Sunday, August 10, 2008
Religious Child Abuse
Okay, so I know that there is the whole separation of church and state right...but should the state interfere when it comes to cult like religions and the well being of small children? Is it in the best interest of the child to be forced to practice a crazy weird religion when they aren't in the right mindset (age and maturity levels) to decide if this is the religion they want to practice? In most cases the cults prey on "lost" and vulnerable people, it is a form of brainwashing. I know there is freedom of speech, and I enjoy that every time I post to this blog. But when it comes to children I have mixed feelings. If an adult wants to be in a crazy religion rock on...but when they bring their children into it i feel it is neglect and abusive. But should the state intervene?
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4 comments:
Ah... ethical dilemmias caused by existing in an extremely imperfect world.
The problem is religious teaching is pretty obviously brainwashing and in some cases it has directly harmful effects. Unfortunately, a large number of people do it an it is sort of had to sort out (why alot of antitheists are against "soft" faith).
The best bet is to have a neutral outside society so they are exposed to contrary points of view and eliminate the idea of guarenteed respect. It is the best way to hobble such ideas.
Not surprisingly, religious people have fought against them. So we probably are on the right track.
Well put it this way atheist girl ,in much of relgion there is shunning http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shunning this can cross over into psychological torture . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_torture .
Its abuse and studys are being done because it could very well be worse than psyical abuse .
And you make a good point , should the state interfare ? , i think so or atleast be willing to pay large ammounts of compensation .Cause kids have no choice of who their parents are and how they will be treated , some are born into cults .If a child is sexually abused the state interfares , why should religion get any differnt treatment .
I know what you mean, but what can we do? I've thought about this quite a bit myself, and the problem I always come back to is it all comes down to teaching your children life lessons.
I pride myself on teaching my kids certain things. When they're all adults they'll all know how to fight, cook, do laundry, work on a computer, etc. These are all things I consider life skills... things they need to get by. The problem is that xtians consider their whacked-out religion to be a life skill too and therefore they have a right to teach their kids. As a parent it's your right, no it's your job to teach your kids your life lessons to make them what you consider good people.
So to regulate that would cripple the judicial system as well as the family system. They could easily go to the court and argue that I don't have the right to teach my kids to cook because it's cruel somehow, etc. As much as I would love to see this shit stop, I just don't see it as a viable option. The second we allow government to step into that kinda thing the second they'll step in and demand that we warp our kids' minds with religion instead. It'll backfire.
Anyway, that's my 2-cents.
yeah surfer, i know. i dont necessarily think the state should intervene with religion. the state lets people teach their kids whatever they want: nazi-ism, racism, religion, hatred, cooking, gender roles, and so on. they are passing their traditions along (although we dont always see them as societal norms) but they still have that right. it is a strange fine line. we cannot cross it because it would ruin society. but it makes me think...
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