Poll: Should Parents have the right to force there religion on there kids ?

[Redliph]

Yes and No. They should be allowed to teach the kids about their religion and if the kids decide they don't like it they should be free to leave the faith and pursue their own. The goverment should never be allowed to step in unless the kids lives are really being disrupted, like if the parents aren't taking him to see doctors so they can be faith healed or marrying them off to a cousin. Stepping in and telling the parents they can't simply read the bible or torah to a kid or raise them in faith is objectively tyrannical.

Oh yes circumcision is evil and barbic and untill we can magically (Or Technology) grow foreskins in should be banned.

I disagree as circumsision has some legitimate benefits. The foreskin is much like an appendix or wisdom teeth. You can live fine without it. Having it as far as I can tell really does little more than provide a means of infection and potential pain later in life, if it tears as then you have to get it removed in adulthood. A far more traumatic experience for an adult then a baby. I am glad I ended up getting a circumsision earlier in life then later.

The only real benefit that I have heard for having foreskin is increased sensitivity during sex, but how do they measure that? I have never had my foreskin and love sexual stuff just fine. Sounds like bollocks to me.

 

[Nmil-ek]

well, yeah to a degree. they should be able to teach them what they believe and make them go to church etc.
i mean, if we stop religious people from teaching their kids about their faith then we'd have to stop atheist parents teaching their kids about evolution and how god doesn't exist.

Evolution is a fact there is more than enough demonstratable evidence to support it far more, there have been countless peer reviews and studies and as a whole the scientific society considers it fact its as air tight as gravity. Hell even Francis collins (fundamentalist sceintist) basicly stated the exact same thing it's irrefutable, as such evolution should be taught to everyone as standard education is extremley important.

Now abiogenesis the thing most creationists seems to mistake for evolution is still debatable, but thats that and again atheism is a disbeleif in god or lack of demying god would be a personal choice not neceserrily one related to atheism. And no dont care if your agnostic, atheist or religious just imputting and fixing misconstrued facts.

 

[Bigeyez]

Ideally nobody should be forced into any religion. Practically though parents do and should have control over their children. As much as you may not like it it's the parents right to raise their children and teach them their own beliefs. No one has the right to take that away from parents. Trying to do so makes you no better then fanatically religious people who try and force their views on everyone else.

Besides once a person reaches adulthood they can choose for themselves what they want to follow.

Edit: As far as the whole evolution debate going on in this thread. Evolution is a theory. Now it's a theory backed up by lots of evidence supporting it but it's a theory nonetheless.

Edit 2:I also have to point out that believing in evolution doesn't mean you have to be against religion. The Vatican itself states evolution can just be a means to an end.

 

[oliveira8]

How about the option of not caring? Just let him/her discover by him/herself and then believe what he/she wants.

So simple.

 

[Deef]

No. No way.

 

[yaik7a]

Yes and No. They should be allowed to teach the kids about their religion and if the kids decide they don't like it they should be free to leave the faith and pursue their own. The goverment should never be allowed to step in unless the kids lives are really being disrupted, like if the parents aren't taking him to see doctors so they can be faith healed or marrying them off to a cousin. Stepping in and telling the parents they can't simply read the bible or torah to a kid or raise them in faith is objectively tyrannical.

Oh yes circumcision is evil and barbic and untill we can magically (Or Technology) grow foreskins in should be banned.

I disagree as circumsision has some legitimate benefits. The foreskin is much like an appendix or wisdom teeth. You can live fine without it. Having it as far as I can tell really does little more than provide a means of infection and potential pain later in life, if it tears as then you have to get it removed in adulthood. A far more traumatic experience for an adult then a baby. I am glad I ended up getting a circumsision earlier in life then later.

The only real benefit that I have heard for having foreskin is increased sensitivity during sex, but how do they measure that? I have never had my foreskin and love sexual stuff just fine. Sounds like bollocks to me.

Is that what your parents told you ? Also having a foreskin makes sex and fapping way easier
and better !

 

[Spektre41]

Yes. Parents should be allowed to enforce their religion on their children. However, at some point, they're going to have to understand that their kid's view may differ from their own.

 

[ThePirateMan]

They should be able to bring their religion upon their children, but once the child grows up and gets different opinions and thoughts the parents should let him/her "free".

