Image via Wikipedia

Richard Collins (please see his guest post here for more information) just recently posted the following in an online forum:

It’s pretty obvious that, for the vast majority of the earth’s population, a person’s belief is due to the happenstance of their birth. If your parents are Muslim, it is highly likely you are Muslim. If, however, your parents are Christian, then you are likely Christian. God help you if the stork deposited you in a household where your parents had different faiths unless they are sainted.

Shouldn”t children be raised in such a way that keeps all their future options open? No toddler looks up at their parents and says: I want to be a Muslim, or I want to be a Christian. Rush me into your religion before I get old enough to make my own choice. Early indoctrination is likely to stick for a lifetime and for some children the concepts they encounter in religion are frightening and may pose risks to their mental health.

Instead, why not teach children about all the religions in the world and explain the history of each and why different regions are inhabited by people who sincerely believe such different stories about the origin of the earth, the beginnings of life, and how belief in god or gods got started.

Certainly, around the world today, parents everywhere have the right to influence their children’s thinking in almost anyway imaginable (no laws yet against teaching even hate). Consequently, many people believe that non-adult children have no rights of religious freedom. However, this is changing now as the status of children is being evaluated and they are being recognized as having distinct rights, including the right to their own ideas about religion.

The first response came from a lady with the handle, “rabbitgirl”:

My children are currently being raised Roman Catholic. IF they wish to change faith or, indeed, turn away from any faith at all, in the future then that will be their choice and they can follow their own hearts at that time. 

My children ARE taught about all the different (major) religions of the world….. indeed I find the whole subject very interesting and know a goodly amount about different faiths myself anyway. Being a Catholic DOES NOT prevent one from embracing another faith any some time in the future and I would support my children if that was their decision. BUT I am not doing them any harm in raising them in my own faith at this time. They attend a Catholic school and get an excellent education, they attend mass on Sundays (and other holy days) which takes up an hour of their day (I fail to see what harm this does to them), my daughter has opted to be an altar server, my daughter has made her First Holy Communion and in a couple of years time will be due to make her confirmation. At that time it will be HER choice as to whether or not she makes an adult commitment to my faith, she may wish to defer that decision (many young Catholics do) or she may decide to turn away at that time. I know I did at her age……….. but I returned to the Church when I was older having investigated some other options.

Such a response, I am afraid, is probably not at all uncommon. This woman wants to maintain an appearance of open-mindedness and fairness, but at the same time she is not willing to let go of the control she asserts over her children when it comes to making them go through the entire Catholic indoctrination process. Her children do not get a choice until they are older, by which point they have already been firmly immersed within Catholic doctrine and beliefs. Notice how she says that “at that time [after comfirmation] it will be HER choice as to whether or not she makes an adult commitment to my faith” (emphasis added). Well, gee, you have already forced the child to make a commitment to your faith. What kind of choice is that, really?

In other words, “you can decide whether or not to commit to my faith but only after you have formally committed and initiated yourself into my Church (in this case, the confirmation ceremony).”

Essentially, the implication here is that children are not mature enough to make their own decisions when it comes to religion, so as a child that decision must be made for them. But if the decision is made for them throughout their childhood, how can one expect that same child to be fully equiped to make his or own decision once he or she is a full grown adult? 

Imagine that this women wasn’t talking about Catholicism but, rather, said:

“I am going to raise my child as a racist until she grows up, at which point she is free to make her own choices concerning which types of people she wants to hate.”

Or how about:

“I am going to raise my child as a right-wing Republican until she grows up, at which point she is free to choose her own political orientation.”

How are these any different than saying, “I am going to raise my child as a Catholic until she grows up, at which point she is free to choose her own religion”?

How willing will the child be to turn against her parent’s beliefs after 18 years of being taught that it is the truth, as opposed to another child who is raised to have a good understanding of the world’s diversity and taught critical thinking skills rather than doctrine?

The problem is that religious parents like this Catholic women are generally convinced that they have the truth and that this should not be withheld in any way from their children. Is there any way around this problem? How can we convince religious parents that religious indoctrination is unfair to children? What do you think?