Poll:should Children Learn About Different Religions Other Than Their Own? Options

I myself think we should,yes I am a child,but that doesn't matter,it would be good for more children to learn about other religions so they don't criticize them.

Well anyway write what you think...


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Oh yes, of course.

I learned about all the major religions the moment I hit secondary school. It was very interesting indeed.

I think that kind of thing promotes tolerance and offers possibilities if we find we are uncomfortable with our own family or childhood belief system; we can make a choice for ourselves later on.

Nothing worse than to have been brought up to fear God and Hell and many were in the not so distant past and then to be afraid to leave that faith in case you did indeed have to go to Hell. Jesus Christ, how cruel.

Oh yes, of course.

I learned about all the major religions the moment I hit secondary school. It was very interesting indeed.

I think that kind of thing promotes tolerance and offers possibilities if we find we are uncomfortable with our own family or childhood belief system; we can make a choice for ourselves later on.

Nothing worse than to have been brought up to fear God and Hell and many were in the not so distant past and then to be afraid to leave that faith in case you did indeed have to go to Hell. Jesus Christ, how cruel.

I agree

Children, and all ages are better off to learn about any religion they can.

And I do mean "every" religion.

The only way to freedom is knowledge, and having understood the mechanics of how religion works, one will make his/her own religion and thus not be a follower of any cult-level atrocity.

I say Hail the children of our day! They are the future and they need the TRUTH.

To be honest, i cant really say im sure or not.

Children (sp) are very impressionable, and while it is good to be familiar with all religions, one should be able to look at them all objectivley, and im not sure if children would be able to succesfully do that. Now, im not being biased, i do believe that there are children out there who are mature and smart enough to look at religions objectivley, but I have noticed that they are few and far between, i've only met a handfull.

However, i am not stateing that every adult has the ability to look at things objectivley either, i'm in college and an adult and I still struggle with it.

Hence the reason i fall under the "not sure" category.

my .02, as usual

Tiac

Most children never make a decision about religion until later in life (unless forced to) so i say give them all the knowledge you can. Impressionable children may be. But we dont give enough credit. Its simply another brainwashing process that we grew up with to think the young cannot decide for themselves.

I think there is truth in every religion although not every cult and that there is historical and cultural and moral value in learning about other religions . It is imho , part of being a literate person . I also feel it breaks down intolerance .

I most definitely feel that children should be taught religion at an early age, and, even more than just religion. It really angers me to look around and see so much intolerence for one another, especially having been a child that was the target of endless tease and ignorant judgement: Which I still suffer from now, and from my own family on my mother's side, nonetheless.

Because of this I left christianity, and started researching other religions. For example, I found very much love and warmth in the eyes of the muslim people, and have several muslim friends, as opposed to finding the vicious terrorist scum they're all accused of being now. And despite my troubled past with the church, I hold friends there too.

Then there's the idea of all religions tying in with one another in some way or form, which, has been a kind of interesting thing for me to think about. Dunno, but having an open mind in everything, ESPECIALLY religion, seems to make the best of man kind in my opinion. *Throws on a vash the stampede costume and yells "LOVE AND PEACE!"*

(Except for the fact that I own several swords, bows, etc etc..*coughs in guilt*)

*Throws on a vash the stampede costume and yells "LOVE AND PEACE!"*

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(IMG:style_emoticons/default/uglyhammer.gif) DUHHHH..... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ac42.gif)

This post has been edited by WyrdScience: Feb 8 2007, 06:08 PM

I say maybe, but I'm also a major centrist...

Learning religion is important, for all peoples. However, the problem it presents is thus: by learning about a lot of religions, one is more likely to choose a more modern, yet shallow, faith as opposed to an elder faith. This is for the simple fact that the elder belief systems have done a lot of harm (people tend to discount the good). Thus you have far more people signing up with the newer ideologies, and forsaking the older, yet potentially better, ones because of all the "killing and damage."

As for the idea of intolerance... I don't feel learning about other religions, whether the individual has made a choice or not, will help tolerance.

If we learned all about the ritualistic human/virginal sacrifices of an obscure Island faith (I'm not pointing fingers, by the way), we would think the followers were monsters. If we found out that people were still practicing ritualistic blood lettings and things like matricide et cetera, they would be hounded. How could we tolerate something we find so personally heinous? Just learning about it is not enough. Let people come to things of their own accord. Some beliefs will inherently challenge others. From there, it is plain to see that anyone who acknowledges a particular faith is discounting any number, if not all, other beliefs.

If I were to say I were right in all my actions, but directly harmed millions, I imagine many of you here would think I was wrong. I think I'm right, but you don't. Thus conflict and intolerance of other peoples beliefs.

That was an exaggerated example to help show my point...

Ave

I was the one to vote "No" so now let me explain my position. On what ground would you want a child to be taught other religions? If the child doesn't understand the concept of religion yet, what is probable to happen is they end up without any idea of what religion and spirituality is, maybe for the rest of their lives. I would definitely say that it would be the best if you taught the child that there is a truth behind all the different masks of religion, and essentially that would be their religion, and under no circumstance would I want the child to throw that away.

Ad Scientiam

Post Script: To say that you wish to keep a child away from a certain religion because of it's members and how they act is simply ignorance. Most the people here would probably say that they won't teach christianity to a child because of the hate that it's members exhibit...to say that you are tolerant of religious ideas in the same breath is pure hypocracy. If I was a black man and hated the white man, but called myself anything but a racist, even tolerant of different races, because I like the hispanics, the asians, the native americans is just riddiculous.

This post has been edited by Lucian: Feb 9 2007, 02:15 AM

Greetings,

I say yes.

