as small as a world and as large as alone

8:28pm August 11, 2013

myadventuresinoddity:

I’m sorry—

but I hate when people say this! Why is it that when it comes to religion children are to be allowed to make their own decision? We don’t let children make their own decisions about ANYTHING else!? A parent who let their five year old, or ten year old, or fifteen year old make their own decisions about school wouldn’t be hailed as a great parent. No, children need guidance.  Parents and other adults should guide their children into maturity…and that includes guidance in the area of religion, morality, and philosophy (I bet you don’t mind if a parent guides his/her child to see women and men as equals).  After 18, I completely agree that a person should be allowed to make his or her own decisions…but stop acting like parents are evil for passing on their spiritual traditions to their kids. 

I think you can give guidance and allow children to make some decisions. It’s not either or. My parents let me make decisions about school sometimes but not others. Ditto religion. Like they’d take me to some churches but not others. In general they let me make my own decisions within a certain framework, but they wouldn’t just let me do anything I wanted. In any area.

I do think it’s okay to bring up your kids in your religion, or lack thereof, though. I’d just say I’d the kids show an extreme aversion to it, it wouldn’t always be good to force the issue. Being forced kicking and screaming into a religion will only lead to resentment in most cases.

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