If I have a child, why would I bring it up christian?

[shivvy]

Ok - I wouldn't mind believeing in a faith but I just find it sooo hard to buy the christian story.
I have been raised Catholic but have no connection to it the whole tenet being totally unbelieveable. In every other aspect of my life, I would expect/demand some kind of evidence before I would believe something but with christianity we are expected to believe what is in essence 'fokelore'.
I am genuinely interested in this question and am not looking for cheap responses.
What would be the detriment to a child to be brought up in no religion?

[spudqueen]

I went to Church and Sunday school as a child, but have since made my own mind up (too long to explain here), but I do not believe in the God of the Bible. I was not married in a Church and my two sons have not been christened. However, they have attended church primary schools (CofE), but really because they were the best schools in the area. I have no problem with the ten commandments and many of the teachings of the Bible, in fact I think that they provide a good basis for society, so I had no problem with my children being taught about Christianity, or other religions for that matter, I mean, how are they meant to make their mind up if they don't know about religion. I have taken them to Church for Christingle and parade service (when they were in beavers and cubs), at least they know how to behave in Church which is no bad thing. My eldest son (now 15) has made his own mind up and doesn't believe in God, the younger son (12) I don't think believes in God, but it's up to him to decide what (if anything) to believe in.
So all in all I don't think there's any detriment to a child being brought up with no religion. If they do decide to become a Christian at some later stage in their life they can be baptised then. In fact my Mother-in-law was confirmed only a couple of years ago when she was over 70.

[johnlambert]

Read the 10 commandments and bring your child up to respect those rules. you dont have to be a christian to live your life by these guidlines

[beryllium]

alrighty.... I'll go with the man commandments then lol........

http://www.biblepicturegallery.com/free/Pics/1 0_Comm.gif

[WendyS]

I think this is about young children being reared with a solid sense of values which have to come from somewhere. If we were brought up with no values or respect for society we would all be running around like savages. Many religions, Christian, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, etc, have many basic values in common which focus around being honest and caring citizens in the culture in which they live. If you don't want your child to be raised in a relgious background, how would you teach him/her that it was wrong to steal, to be violent,., to kill, to be selfish and all the other good attributes of human nature. Most of the better sides of our characters are in some way moulded by religious tenets and beliefs. If a child is not bought up with any religious background at all, how will they have the knowledge to decide whether or not to adopt or reject it when they become an adult and have the power to reason things out for themselves?

[beryllium]

Were the people that existed before a group following so bad? why did it take a leader? and myths of spirits? of a Jesus existing? of gods that no one ever saw? to make a race of good people? well.... actually... that's rubbish lol...

There will always be good and bad.

[Jennykins]

When ever I see talks to do with God or religion on AB there is such a huge negative response towards it... Im not from Europe and have never been there.. Im from British Columbia Canada.. Spiritual wars do not and have not ever gone on here, people are not judged at all about what faith they chose to have or not to have, And religion here is noticed as very positive thing to be apart of. People are taught to love the earth and the people on it.. People are not taught if you don't listen to God then you will be punished or go to hell... Your not perfect ... I guess what Im saying is... Canada has a wide rage of people that make this country.. and I have never been a place where so many people have been used by religion in hatred ways that have lead to wars and killing people. Its amazing what humans will do when you hand them a bit of knowledge and power.. Some will lead, and some will destroy.

[Octavius]

You can�t blame everything on the bible and Christianity. The pre-Christian era was no angel when it came to beliefs and religion. Although many forms of neo-paganism existed then as they do today, they more often than not in previous times involved human sacrifice (even the tree huggers would have strangled a slave to appease their own Gods) and this is well documented and evidenced throughout our 10,000 years or so history.

Christianity seems an easy target to malign, and if it makes someone better to do so (as with other religions that we don�t agree with) then so be it. But there is, was and always has been belief, superstitions and faith in theism or polytheism � whether that be a beardy bloke in the sky, a mummified crocodile, and Emperor, the moon and the sun, magpies or the one-eyed toad god � so as I said previously answers to such questions come from within and you are free to choose what to or not to believe in.

And I agree with the sentiment that if you can live by your own moral code, such as that of the 10 commandments or similar, and raise your children with the same values then you don�t need really need religion.

[ludwig]

Heard this on the radio once, can't remember who said it, but I think he had a point..

Without religion everything's straightforward - good people do good things and evil people do evil things. The only time good people start doing evil things is when you introduce religion.

[bounceagain]

Christian talks about forgiving, which is very good but sometimes may lead to, people taking advantage of you as you are likely to forgive?! If this makes any sense. x

[jake-the-peg]

The only reason I can see is if you believe Christianity to be true

I am always coming across people who want to believe something because they think it will improve their lives or something.

I simply cannot understand this - you can't simply believe something because you think you'll get something out of it.

I don't think a child will suffer any detriment from being brought up without a religion, but I think trying to put a religion on a child that you don't believe yourself is asking for trouble later on.

As for ethical and moral backgrounds some of the most ethical people have been athiests or agnostics - Bertram Russell, Albert Einstein.

Religion does not make people good

[Aquagility]

There are many answers to this fascinating question on this thread, some of them quite lengthy.
The one which comes nearest to the truth, in my view, is the one by ludwig, above.

I commend it to you.

