Is it fair to brainwash our children?

[Anonymous]

I get the how useful it is for humans to have morality and love of God but find it questionable to teach kids about just one religion because that's what I was taught by my parents who were taught by theirs.

I wonder if as parents its our responsibility to introduce them to all major religions, as well as concepts of agnosticism and atheism?

[Anonymous]

If nothing else, it would make them more tolerant and accepting of others. Teaching just one religion sounds a bit like reaching discrimination that somehow one religion is better than others.

[Anonymous]

*teaching

[Anonymous]

Why don’t you do what you want with your kids and let the rest of the world do what it wants with theirs.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it is your responsibility to show them the context in which your traditions exist. Including other world religions. Same for us atheists. I think it's just good well-rounded education to know what belief systems and traditions are out there.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it works to teach young kids multiple religions. It's already hard enough to teach one religion. I think the best that you can hope for is that your kid is flexible enough that when he/she gets older, he/she can be open-minded enough to learn about other religions. This requires teaching a kid nuance and the fact that the world is complicated and simplistic theories aren't always correct in practice, which is a non-trivial thing.

Teaching things to kids in narrative form (as religion does) works well because humans take to narratives very easily. Telling a story to convey a message is the best way to teach young kids something. Trying to teach kids multiple religions is like trying to teach kids multiple, contradictory stories. It's not going to work, if only because it's confusing because kids don't actually have any sense of perspective. The first religion that you teach is going to provide the perspective/lens through which a kid will understand things. This idea of teaching kids multiple religions comes from adults who want a certain end result but who have forgotten what it's actually like to be a young kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get the how useful it is for humans to have morality and love of God but find it questionable to teach kids about just one religion because that's what I was taught by my parents who were taught by theirs.

I wonder if as parents its our responsibility to introduce them to all major religions, as well as concepts of agnosticism and atheism?

This seems like a very Christian-centered view. We're Jewish. We don't "brainwash" our children at all. We teach and expose them the traditions of our ancestors. We're reform - I struggle with my idea of god and my husband doesn't believe in god at all. That's completely accepted in our synagogue and community. And we live in America where Jews make up 2% of the population and Christians make up 63% and completely dominate culturally so they learn plenty about that.

[Anonymous]

Part of being well educated is having at least some understanding of the world's major religions.

But teaching them the tenets of your and their own faith is no more a matter of "brainwashing" than is teaching them any of your other moral and ethical beliefs, such as environmental stewardship and opposition to racism.

[Anonymous]

I can only speak from my own experience being raised Mormon. We were talking taught that it was the only true church, and the other churches are called stuff like “the great and abominable church” and “the whore of the earth”. Fun stuff to learn as a kid! Of course most adult Mormons don’t actually believe that, but it was taught to me as a young kid in the 80’s.

I’m not religious now, but l find religions that are accepting of other religions (like Buddhism) more appealing.

[Anonymous]

Most people don’t know how to teach morality without religion.

[Anonymous]

My eldest kid is only 10 and I don’t need to “teach” these things. She has been exposed to Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Shintoism, atheism, and agnosticism simply by existing in the world and being an intellectually curious person.

How old are your kids that this is even a question?

[Anonymous]

We take our kids to church on occasion because I like the cultural aspects of it, and we talk with our kids generally about God or a possible higher power. But we also spend talk a lot about “some people believe X, some people believe Y, what do you think?” The goal is to have them be open minded and to have the ability to embrace a spiritual side of themselves if that becomes important to them.

They’ve already poked a ton of holes in some of the Christian stories and we’re not going to gaslight them with fantastical explanations of why there is only “one true religion.”

Also, we talk a lot about galaxy formation. And the miracle it is that we’re here. They know the statistical odds of being born, that life is precious and rare. They know we’re written up by a really complex code called DNA and we wonder what that means about our creation.

My kids are young (6 and 8) and able to have interesting conversations about this stuff, so I disagree with a PP who says it’s too confusing to teach your kids about more than one religion. We haven’t gone into atheism though because I want my kids to come to that one on their own if that is what they choose to believe.

[Anonymous]

I teach my kid what I believe and why and I tell them that other people believe other things. I think if these were any values and beliefs other than religious ones, we wouldn't be having this conversation. I believe it's wrong to hit people and I teach that, is that brainwashing? Plenty of people don't think it's wrong.

[Anonymous]

Teaching your children about your religious beliefs are not brainwashing.
As long as you teach them to be tolerant to other belief systems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people don’t know how to teach morality without religion.

One of the most moral, kind families I know is atheist/agnostic. They have 5 really good, well behaved, kind kids. You don’t need a God to teach children why they should be nice to others.

How about the golden rule, teaching empathy, explaining how societies work better when people follow laws (but also giving examples of when to speak up if someone is being treated unfairly), etc. In fact, I’d rather my kids have an internal moral compass than only do good things because they’re terrified of burning in hell.