The more world religion you study the better. It helps one to realize that God is something beyond our individual ideal.

Peace!

I think it's critical to learn about different religions in order to understand the world. In high school I was fortunate enough to learn a lot about Islam as well as other religions, and I often find that knowledge helpful.

Ave

I did not object to any mature person learning different religions, nor did I object to the benefits of it. It is the teaching of different religions to a young child that I object to. Teach them one good religion that they can apply to all religions, universalism (of which everyone here really practices). Let them study the different names and stories of God and Gods and Goddesses on their own, when they want to.

Ad Scientiam

It depends on the age of the child. While my first answer would be yes on the other hand it could simply confuse the child. Besides if you're trying to raise your kid a certain way then exposing them to "outside" beliefs at an early age could cause problems. If you expose them to complex ideas before they are really able to understand them it can be confussing. So in answering this question I decided to say "how the hell should I know" because I do not have kids and wouldn't presume to say how parents should raise their kids. I would pass on the suggestion that if you want your kids to understand religions on a deep level they should have a well developed sense of logic and reasoning as well as an unbiased mind.

Of course knowledge of religions is important especially from an early age as this not only creates a tolerance for the beliefs of others but also installs a fair amount of moderation when they do choose which religion they will follow. It is a lot harder to become obsessed with something when it is part of your everyday life.

Growing up should be about LEARNING not indoctrination or brainwashing, so yes. Although I hate to answer "religious" questions just because it's too emotional, and the religious police might want to burn me at the stake (I'm sure in previous lives I was burned SEVERAL TIMES). But life is a journey of learning, and religion is one of the big learning points. (I hope this isn't too controversial, but I view indoctrination as a form of abuse.) Oh heck. I've done it now. The religious police will be after me. Open minds come from learned minds. Closed minds come from --- "This is the WAY"--WAYISM in other words. (Wrongism might be another word for it!) I could go on and on. The guilt that a child can grow up with because of indoctrination is one of the main causes of stress, phobias, dishonesty (closeted magicians--when I was a young lad I had to HIDE all my books on magick--my parents FOUND my MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE (I still smart in the behind!). Etc, etc... I also believe religion has no place in government, schools, or laws. Ouch. I'm in for it now. So be it. I love controversy. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/oops.gif)

answer: yes!
and i have to say, maybe because it seams that people forget what is learning to children at early age, most of things they learn, they learn by playing or through other fun and enjoyable activities, and i think that most childern already have access to many diferent concept and sysmbols from various religions, if you are just to watch some cartoons more closely, also there are coloring books and childrens books that deal with various religion concepts images and myth, also faity tales. most of parents dont even notice as they children develop early religious concepts for them selves, so it is to parent and sociaty how it will accept that development. and repression was never answer. just one more thing conserning religion with children and youth, since i live in post communist country, here for almost 50 years christian church didnt have any power or influence, and only after it was restored in late 90 and reaching peak now i witness emergence of great number of young antichristians, satanist, devil worshipers and similar, that is what religious opression brings.

i have to say that growing up in a roman catholic household and going to catholic school (i am still doing both) i think that not learning of other religions can be bad for your development. my family isn't religious, we never went to church so i grew up indifferent to religion. going to catholic school and being very gifted i was irritated by the dogma coming out of my teacher and everyone elses' mouths. having a bunch of teachers telling u about something u never really believed in is not fun. so when i was eight i looked up about 50 religions and decided on my current faith. i am hermetic but i still believe in christianity and in the hebrew traditions, but if i hadn't learnt those religions i would be an atheist now considering all of this stuff sh**

On my initial vote i said YES. Now that I have read Lucian post i too some what agree with what he is saying. I would wait till the child has some concept of god, universe, and self. Before we try to make a robot out of him / her. That age would vary deeply on each child. We all reach the "age of atonement" at varying ages.


Then again I think allot of religons are a basis for culture. would one's culture suffer from the lack of religous teaching in the early years?

I don't necessarily think children should be forced to learn about different religions; this is just the polar opposite and arguably as detrimental as being instilled with mindless obedience. After all, they may develop the idea that religion is useless if there are so many kinds that are so different and abandon faith all together. I believe children should be allowed to learn about religions that interest them, not forced to learn about every religion from Ahmadiyya to Zoroastrianism.

I question the title of this topic.

'Should Children Learn about Different Religions Other Than Their Own?"

how about...

"Should parents teach their children religion at all?"

or

Exactly what constitutes as the child's religion-is it just automatically whatever religion the parents are?

I think I would focus my child on morals and when they're old enough (teenage years maybe)-try to teach them a little bit about religion and tell them its up to them to decide when they're well and ready.

Greetings All:

I would say yes with clarifications. My father is a Mason and due to him I told my first Sunday School teacher that I believed in Buddah,Jesus and Mohammad (I was around 2). Now I can tell you with definite fact ... I didn't know what I was talking about. The child has to be gradually prepared and this usually is within the parents faith (altho I truely wasn't ... my father was raised a Lutheran and my mother being from the Russian Orthodox faith). I really only remember the handful of experiences of my early years in the Protestant Church. I would have liked if my parents talked about their belief system instead of leaving me up to my own explorations. It is nice to have a safe base to begin with. I would have enjoyed getting the jump on the concept of A Creator/ Higher Power and Spiritual Evolution.

With my son we exposed him to our belief system to begin with. I spoke of other peoples belief's as they came up on a daily basis.
In little bites that grew as he matured. I never put negatives on what we spoke about. He was free to read whatever he wanted
once I noticed he had discernment and knew the difference between fantasy and reality.

That is why I vote yes, but with clarifications.

Love & Light,
Silversheep (IMG:style_emoticons/default/egypt1.gif)