing and being part of something, let alone feeling part of a community.
I think this is an important element to childhood that children of non-religious parents can miss out on.
Another thing religion teaches is the possibility of a spiritual life.
Because my parents were totally non-religious and they never considered the idea of God or the spirit, it was never discussed or raised at home.
I didn't have a clue about what a spiritual life was, or even that i had a spirit, not until i suffered some misfortunes and had bad times as a teenager and i did some soul searching.
Only then did i discover and realise that there were much deeper levels to the person I thought I was, and much more profound possibilities opened up as well as finding more strength from this to cope with the problems and difficulties.
I never found the kind of God that most religions seem to advocate, but I found the possibility that something which some might describe as God might exist on the outside. But most importantly what I did discover was a spirit on the inside and i found a much deeper part of myself that i never even thought existed which gave me lots of strength to cope with the problems and taught me to appreciate life.
Children brought up in religious families have all these advantages and a head start in knowing a spiritual life and that inner part of themselves that is great, even if they turn their backs on their religion when they get older, they can still pursue and develop their spiritual inner life.
Yes some kids do suffer because of the severity of indoctrination they receive. And people can remain trapped within a religion because it is also part of their culture.
You see that is another aspect to religion. It is far more complicated than just being a religion. Most religions are cultural traditions deeply ingrained into the societies in which people live.
Even us in the supposed 'free west' are affected by the Christian influence prevalent for many centuries.
I don't believe in a personification of God with human qualities, or the idea of one particular God being better than another. But i do believe in the spirit esoteric and exoteric.
Given the choice, i would have liked to have had the advantages of being part of a religious tradition as a child rather than having to pay homage to the telly every day with my parents going 'ssshhh' every time you tried to talk, because i didn't know any better!