INDOCTRINATING CHILDREN IN A RELIGIOUS FAITH IS ABUSIVE
The article linked above is from December. I’ve saved it, because I wanted to share and comment on it at some point.
It refrences The God Delusion, a 2006 book by Richard Dawkins. I read the book when it came out and used to own a copy. One part that many people think is more extreme is when Dawkins equates teaching, or indoctrinating, children in specific religions with child abuse.
If I recall correctly he begins that section by saying that there are not Christian children, or Jewish children, or Palestinian children, there are only children. His reasoning is that children do not have the experience, knowledge, or in some cases mental ability to comprehend what religion is and what they believe. That by teaching them at such a young age you are not allowing them to choose a religion. Forcing them into your particular world view and associated biases.
This particular Jesus and Mo is not about religious teaching directly, but does bring up a very good point. Much of what is done to children is done without their consent. Often it’s done without asking for their consent. Most people, most parents don’t even consider the possibility of asking their children what they would like to do. Even parents who I think may be some of the most well informed and open among us. If you read the comments on the article I linked you can see that even among Atheist parents, the concept is foreign.
“But wait,” you may say, “Didn’t you just say the children couldn’t make those decisions?”
Yes, I did. But just because they can’t make them, doesn’t mean you should do it for them.
Too much in our society, children are treated as property. What is done is not in the best interests of the child, but in the best interests of the parents. Parents are given incredible leeway over how and what they can do to their children.
Why? Just because you figured out how to fuck somebody?
You know in many parts of the country the process to paint your house a different color is much more difficult than the one to butcher a newborns penis. Or that with one simple form, once a year, a child can be kept at home, cut off from the outside world. And I’m not even going to mention what happens in some of the less developed nations of our planet.
That baby, that child, that teen, that’s a PERSON. An individual that, by chance, shares 50% of your DNA. So the next time you’re thinking of making a decision for your son or daughter ask yourself if you would feel comfortable making that same decision for your brother,
Or your sister,
Or your parents,
Or a stranger.
Because you don’t OWN your children.