Children and Religion

[sox-and-the-city]

Hokay (prepares to write dissertation, apologies to anyone who might actually read this)...

So first of all i'd like to say that PERSONALLY, as much as i'd LIKE to say that i'd bring up any poor sod of a child of mine without any influence on my part, so that they could make their own decisions, that is impossible. My parents, as agnostics, (i find the concept atheism somewhat hard to comprehend, i mean, everybody believes in SOMETHING...) raised me to believe what i wanted to and that encouraged me to question people's beliefs and somehow i found my way to Christianity. Go figure. As a Christian, it would be wrong of me to bring up a child to be unaware of God and not to believe, i mean, we're talking about letting my own (albeit hypothetical) child go to hell, so of course as much as i'm going to let them do their own thing and encourage them to hopefully make a voyage of self-discovery similar to mine i would certainly be on hand to point out that it doesn't really take much to stop yourself spending eternity in suffering...

BUT that is a purely personal matter. I do not under any circumstances believe in the institutionalosed mingling of religion and education. Insofar as the STUDY of religion, there really isn't, to my mind anyway, much of a problem and if by learning about different beliefs and value systems a contribution can be made to the awareness and development of a child then that's even better. But with faith schools i just cannot agree (and this brings me to my main point, of this paragraph at least) on the basis that they do not allow enough room for questioning their belief system and as such, by inhibiting a child's spiritual development through lack of access to different resources and religions, effectively brainwashes them into blindly following. I'd like to stress the importance of the word indoctrination, i feel personally that inducting a child into a religion can be a definite positive experience, allowing them access to a like-minded community who are there to support them through the difficult task of growing up into a well-rounded person. I see very little wrong with introducing a child to basic Christian values, for example, as they are effectively teaching the child to know the difference between right and wrong. It is important, surely, to note that our value system, as a historically Christian country, is based on Christian beliefs. I see no problem with teaching a child to treat others as they themselves would wish to be treated, not to steal or kill things, to respect their parents etc. basically to adhere to all the rules by which we set our appreciation of what is right or wrong.

There is, however, a massive difference between this and indoctrinating a child, with all its connotations of brainwashing and subordination. I'm not in any way advocating anyone telling a child that they MUST be a certain way and believe one set of rules. I feel that religion is a gift unlike any other we possess and it is one which we should definitely bestow upon children whilst at the same time emphatically reminding them they don't have to take it if they don't want to.