> -----Original Message----- > From: Gruss Gott [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 12:14 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: Christian's: Paranoid or not > > > Jerry wrote: > > If the parents are Christians, I am pretty sure they want their kids > to have > > faith that Jesus is the Son of God and their savior. > > But how can children, who aren't deemed legally able to make decisions > on their own, capable of faith?
They aren't, really. Children don't really understand the esoteric concepts surrounding them - hell, most adults don't. Life, death, good, evil, pain, etc. Many scholars believe that this is the underlying purpose of religion: to frame the unexplainable in a comforting way. There's no doubt that it's easier (at least for the teacher) to claim that immoral acts will always be punished because immoral acts are always, magically, noted and remembered. Experience tells use nearly every day that immoral acts often do NOT get punished. So almost all religion has the concept of ultimate punishment meted out after death by an all-knowing judge (God, Karma, etc). Atheist parents do have it harder, especially as their children get older and begin to form independent personalities. (Until a certain age "Mommy" and "God" might as well be the same exact thing to most kids.) You have to be "good" because that's what's right, not because all your actions are being watched, not because you'll be punished later. Luckily humans tend towards moral behavior naturally and "being good" tends to make us feel better than "being bad". It's not at all hard to raise a moral child without religion, you just have to take more time with the lessons and more care with the language. (Sex is a huge problem for religion in this vein - it's the one indisputable area where religious teachings tend to run roughshod over our natural instincts. Our body's scream "SEX IS GOOD!" So many religions have attempted to control sex and none have succeeded.) As people grow and gain experience they tend to mature, somewhat, in their faith and it becomes less of a behavioral yoke and more of a shield against uncertainty and disgust. Something comforting to call on in times of need or confusion. Look at the statements made by the faithful concerning unsettling events. Accidents and horrible circumstances are "part of God's plan" or "a test". People may die or experience pain either because they lacked faith or because God's enemy's caused it. The homosexual that dies from AIDS affronted God, the infant that dies of SIDS is "called to His bosom". There's nothing to worry about: there's somebody at the controls. God's plans may be mysterious and knowable but they're good (we're told). This stuff just isn't random! People as dumb as us aren't in control! That makes people feel better. All these wrongs will be corrected in the after-life. Pain and suffering on Earth is a small price to pay for the vast, unthinkably large rewards gained after death. And that's telling as well: when religion creates punishments and rewards they're BIG. Everlasting. Eternal. There's no getting out of Hell. Heaven is forever. Again giant concepts that are understood on an emotional rather than intellectual level. Like children religion tends to use extreme, final concepts to make its point. Again Atheists have to tackle these emotional and intellectual problems. It's scary to think that there's no plan. Disheartening to know that there's nobody you can call out in the dark. At the same time it's liberating and uplifting. I doubt most children can really understand either side very well. My (nine year-old) son tends to parrot my atheism but I'm not deluded into thinking that he understands it. At the same time his best friend (age 10) is a regular and devout church-goer (Catholic)... but I'm not deluded into thinking that she really understands either. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Download the latest ColdFusion 8 utilities including Report Builder, plug-ins for Eclipse and Dreamweaver updates. http;//www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?e=labs%5adobecf8%5Fbeta Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:247765 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
