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| No | 20% | 134 votes | Total: 668 votes | |
| Yes | 80% | 534 votes |
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Add to FavoritesIn order for parents to end hereditary religion, they must chose not to practice any religion at all. That only creates tension, and perhaps a feeling of resentment for their children.
I grew up in a very strict Roman Catholic household. I have a very large Italian family, and we all attended church together on Sunday. Growing up even though there were days I didn't feel like getting up early and getting dressed to go to church I did. Not because it made my mother happy or kept my grandmother quiet. I went because I always gave me the sense of belonging somewhere.
My brother left for the war in Iraq a couple years ago as a self proclaimed atheist. During his years he spent on military posts he consulted many different types of religious leaders, priests, rabbis, Etc. He always felt it was better to have faith in anything, than no faith at all.
In this day and age not that many families attend church every Sunday. I think that parents have a right to pass their beliefs to their children. I also believe that when their children are old enough to make their own religious choices that they should be free to do so.
My daughter is 4 months old, and will be baptized on Christmas Eve at midnight mass. I have decided to baptize her so that she understands her family's beliefs and way of life. If there every comes a day where she decides that Catholicism is not what she believes then I will support her 100% in whatever she chooses.
Children learn from their parent's example and then make their own ideas. So if parents would end religion, then children would grow up ignorant of the subject. Most parents these days introduce their child into a religion from birth. By the time your child is old enough to have their own thoughts; religion should be an open discussion.
I think that parents don't have the power to end hereditary religion, but I also think it's a bad idea in general. Giving a child something to believe in is great, and then when they decide that their faith is somewhere else you do what you can. You support them, and guide them.
By showing children that you as a parent have faith in something, is empowering to them. It let's them know that regardless of what they have faith in, that it's important to have faith.
Children always copy their parents, and when they are older they do whatever they can to not be like their parents. By the time your child or any child for that matter, grows up and is over the rebellious stage they will make their own choices, and have their own opinions. Each parent tries to set a good example for their child, and personally I think that showing your belief in a religion sets a great example for your child.
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Yes
Our religious beliefs are the fundamental source of our moral values and behaviors. Indeed religion has been the basis for the creation of civilization as we know it today. Our governments, legal systems and social behaviors have their roots in the predominant religion of our respective regions. Despite this underlying foundation of religious belief in our everyday life, organized religion itself is at one of its lowest points in recorded history. Attendance at various religious institutions is at abysmal levels and dropping annually. This is a clear sign that parents do have the power to end hereditary religion.
To a large extent hereditary religion stands against much of what most religions represent. Having another person, parent or otherwise impose their religious beliefs on you rather you accepting your beliefs is contrary to many religious teachings. Our beliefs make up our core, to have them instilled on us rather than embraced by us without choice hardly makes the faith imbued by these beliefs reality. Forcing someone to belief in a particular religion is no more effective than forbidding someone to believe in their religion of choice. This is a form of persecution that has been railed against by most western religions since their inception.
Many people fail to equate the pressures associated with hereditary religion with the persecution of Jews by the pagan of antiquity, or the Christians by the later Roman pagans. While there are obvious fundamental differences between the examples the underlying premise remains the same. Hereditary religious practices force children to be indoctrinated into a belief system they are incapable of understanding at such an young and unable to reject due to parental pressures. While we may not be throwing our children to the lions or enslaving them into perpetual bondage should they fail to embrace our own religious beliefs we are applying unreasonable pressures on them to meet our expectations.
There are clear arguments in favor of hereditary religious practices. The vast majority of world religions serve as an example of how to conduct oneself in a manner that is honorable and appropriate. We build our core set of morals from our religious beliefs and examples set by our religious leaders. In turn we learn how to interact within the bounds of acceptable behavior established by the society we live in, learning right from wrong. All of these things are a positive effect of hereditary religion, but do they justify the imposition of our religious beliefs upon our children?
All of the things mentioned above can be conveyed to our children through good sound parenting. If we take up the mantel of educating our children on what is right and what is wrong without the overtones of religion associated with the lessons, it does not make the lessons any less valid. We can teach our children how to behave properly without the need for a pastor preaching to us or a holy scripture illustrating an example. We can easily take the moral lessons from our religious teachings and convey them in a way in which the lesson is learned without the children having to blindly follow a faith they hardly understand.
Our religious beliefs should be a personal choice. They should in fact be the most personal of choices we have the privilege of making. We should be able to objectively look at the religions available to us, determine which best suits our needs and character and choose which is best for us. Not only is your religion there for you, but you are also there for your religion in a symbiotic relationship. As a result the match must be mutually beneficial to both sides rather than a blind decision made for you by someone else on your behalf before you are capable of understanding the significance of that choice. Parents have the ability to change this, and in many cases they already are. The unfortunate side effect of this is the lack of firm parenting and conveyance of moral values in the absence of hereditary religion. Removing religion from society is only effective if there is some other re-enforcing agent at work to ensure the moral fiber of society remains intact.
Learn more about this author, Joseph Whalen.
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