Childhood and Religion
I suppose that in growing up as children, most of us were exposed to, and influenced by the basic teachings of some religion, most likely that of our parents or significant others. For healthy emotional and psychological development, a child needs to feel that it is loved; this gives the child a sense of security. Usually, the first and foremost providers of such love to a child are its parents or significant others. This love may be manifested in the attitude and behaviour of these persons towards the child in terms of fulfilling its needs such as feeding it when it is hungry and changing its diaper when it has soiled itself.However, as the child grows up, it may come to realize that there are limitations to the efforts of others to carry out certain actions. It is usually at such a point that the child may be taught that there is some higher being or God who has control of everything, and furthermore that this being loves it and that it should be “good”, as expressed in the basic teachings of religion. This knowledge may provide the child with a deeper sense of security, which may extend into adult life and may persist even until death.
Of course, some persons may move away from and even abandon those teachings altogether in later life.
This refers to all religions including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and others.
If you have children, did you give them, or are you giving them, such a grounding?
Were you given such a grounding; if you were, what was the religion?
Do you think that it is a good idea to give young children such a grounding in the basic teachings of some religion?
Why, or Why not?
Thanks for your comments!
Open discussion welcome!
Comments (14)
NOT be permitted to "be indoctrinated by such" and as such we werent force fed other peoples doctrines, instead it was left for us to decide IF we were interested at a later age whereby we were better equipped to handle the matters presented instead of "receiving packaged solution bible doctrine"
THE FOLLOWING IS -CAREFULLY WORDED is my OWN opinion
if you are a devout believer, its YOUR own thoughts that matter ONLY to You personally
to me religeon is interpreted VERY INDIVIDUALLY, no two persons have the Exact same beliefs-entirely
therefore this in my reaction and experiences, I became a believer in later life, only to lose that faith due to
some events that shook that belief to the core., I regained Some faith later yet as I still question a LOT of
biblical teachings, However I believe SOME higher than us power created this amazing world/universe
If beings from another planet created humans (in theory)... given that they may look scary to us (made in "gods own image" yet not the same exactly), then the passage "that which passeth-all understanding"
meaning we mortals are incapable by comparrison to the creator(s) then clearly an unseen, unheard "god" had to exist.....again speaking theoretically, not Theologically as it were...
so...
At age 8 in R.E the teacher read this passage known to many as " The feeding of the 5 Thousand"
where we were told a man known only as jesus gave a talk to those interested in the ways of mankind,
it dragged out and until those who had travelled far to attend could not safely reach their homes again, orse few had taken enough food along to sustain them, the man jesus calmed the worried crowds
with words of "hail be not afraid (or similar biblical talk, it was after all 2,000 YEARS ago so no cellphones or e.mails were available),
so seeing that a fisherman had 2 fish, and onother had some bread
this man gathers 5 loaves. in a basket, cover the basket with cloth, says some words over and "behold it was filled!" the same we are told happens to the fish!
Now this lecturer/ we call him 'J' for simplicty,
'J' single handedly bypassed
Growing corn
Harvesting said corn
Drying, milling/grinding the corn
mixing
Baking!
Now not to mention, the breeding of, the time to grow, harvesting by fishing
all this "happens" NOooooo way on earth is that possible NOW, let alone then
Question how is thatpossible?
im told "not to question this???"
from then on I was excused from bible class, my sister also as such indoctrination nonesense is a NO No to all.
Years pass ive gained a belief of sorts, lodt it again partially to mostly....
I mention this and am told by one who can see the dilemna faced 5,000 folks "fed by 5 loaves/2fish " as -
an interpretation gone wrong, it was morelike a SHARING of excess food most attending,had with them
now to me THAT theory holds water, the bible class nonesense didnt, dosent, NEVER will in a zillion years, after all even then we had radio, tv, cars, nothing comes from "magic" at all
The universe provides, the earth provides, as Long as we have disharmony we have hunger, greed, wars and the like, 2,000 years plus after "J" we have the SAME same SAME, sure technology os presnt, but thmentality hasnt changed one IOTA!. sadly.
My father believed in Buddhism but I never knew that until I was an adult.
I went and was taught Christianity when young, but in teenage years read up on different aspects of religion, and meaning in my own life.
My father never indoctrinated us in anything but would start healthy discussions in many aspects of life. He said it was to encourge us his kids to think outside the box.
My own sons thought they would get out of religious knowledge lessons at school because they said I did not believe in A God.
Well that did not work as I said "how can you believe or not believe if you have no knowledge of what it is all about.
They all got married in a church and had their kids christened in church, whether that was due to wives I have no idea, and it is not my business now that they are adults.
Not much religion in oure home, but we did go to church now and then. Like for christmas, and somtimes playing in church as I was part of the scool brass-band.
At that time we had religion lessons at scool too. Nowdayes the classes have changed do to all the new citizens in oure country.
As a grown up(still working on that), I only believe in "Mother Nature".
-to me the bible is written by humans, and over the years become a tool for people who needs to controll other people.
-misused to the grotesque at times...
But I can still remember we had to sing a hymn at the beginning of the day in childscool. Times and life was so different then...
Speed limits and drinking whilst driving being obvious exceptions !
If we ask what, where, why we open the door to knowledge and an enquiring mind can not
be misused as the explanations will subsequently be exposed to scrutiny
Interesting you too pose question mark to the accepted!
thinking outside of the box leads to innovation and in turn to renewal of values both established and the
untried
I agree with your view about the significance of individual interpretation in religion.
Yet, for religion to exist as a social institution, which, it is, per se, there must be some commonality in interpretation.
You seem to have had a very dynamic experience with religion, striving for your own individual perspective on it.
I may be wrong but I have the impression that in Denmark, (Scandinavia on the whole), people tend to be more open minded in their thinking.
Your dad seemed to be such a person.
It is very interesting that your father believed in Buddhism and encouraged you and your siblings to think outside the box.
I know that you mentioned you are an atheist. You must have arrived at that point through your own thinking. Yet, as an open-minded parent, you did not want your thinking to influence your children's perspective. They had to find their own.
I know that Norway is part of Scandinavia. There seems to be similarity in your upbringing with lovealnite re religion.
Like you, I experience a deeper “spiritual feeling” with Mother Nature than with any religion.
As we become adults and begin to think for ourselves, we see things more clearly. More than likely, we question some of the things we once believed in religion.
However, the young child is not yet able to think like that. In view of this, I support your action :
“I raised my own child in the ways I was raised believing the basic principles taught in church were good training for personal growth.”
I think that religion provides a sense of psychological security to the sincere believer which helps him/her to cope with hardships in life and it is important for a person to respect the religions of others that may be different from his/hers.
It's good to see that you have taught your children this respect:
“My children ,like myself that was taught to believe in respecting each and every other person for whatever religion they believed in and never to judge or compare.”
I welcome inputs based on the other religions also.