Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheese
Yes correct, 3 year olds cant make decisions other than "I must eat that candy now"!! Others make those decisions for them, hence the impressions that are placed on that childs life. Once they are able to make decisions most parents still prefer to over rule and manage their childrens lives, for good or bad. Your right about the fact that later in life they can change or make decisions on their own, but in a lot of cases there are huge scars left to deal with and emotional baggage that weighs them down.
here's some of that baggage...
http://www.exmormon.org/stories.htm
http://new.exchristian.net/
excerpt from one...
Brought up in a Baptist heavily religious home in the UK....
Trouble is when you’re brought up in such a domineering environment there is bound to be some deep seated effect and eventually when I reached 20 I returned home (having left at 16) without a job or money and dreading living with my mother. In truth I was very vulnerable and I began to crack under the inevitable pressure to give my life to god. So I did – what a mistake – I went along and joined the merry brigade with all the hands in the air and speaking in tongues – believing everything I was brainwashed with and became a shadow of myself.
After a year or so my entire instinct was to run a mile but now I’m hooked in and worried about what the church will think but more importantly “what god will think of me”.
I had developed the fear – you know the one - fear of disapproval from god, fear of hell, fear of the devil prowling around like a lion – fear of blasphemy – fear of sex before marriage – literally anything and everything. I hated my life but felt like such a coward daring not to stand up to any of them. I became so disillusioned as my only real prayer was to stop feeling so worthless and hope to be more confident in myself – no change at all. I got married and when my wife told me she was expecting our first child that just did it for me.
I said to myself no way was any child of mine going to suffer the misery I did – no way on earth am I going to bring them up with this stupid dreadful religion stuffed down their throats. |
You're confusing the religion with its followers. The God with the Christian.
Just because some parents are kooks doesn't make their God any less valid. Every religion (or lack thereof) has parents who indoctrinate their kids and instill fear, abuse, and such. Doesn't even mean the parents are following the religion properly, whether they think they are or not.
Ghandi said once, "I like their Christ, I don't like their Christians" or something to that effect.