[Kim A]

I believe that if you bring a child up within a clear set of boundaries, to understand its place in the world and how its actions and behaviour will have consequences which affect both it and others around it, you can't go wrong. You don't need a formalised religion to lead a good life.

[jno]

Christianity, and other religions, have long provided an ethical framework for living, even if you don't believe everything the religion's texts say. For instance, you could think a good Christian lived a good life even if you didn't believe in Adam and Eve for a moment.

As several people have pointed out, you don't actually need to be religious to have ethics. All the same, I suspect that quite a lot of kids who are brought up without religious instruction aren't getting much education in good behaviour at all. Some parents use their own lack of belief in God as an excuse not to teach their kids right from wrong at all. (I could be wrong here, but my own impression is that young people are more selfish and less altruistic towards others than they were 50 years ago. Not all of them, but many.)

Anyway, no, if you can't accept the major beliefs of Christianity it's probably pointless to try teaching them to your children. But do try to give them some sort of ethical structure to their lives.

[AlMac11]

I believe it is morally reckless to brainwash your child. We cannot even imagine what we do to children by making them believe they risk eternal suffering in hell. Instinctively, children believe what their parents tell them and tis idea would lead them to believe that you should not do bad things because you will be burned in hades. You shouldnt be doing bad things because they hurt others, not for the prior reason.

Scienece has pretty much proved the bible wrong on everything and so i dont see the need to fill up childrens heads with tos more fanciful and unrealistic than a dan brown novel. Take Noah for instance. It did not rain for 40days and 40 nights and flood the world as science has proved that their is not enough water to do this. Sorry if ive made points already expressed, couldnt be bothered reading all of them.

[RATTER15]

AlMac11, on the subject of Noah,
just how big was this boat?
How long did it take him to build this boat?
how long did it take him to get together 2 of every species, how did he even know what species were out there, he had never seen most of them and they had not been documented?
where did he store all the food?
How did he stop all the animals from eating each other?
How did he prevent disease?
Where has all that water gone now?

It would take years even with today's technology!!

Such a story could only be found in the Bible LOL

[johnlambert]

RATTER, the Bible is not to be taken as the 100% truth. True there was a flood, it's probable that Noah tried to save some animals, obvously it would be impossible to save every single one, however, history has proved that there WAS a flood, and a story was built around that.
IMO (as a practicing Christian) the Bible can be taken in a number of ways
1) As the word of God, (ie, you belive it word for word)
2) As a guide to living your life (look at the 10 commandments, Jesus' teachings etc)
3) As an historical document (Moses, Noah, Jesus et al were all real life people)

[Octavius]

It would appear that many people have the view that today�s Christians hold medieval principles of eternal damnation and sin and use that to �brainwash� children.

I am content to accept that humanity doesn�t need a structured religion although I choose to do otherwise, and it would seem that so much anti-Christian sentiment is focused on the misguided literal interpretation of the bible and the actions of Dominican monks in the 12th & 13th century.

I am sure most Christians today don�t use the eternal fires of hell as a threat to their children, rather they �brainwash� them in other ways such as being on Santa�s naughty list, or the tooth fairy, the wicked witch of the west and the monster under the stairs.

I am not a bible basher, but I can see meaning within it - whether allegorical or otherwise even if it isn�t entirely factual truth. Rather than provide a reasonable argument against the beliefs that Christians hold, you are showing your own ham-fisted attempts to disparage what has been written in the bible. Who here is asking you to accept it and believe it?

If you don�t understand the bible, and really wish to question the contents against proof, then (whilst I wouldn�t do it myself) why not pop along to Sunday school and be enlightened rather than misinformed. Understanding it is about interpreting what meaning you get from it (like in Shakespeare etc) not necessary believing in literary facts.

[jno]

Noah's flood is not only found in the Bible, believe it or not. It appears in other Middle Eastern history too. Its origin is almost certainly that at the end of the ice age, the Black Sea was a freshwater lake. As the oceans rose when the ice melted, they suddenly forced salt water up through the Bosphorus (past Istanbul) and into the Black Sea, which then rose rapidly. Archaeologists have found the remains of fishing villages on what would have been the shoreline about 7000 years ago but is now deep underwater. Obviously people living in this region thought the entire world was being flooded. Their world certainly was. So there are cases where science proves the Bible was right. The business about the ark and two of every animal, though, is a folk tale thought up to explain the surivival of animal life after the flood, coupled with a religious explanation (God doing it to punish the wicked world.)

[mibn2cweus]

Dependence on centuries old religious edicts for guidance in today's changing world shows there is a vacuum in our knowledge of what constitutes ethical behavior. While they may have helped in developing cohesive tribal relationships the worlds peoples are much more interconnected now requiring agreement across tribal lines on what is mutually beneficial for interpersonal and political relationships. With advances in technology disagreements have a much greater potential for destructive consequences. A more detailed and in depth look at the moral basis for what we consider to be right and wrong is an ongoing question with answers that must accompany developments in technology and more interactive populations. Reasonable behaviors can only be determined through reasoned analysis and blind obedience does not satisfy this requirement.

That said we must start somewhere before any improvements can follow. The need for clearly defined better alternatives is evident and satisfying this need equally important.

[RATTER15]

johnlambert, I accept what you say, but surely the bible was was written to be believed not interpreted as one feels most comfortable with, is it being hypocritical to only believe the parts you are comfortable with and dismiss the parts you are not.

I'm not having a go, its just a subject I'm interested in.