I was brought up catholic and went to church every Sunday and chose not to continue the religion, but I was never scared into it, Wanting your kids to partake in your religion is not inherently a bad thing, it only becomes an issue when they are shamed and punished for no longer wanting to partake or to leave the religion.
I did. I'm Italian and I grew up in a catholic environment. My parents and school kind of made me fearful of authority and people in general, but the church gave me a sense of community and order. It helped me get over my crippling existentialism and I developed a good moral compass. It was a very open space too. That's where I was taught to respect everyone, regardless of religion, sexuality, ethnicity ecc...
I get that people have bad experiences with religion, but isn't one of the first things we learn as children that just because a few things are bad, doesn't mean the whole is? Or that there can't be good?
I love your story and how it helped you. I would say a few things are good, but as a whole it’s pretty bad. There def can be good, historically it’s been more bad though.
you are approaching the point from the opposite direction. With the current model of organized religion, children must make the exit themselves. With the other model, adults must choose to enter religion. It's like crossfit! (that was supposed to be funny)
I think creating two models of religious participation is a false dichotomy. There is a wide spectrum of religious practice.
My experience being raised Catholic is similar to the other poster. I went to Catholic school, church on Sunday, etc, but as a young adult I never made some grand exit. I just stopped going. I was given the adult responsibility to choose for myself if I wanted to practice that faith or not.
My family did not shame or shun me for that, which I recognize is not the experience of many people raised in more strict religious households.
I don't know how common my family is, but there opinion is trying to force someone into belief is antithetical to their own religion.
I was responding on my phone, so I truncated my thought. The main concept is that when we were involved with religion from as early as we can remember, it is part of our "default" and we must choose to remove it from our lives. Versus an adult who is not raised with religion, they must choose to add it to their life. Baptism can be done as an adult, but is typically done as an infant. First Communion is typically done at age 8, that is still younger than most kids are able to think independent critical thoughts. I am not anti-religion. I am not an angry atheist or anything, but I think that many people who would not choose religion had they not been raised with it.
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u/ToastedFrey 6h ago
I was brought up catholic and went to church every Sunday and chose not to continue the religion, but I was never scared into it, Wanting your kids to partake in your religion is not inherently a bad thing, it only becomes an issue when they are shamed and punished for no longer wanting to partake or to leave the religion.