Last week I drew your attention to the Sadlier site which offers reflections on the Sunday scriptures for children. Oops! I forgot to include a link to this week's installment which you can find here. I hope that some parents and children (or adults on their own!) might find some help here in reading and praying over the Word in preparation for Sunday Eucharist.
I have used it twice already. I forgot the site and then went back on your posts to find it. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI believe that forcing religion on kids is wrong. It's the most widely used form of mental child abuse.
ReplyDeleteLet me explain that why I don't look like every other godless young adult who doesn't know how to back up what he says.
You see if you tell a child that if they don't beleive in Santa that you'll throw them into a fire; That is child abuse.
If you tell a child that if they don't beleive in Jesus that he'll throw them into a lake of fire for the rest of time; That is also child abuse, and yet we see it perfectly fit to label our kids with the religion of their parents. I was raised Catholic and the idea of hell still frightens me. Why? Because the brain of a child (for proven evolutionary reasons) is programed to beleive what it's told by it's elders. So that part of my evolutionary past is hard for me to get over having grown up with the idea of hell in my life.
Scare tactics are used by those who know their message is flawed.
kevdog: I checked out your blog which is well written and thought provoking.
ReplyDeleteIn response to what you wrote above: if we were teaching children that Jesus might throw them into a lake of fire, I might agree with you. But we don't take the scriptures as literally as you seem to believe we do (or even as literally as you seem to do as you write).
I'm not sure what kind of Catholic upbringing you had as a child but I can assure you that scare tactics aren't part of our faith formation for children or adults.
I've been blogging here since last July. If you're interested and have the time, type "hell" in the search on my blog and see how I've used that term/concept. I hope you'll agree that while I've used the word, I don't believe I've used it to scare anybody.
Let me know what you think.
I'm sorry, saddened and angry when I hear stories like Kevdog's. I grew up in the 50's when rules were certainly more rigid and Catholics were made to feel guilty about a lot of their actions. Yet, even in the 50's, before Vatican II, I was never taught anything like this poster describes. He's right, in a sense about what happened to him ...the misinformation HE was given at such an early age would frighten any child and could possibly be seen as child abuse. One thing that is curious though is that he is searching out blogs such as this. Why...if he is so secure as an atheist? Got questions?
ReplyDelete