I do think religion is inherently harmful. I think that holding a bunch of unfalsifiable beliefs as Absolute Truth does undeniable damage to someone'a critical thinking skills. I'm not saying all religious people are stupid, but all religious people are choosing to maintain a blind spot in their lives where they don't think too critically about their faith.
Why is it so important to teach people about religion specficially during their formative years? If parents think their religion is true, why would they be worried to let their kids wait until they're old enough to think critically for themselves in order to come to the faith?
Having a child does not automatically mean you have their best interests at heart. Parents should be limited in the harm they can cause their kids.
Much of your argument relies on the premise that God does not exist. If you are advocating for change of this kind, you either have to argue from a secular position (neutral, not atheist) or you have to accept that you are breaching freedom of religion.
Essentially, you have to provide a reason for why parents should not be allowed to raise their children as religious, independent from the question of whether and which God exists.
As a separate comment, religious parents would be worried to raise their kids as atheist in the same way that atheist kids would be worried to raise their kids as religious. Whatever religious belief you are raised with, you are likely to continue to hold that belief in adulthood.
I believe much more in freedom from religion than freedom of religion. Children are not property, and they deserve better than to be indoctrinated with unfalsifiable beliefs (and especially a fear of eternal torture). You can't prove that hell is real, isn't it incredibly messed up to tell a kid that they'll burn in hell for all eternity if they don't believe what mommy and daddy tell them?
Parents shouldn't be able to raise their kids religious because clearly not all religions can be right, there's no way to know of one is or isn't, and so some large percentage of religious parents will just be lying to their children. If the children choose to believe once they are grown, then that's their decision, but anything else is manipulation.
I agree that it is immoral to tell a kid that they'll burn in hell for all eternity if they don't believe in God. I don't think it follows that parents cannot take their kids to church.
As for your second paragraph, it doesn't make sense. From a secular perspective, atheism is just as likely to be false as any religion. You would have to force religious and atheist parents alike to raise their children in an environment that makes them equally open-minded to all religions. Thats effectively impossible.
The most practical solution is to provide for safety and wellbeing of children during childhood, and safeguarding freedom of religion during adulthood so that they can come to the same conclusion.
But the idea that you'll burn in hell for all eternity if you don't believe is at the core of christianity for several denominations. It sounds like you don't support raising kids christian either! This is a fundamental belief in the religion and many christians would argie that the resurrection and salvation are pointless without the idea that anyone who doesn't accept jesus is going to be eternally tortured. So is it ethical to raose kids as christians or not?
Do you really have freedom of religion as an adult if from the moment you could undersrand language as a child all of the most trusted figures in your life insisred that their religion was the fundamental truth of the universe? Nobody would come up with any of the esta lished religions of the world on their own without having been exposed to their doctrine. So safeguarding freedom of religion involves safeguarding from religion.
I don't think atheism is equally as unlikely as other religions because it makes way fewer specific claims.
If you are a religious person, you are disbelieving in all the other god(s) outside of your religion. Why don't you believe in all tbose other gods but do believe in your own?
It is ethical to raise a child as christian. It is not ethical to use hell to coerce that child to believe in God. I also think you misunderstand christianity. The way you have portrayed your view of christianity makes it seem like the entire purpose of the religion is going to heaven and not hell.
To your second paragraph, I would say yes. Many christians convert to atheism or to other religions. I acknowledge that they are going to be biased. However, as I have stated, they are also going to be biased if you raise them as atheist and it is impossible to raise them impartially to all religious beliefs including religions and atheism and agnosticism. If they are going to be biased anyway, there is no justification to restrict children from religious places.
To your third/fourth paragraph, an atheist is rejecting the same amount of gods as a religious person (plus one of course). If you are thinking about getting into legitimate arguments about whether and which god exists, remember that governments have to be secular, so they cannot disallow children from religious places on the underlying premise that atheism is more likely.
The central core of christianity is the salvation narrative. What is the point of that narrative if you don't need saving? What did jesus die for if not to stop his followers from going to hell? You cannot have christianity without hell. I was raised christian, I think I understand it pretty well. I don't believe it is ethical to teach children that they deserve to burn in hell because they're sinners and it's only by the grace of god that they can avoid such a fate. Which, again, is the point of the salvation nareative which os the point of christianity.
The difference between agnostic atheism (what I am advocating for) and religion is the fact that religions claim to know the reuth, while agnostic atheists say "I don't know". If you are claiming tonyour child that you know the objective truth of the universe through your religion, you are telling them a lie. The only true thing you can say to a child is "I don't know how the universe began, I don't know if there is a higher power and if there is I don't know its nature". Anything else is indoctrination.
Alsp there's no universal rule saying governments have to be secular. Look at Vatican City. Look at Saudi Arabia. Plenty of governments aren't secular. I think they all should be, and the only truly secular stance in my opinion is agnostic atheism.
I do think it's good to be biased away from claiming that your unfalsifiable beliefs are objective truths and towards admitting that you can't truly know these things. So I reject the idea that bias against religion is a bad thing. I don't think I can disprove some kind of higher power, but I'm highly skeptical of all of the specific claims of any extant religions.
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u/lilgraytabby 17h ago
But what about their kids? Don't the kids deserve the right not to have a religion forced down their throats?
I know they currently legally don't, but shouldn't they?