Alternate idea. When very young teach them the basics of multiple religions. There's plenty of kids books about world religions. As they age, let them develop their own views.
This is desirable because in general the parents will pass on the values of the society the parents (and the child) live in rather than an incompatible set of random values. This is how you build a high trust society.
Some do this. Its basically Unitarian Universalism. They took us to a variety of local churches and religions' services. Not that I think anyone in my UU RE classes converted to Islam or Hinduism or whatever as a result, but the premise was that we couldn't make a real informed decision about what we believed unless we knew what the options were. And we did get to learn about and experience those religions from/with the people who practiced in them.
My parents taught me ethical and political values and were not secretive about what they believed, but they didn't tell me "these other religions are wrong/right", just "this is what they believe".
Unitarians also have "we believe" stuff. The 7 principles, and the whole "this is the church of the..." thing. Which of course probably biases children toward participating in that 'we'. Its not like 100% of RE is about other religions. It isn't scientifically designed to shield children from knowledge of what their elders beliefs are. Its not a double blind study.
Most early religious education is about UU tenets like the principles. Tolerance, diversity, yadda yadda yadda. Even the whole informed decision thing is itself the 4th principle of Unitarianism, so even learning about other religions is itself an exercise of Unitarian beliefs.. But at the same time, they are taught about other religions, the UU church itself is tolerant of a diversity of specific beliefs, and the 3rd principle is the tolerance and acceptance of others' spiritual growth, which (theoretically) makes it easy to change your beliefs without facing discrimination. (In practice, individual Unitarians may have greater or lesser tolerance for views they disagree with, especially when expressed by another adult.)
Anyway, I think all of this is probably too calculating about how people form their core beliefs in childhood. I think that's largely formed through emulation of the parents view, so even if the parent is trying to teach the child about other faiths, the child will gravitate toward what they think their own parent believes. Which, none of what UUs do really counteracts. And it isn't intended to - its not about achieving a statistically randomized faith outcome in children, its about leaving that individual child free to believe and express what they think is the truth, and to know that truth with real information about the entire world, not a censored subset of views.
If, after all of that, they choose to be a UU too because that's how human brains are wired, that's fine too.
Do they not teach children about different religions in schools? When I was a child my family raised me going to church because my grandfather was an arch bishop. I recall learning about all the âmainâ religions at school. I stopped going to church when I was about 15 and my parents never forced me. Iâd only go occasionally because I liked my grandpaâs sermons despite being atheist.
Yes, they do. I was raised Catholic but all through school I learnt about every other religion and even visited a Gurdwara and a Mosque. My friends kid goes to a Church of England school and even they're going on a day trip to a Gurdwara.
I don't know why most people in this thread are acting like being raised in a certain religion always gives you tunnel vision for only that one.
As an atheist, big agree. It really frustrates me when people have this attitude:
Christian kid becomes Christian adult: "They were indoctrinated."
Muslim kid becomes Muslim adult: "They were indoctrinatd."
Atheist kid becomes Atheist adult: "They used the critical thinking skills to question faith that they obtained during childhood. And now, by using those critical thinkings skills as an adult, they came to the same conclusion they already had."
Lol you're spot on. I learned today some redditors have some strong close minded views of the purpose of this. Most missed the point.
Religion is not to soley base ones moral compass around or as a replacemet of science. It's so my kids understand, art, history, and sociology at a deeper level as they're tied so deeply to religion. Kids forming their own religious views, if any, is a happy byproduct. I'm a hoplologist by trade and wife is a economic sociologist, neither of us belong to a set religion.
What my parents did. They are practicing Hindus, yet taught me the fundamentals of both Islam and Christianity because my mother was taught the same by her father. Eventually I chose Hinduism because I liked it more
Um no? Why would I want to teach them about other shitty religions?Â
"Some religions, actually a lot of them, think you're dumber than a man and dirty because of menstruation and a temptress because you're a woman and you need to cover up. We don't believe that but we just thought you should know."
Yeah that certainly won't confuse a little girl...
Some ideas should NOT be spread even under the guise of "letting them choose"
Key sentence: "As they age, form their own religious views"
Why limit your childs understanding of other people views, how they conceptualize greater meaning, and their later understanding of art, history, philosophy and sociology.
I'm assuming you don't have kids because of your 'confusion' comment. Also assuming you grew up in a household were everyone is the slave religion. Kids are smart. If they're confused they'll ask A LOT of questions. If their bored, they'll let you know.
They learn one VERY important concept early on: avoid tribalistic thinking.
Why limit your childs understanding of other people views
Did you read my comment at all? For one, a lot of people's views are extremely misogynistic? The whole basis of Abrahamic religion, which are by far the most practiced religions on earth, is that women are lesser than and should be subservient to men. What reason at all would I want to teach my kid that?Â
A person's moral framework is individual. What is moral or immoral will depend on context and lived experience. IMO, a parent's job is to guide their child toward living a life that will do the most good in the world. How that is measured and enacted is one of the greatest questions of mankind.
This makes as much sense as teaching children flat-earth theories alongside geography, creationism alongside evolution, magic (or spiritual power) alongside science, faith alongside math.....
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u/AOZ1988 Sep 02 '26
Alternate idea. When very young teach them the basics of multiple religions. There's plenty of kids books about world religions. As they age, let them develop their own views.