Kids and Religion

[O-mie]

Such a young age is why parents teach it to them. Minds like a sponge. But if a parent is so scared the child will be different from them, well... its a child, not your clone. I would teach them morals, but let them decide on their own the beliefs they want to follow.

Most bad things that ever happened in history were the result of religion. Plus, i'd rather have my child actually be capable of thinking for themselves.

[Triumph]

A child should be exposed to religion; that much is inevitable, so you might as well make the transition easier. However, like previous posters have said, there are extremists. My opinion is that you should teach them what the fundamental concepts of the religion are, and leave it at that...let them pick it up on their own. Either way, it's the safest solution, for if they happen to dislike it, then there is no permanent effects. If they choose to expand on their knowledge, you would have already set the foundations for that expansion, so no harm there.

[Yosei]

Such a young age is why parents teach it to them. Minds like a sponge. But if a parent is so scared the child will be different from them, well... its a child, not your clone. I would teach them morals, but let them decide on their own the beliefs they want to follow.

Most bad things that ever happened in history were the result of religion. Plus, i'd rather have my child actually be capable of thinking for themselves.

Yeah, thats how I view things. I mean.. if I choose on religion, of course its going to be in my kids life, but I will not force it onto my child. I'd let my child choose their religion. Morals isn't always related to religion. As long as my childs a decent and kind person, I don't care what religion they choose.

[ViciousEve]

Thats some kind of an ethical problem, I guess.

I think what needs to be debated, is how religion is affecting a child.
I dont think that it makes a lot of sense to talk about extremists, because this is a seperate and specified problem concerning religions. I dont know how many creationists are teaching their children that evolution is some kind of a well-structured lie, but in Germany they are quite a few. But I think this is a very extreme form of religion, something extremly old-fashioned and also very ignorant, I guess.

But this has nothing to do with `How to raise your kids and their relationship to religions!´. It is more a problem of stupidity, I think.
In normal families religion can be some kind of protection and something to hold onto, especially for children. When I was a child I was told by my parents, that they do not believe in god. On the other hand my grandmother told me that there is a god, watching and protecting me and I could tell him everything...blabla. Well, everytime I was sad, I knew I could tell someone:god. In fact I never knew what god should be like or whatever.

Contrastly, I am not religious today... not since I was 10 or so. Nevertheless I know, that the only way to choose your religion is to feel it and not to proove it. As an adult you tend to proove everything, as a child you just dont care. Whats wrong with choosing something which doesnt hurt anyone, if you can rethink your choice? I dont see the point...

Of course it would be better not to have religions at all, because ( as you already said) they are causing a lot of trouble.(<---philosophical problem!)
AND there is nothing in this world, I hate more than philosophy:
Just to talk about a problem but never find a solution. So it does not really makes sense to argue about it...we cannot change anyones mind. But we do not have to adapt anyones thoughts either- thats the good point.