Born Atheist
Do Children Have a Right to Be Religious? A Christian friend of mine asked me, and I’m paraphrasing, “What if your child wanted to go to church with her friends? What would you do?” First off, there is no easy or straightforward answer to this question as there are several things to consider first. For example, much of what certain religious faiths teach is “adult” oriented in content. Young children ought not be exposed without parental supervision. In fact, Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ didn’t get a hard R rating for nothing. As far as I’m concerned the atonement story about Christ’s death and resurrection shouldn’t be taught to underage children. For the same reason not all Brother’s Grimm stories are suitable reading for young children either. Some fables are, some aren’t. The bottom line is that the discretion of the parents, or legal guardian, is vital in any child’s development. But a good parent doesn’t needlessly expose their child to violent material if ...