 

[Takoto]

No, not at all. They should have no right to make a decision or force something onto another person, even if that person is their child.

 

[LordKraven]

Poeple should not have the right to force religion or any beliefs on anyone. America was founded by people who wanted to get away from other people who forced beliefs on them. All power to your beliefs, and don't let people tell you not to believe or to believe, but don't force it on others. There has been to much blood shed in past years over that crap.

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

Two words: FUCK NO. They have the right to teach their religion, but not the right to enforce it, to demand their children follow it. That goes against the idea of freem which so many have died hoping to defend.

 

[Rylingo]

Douk put it best:

If the kid is younger than 12 then yeah, because if they say "I don't wanna go to church" its just that they want to play outside. When they get older they might see that the religion may or may not be their answer.

So i voted Yes/No.
Besides if you become an aetheist you believe all those ceremonies ment nothing and hence it hardly did you any permanent damage.

Also, if you believe genes are transmitted from parents to child then you believe in evolution. The process is slow people, we won't grow wings overnight! The human race as a whole is growing taller slowly but surely though.

 

[Wasurenagusa]

Hell to the muhfuggin no.
Let the kids decide what to believe in.
Give em the facts (ie, shit cannot be proved) etc etc

 

[Ultrasnail]

if the child is young then the parents can raise them however they see fit, but once the child is smart enough to make an educated decision they should get to choose there own religion.

 

[teisjm]

Small children sometimes have to follow the paqrents to whateve rthey go to, in case the parrents don't wanna waste money on a baby sitter. But once they're big enough to take care of themselves for the hours the ceremony takes, i don't think parent should force them to do stuff like that unless they want to.

It's fine for parent to try to raise their children to be relegious.
If they're relegious themselves they're doing what good parents should do: what they think are in their childs best interrest.

 

[Chipperz]

I'm gonna teach my kids about loads of different religions, try to take them to at least one mass (or equivalent) of each, and then let them make up their own mind (or not, their call).

Also, on the "evolution" thing that seems to have popped up, I'm fairly certain Catholocism's view now is that evolution happened, because God wanted it to. I think that's a damn good compromise.

 

[comet5002]

No disrespect intended, but if you're going to sit there and say that you're going to let your child have total freedom from the day they are born, you are a hypocrite in the simplest definition of the word.

Whether you're trying to or not, you're GOING to force your beliefs and opinions and ideals on your children because it's not possible NOT to, because it's how you LIVE YOUR OWN LIFE. Especially in the younger stages, kids kind of adopt the philosophy of monkey see, monkey do, so whatever they see you doing they're going to want to emulate. So by the time they grow old enough to actually separate from their parents and have their own opinions in large matters like this, for me it was about 14 or 15, they're already going to be instilled with their parents beliefs, and decide whether or not to agree with them. If they decide not to, it's not going to matter what the parents do, because they're going to do what they want to, and parents forcing their own beliefs is only going to separate themselves from the children even further.

So, do I think it's right for people to force their beliefs on OTHER people? Absolutely not. Do I think it's right for people to force their beliefs on their children? I don't think it matters, because it's going to happen regardless.

 

[electric_warrior]

well, yeah to a degree. they should be able to teach them what they believe and make them go to church etc.
i mean, if we stop religious people from teaching their kids about their faith then we'd have to stop atheist parents teaching their kids about evolution and how god doesn't exist.

Evolution is a fact, not a religious belief.

way to miss the point. it's about freedom of expression; they have as much right to say we were all conjured up by a magic fucking carrot as we have to say that we evolved from a single cell in the primordial soup. to say that people with faith have no right to impose that faith on their kids, while letting atheists impose their faith (or lack thereof) would be a massive and unjustifiable double-standard.

 

[skcseth]

Religion shouldn't be forced on anyone, family or not. I was fortunate enough to be brought up in a family that didn't place me under strict religious beliefs/guidelines, but my family did raise me on Christian based morals, which is perfectly fine. So I guess my answer would be yes and no. It's definitely not right for a parent to beat the Bible (or Qur'an, or Tripitaka, or whatever) into their children, but to use religious principals as a guideline to make their children better members of society; perfectly acceptable in my book.