Thread: Do parents have the right to decide which religion their child falls in?

It is ultimately most surprising to me that people focus so much on religion and the goodness in religion vs focussing on just being decent people. Is it necessary for a book to tell people to be decent? Should our duty as parents not be first and foremost to bring decent human beings into this overcrowded planet?

As a child to elders of various religious beliefs, I find it hard to submit myself to any particular belief when I see no end of people who claim to be religious and yet lack simple basic human decency. The fundamental teachings in most religions are about respect for others and kindness. Yet I see people who claim to be religious cause grief to others on a daily basis - smoking, bad driving, rudeness, inconsideration, the list goes on endlessly.

Although somewhat off-topic in my post, I think we ought to educate our children first to be decent human beings. We should share with them what religions are out there, including what we personally believe in (if any). I am agnostic, and expose my own children to major religions in my country. I tell them that all religions ultimately teach what we fundamentally want for them to be - decent. In their own time, they will decide what they want for themselves.

And for what it's worth, if we are bothered to seriously contemplate this question, remember actions speak louder than words - so don't bother to speak if your actions contradict your words. I would not preach freedom of choice and either openly or subtly shun religions.

Parents should have the right to teach their children to which religion they should fall in. This is acceptable to a certain amount of age, and they can choose for themselves. I believe in truly finding the right answer is doing your own quest for eternal enlightenment!

Originally Posted by InsanePinoyBoy

Parents should have the right to teach their children to which religion they should fall in. This is acceptable to a certain amount of age, and they can choose for themselves. I believe in truly finding the right answer is doing your own quest for eternal enlightenment!

I agree with you on this one. :) - Everyone has the right to choose but there's no problem with the parent(s) being the primary influence(s).

perents are showing them a way till they are older.
see i do in a way belive that but then i dont.

christians get baptised - most get done as a baby.
but as the perents choice not the child.
they learn it & live with it

now the child is older now a man or a woman.
they might not want to be a christian but they might feel
since they have be baptised they are going back on god.


i reckon that a person religion must be desided by them self.
as the saying goes "its my life, i chose what to do and belive"

I was raised in a Catholic family. After years of “pondering”, I decided that Catholicism, and religion in general, wasn’t for me.

However, I think people are delusional if they feel that introducing children to religion is somehow harmful. There is a little word called ‘rationality’ that you should probably familiarize yourself with. Everything you teach your child – whether it’s religion or how to ride a bike – can be harmful if taught without good judgment.

Following the same logic as some of these responses, I suppose that if I raise my kid in America I shouldn’t teach them to be proud of their country. After all, if you dig deep in to history then you’ll find that this country started wars, enslaved blacks, etc. Alternatively, I could teach my kid that large groups of people – regardless of what they're affiliated with – often have bad seeds. Just because there have been wars over religion doesn’t mean my kid is going to turn in to a war monger by going to church or youth group every once in a while.

Personally, I’d rather be raised in a religious family that emphasized the importance of community and being kind to your fellow man. I don’t have to retain my parents religious beliefs in order for these great principles to rub off on me. People who think their kids have “rights” and influence them to think for themselves at an age they can’t are going to be in for a big surprise when their children hit puberty.

I'm much more worried about the people who are borderline psychotic when it comes claiming how ignorant religion is instead of the harmless Christian family that goes to church every Sunday and strive to be good citizens. I don't believe in God, but I'm not about to hate someone that does or think that I'm intellectually superior to them.

I think that parents do have that right. Religion is not only a belief in smth afterworld, soul salvation etc., it's also a way of living, acting, mindset towards real things in the real world surrounding us. Christians and Muslims for example are different, no use arguing who is better or worse, they're just different. If your child (who will definetely differ from you and the whole previous generation of parents in general, as the world is changing and changes our minds accordingly) will also differ from you in religion, it'd be very hard to find common ground with him/her during his/her formation and growth. Bearing in mind that any youth is filled with maximalism and denial, it's normal. If your child takes such decision of choosing/changing religion being about 25 y.o. and over, that would already look like a conscious and measured decision, no point fighting that. But if he/she's a teen, chances are such a choice/change of religion on their own might be just because it's "kinda cool staff". A bit different than choosing new shoes or mp3 player, so might be harmful for you both in your actual and future relationship.

Parents should't force their children to any religion, but if they don't there's a big chance that their children would't practice any religion. If they're practising one, they gonna learn more about other religions too, so they can choose what they consider to be the most suitable for them, if they aren't practising any religion they might don't care about any of them.

It's true, no one should be forced into something they either don't want or don't understand, it's abussive. Now, how do you prevent religious parents from passing that "stuff" (I wanted to use another word, but I don't want to lose my rag lol) to their kids when they actually believe that's the very best for them?
I think the best way to prevent this kids from becoming narrow minded people is giving them other perspectives, the only place they could find that is laical education.
I strongly believe that's the ultimate chance. And at last, but definetely not least, religion is a very powerfull tool of coersion, conservative parties, that rely on these tools, are not gonna give them up just that easily.


Oh, and I forgot to suggest an excelent film called "Camino", it's spanish, but I'm sure you'll find the subs somewhere. Go grab the torrent! I got it from TL, so I know it's there...

i don't think so........it is upto to him wen he grows up :)