Religion
In reply to the discussion: I wish you wouldn't force your beliefs on me! [View all]Starboard Tack
(11,181 posts)I feel for the children of any parents who force them to attend church, Sunday school or listen to any kind of dogma. I feel for children whose parents have them mutilated for religious reasons. I feel for the children of those who claim to have irrefutable knowledge.
I was fortunate, in that my parents neither encouraged nor discouraged me from attending church. Neither of them attended, except for weddings and funerals. Same with my grandparents. My brother and I decided on our own to start attending, around age 11. Lasted about 5 or 6 years for both of us. Interestingly, we attended different churches. Mostly, it was a social thing. I never met anyone who took it too seriously, including the vicar. My interest faded fairly rapidly as my interest in the opposite sex, including both the vicar's daughters, grew at the same rate. Of course, this was all in jolly old England, where very few take religion seriously.
My own daughter grew up in the heart of the Bible Belt, surrounded by born again fundies. We had our one and only fight about religion when she was 6. It was about dinosaurs and creation and grandma and the preacher etc.. I explained that different people believed different things and that whatever anyone said, she should listen to them, but take nothing at face value, especially if it claimed to be the truth. Eventually, she would figure it out for herself. I think that was the day she became agnostic, which she is today. Like myself and her mother, she embraces and respects people of all faiths and beliefs and eschews extremism in all it's forms. BTW, she recently married a practicing Muslim and a truly great guy.