Do atheists indocrinate their children into their belief system?

ditto

 

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From what I have seen in this thread, all athiest parents pass on their beliefs if not about God, then certainly about other religions to their children, carefully ensuring that the point of view that emerges reflects their own. Not one athiest for example, brought up one child as a Muslim, another as a Christian etc. So yes, I do wonder at the duplicity of those who call theists child abusers for following their own beliefs.

 

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Theist's may give reasons, however delusional, but they demand their children accept those reasons uncritically.

If you offered your children the same reasons, that's fine. If you offered reasons to not believe, that's fine too.

But, to demand your children accept those reasons uncritically, either way, that would be indoctrination.

 

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That's inane!
By the way, how many Muslims have brought up their children as Baltic pagans, Japanese animists or Catholic christians?
Double standards again, Sam.

 

The abuse is in using fear (of things that don't exist) to control your children.

 

Like the school shooting in Finland by an athiest who saw himself as a godlike athiest who was removing the defective people from the gene pool?

 

My parents are Catholics, they never tried to indoctrinate me into Catholic faith, instead they respected me and let me choose to believe in whatever I wished to, and bought me any mythology books that I asked them to.

And I respect them greatly for that.

 

I'm not the one claiming that athiests who do not bring up their children as thiests are child abusers.

All parents use fear in some way to bring up their children.

By your decree reading fairy tales with witches and goblins should be banned.

 

So, as we have clearly demonstrated, mass killings have nothing to do with theism or atheism, but with mental illness.

 

I would hope that all parents push no specific religious view on their children at all. Should the child be pushed into believing in satanism just because you do? Education is a different matter entirely and should be done in a non-bias, vastly encompassing manner. I understand that time constraints make it difficult for schools, but they should allot equal time for every religious belief or none at all.

 

Were you ever told that witches and goblins are real? I wasn't. I've read fairy tales since I was 2 years old, I remember most I have read since I was 4, I never believed in any of the fairy creatures to be real.
Nobody ever told me that the nine-headed hell demon king is real. It was a fairy tale, a fantasy adventure, a dream.

 

While I continue my obviously thought-provoking review of Dawkins, I'll answer some comments:

Have I done so? Certainly not. But it cannot contrarily be said that only theists are, either.

This is a generalization. You omit the philosophical nature of same; and you label the reasoning of theists as delusional, whatever the thought behind it. This is a label, and an unfair one. I know of few theists who demand uncritical observation of any doctrine.

Best,

Geoff

 

I brought my children up to be staunch atheists. I remember the fun we had standing around bonfires of bibles, cursing Krishna, belittling Buddha, jeering at Jesus and so on. It was our reuglar entertainment when there was nothing good on TV. We stole Gideon bibles from hotels to keep our stocks up, as wellas visiting churches for extra supplies.

I thought them to love money, the virtues of greed, how to fill their bellies and throw uo so they could eat more, to spit on the poor, to kick beggars, and numerous other necessary activities to enable them survive in today's religion-mad, harsh world.

I am proud of my achievements as a responsible parent.

 

Tsk tsk. All right, let's save the invective, shall we?

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You know what they say: the truth often hurts.

 

No Sam, you're twisting things to suit your warped view, that's all. There's a whole bunch of things I don't beleive in, your god is no more significant amongst them than anything else, and therefore you cannot group people by what they do not believe in, and therefore there is nothing to falsify.

You're just a dishonest twister.

And that would have been just as loaded and fallcious, and you'd still be a twisting liar.

 

How do you call people who don't believe in dragons? There must be loads of them!
And just to think that most parents don't tell their children of the possibility that dragons might be real.

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Every child should be bought a copy of Reign of Fire or some similar film.

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Not sure how this thread could end but let's face it -

1. Some religious parents will do their best to insist their kids think like them.

2. Some religious parents will allow their kids to find their own way.

3. Some non-religious parents will insist their kids avoid religion.

4. Some non-religious parents will allow their kids to find their own way.

Unless there is a significant in depth poll on the subject I do not see we can reach any conclusions about who is likely to be indoctrinating or not.

There are strong feelings on both sides.

For me, I am a Libertarian, I strongly support the freedom of the individual and non interference from external influences. In this regard my outlook is to allow my kids to find their own way by seeking knowledge and understanding.

I you tend towards the right and authoritarianism then you will more likely tend to overtly influence how you want your children to think and act, whether you are religious or non-religious.

 

Excellent conclusion, Cris, I agree.

 

Thats a very fair summation Cris, thanks.