by Andy Heintz

Created on: August 17, 2008

Parents should let their children decide what religion best suits them. There is no more important freedom than the freedom to think. Parents who only expose their child to one religion are putting constraints on his or her capacity for rational thought. They are preventing them from understanding their future classmates and fellow employees who practice a different faith than them.

I am not someone who believes that religion can only lead to people engaging in immoral activities. There are many great things about religion. Religion can give people a sense of meaning. Many people would not give money to charities if the Bible did not talk about the importance of helping the poor. Religion can also bring people together and provide a person going through a tough time something to believe in. But religion can also lead people to be intolerant of others.

It isn't healthy to teach children that religion should be their all encompassing identity. In his book Identity and ViolenceThe Illusion of Destiny, Amartya Sen states, "while religious categories have received much airing in recent years, they cannot be presumed to obliterate other distinctions, and even less can they be seen as the only relevant system of classifying people across the globe."
Human beings possess several identities besides our religious affiliations. These other identities are based on factors like our hobbies, nationalities, political beliefs, social status, gender and language.

I think the most dangerous thing about religion is its inclusiveness. For those of us who would like to see a world where everyone is judged by their actions instead of their color, gender, nationality or religious affiliation this makes us uneasy. I personally am a believer in god, but the idea that you have to believe in a Christian god in order to get to heaven doesn't make any sense to me. Surely the man who runs a non-profit hospital in Sudan should be allowed into heaven despite the fact that he is a Buddhist. I hope most people would agree the Sikh woman who spent her lifesavings building an orphanage for abandoned and abused children in Zimbabwe should be let through the pearly gates despite her religious affiliation. Shouldn't the Jewish woman who spends her whole life helping the less fortunate be given a spot in heaven? Or what about the atheist fireman who died trying to save complete strangers from a burning fire? Does he not deserve to go to heaven?

These are questions I constantly ask myself as I try to find a way to converge my love for Jesus Christ with my hatred of absolutism. One thing I have decided is that to deny a person a spot in heaven solely based on his religious beliefs is immoral. A person life should be judged by his actions, not his religious beliefs. I believe parents should think twice before ever telling their children that the only way to have eternal life is to follow the path promoted by their religion. This message will only bring more division and violence to a world that already has enough to deal with.

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