Pressured to Force Religion on Kids

Jessica - posted on 06/20/2011

Elizabeth... you don't wanna know. After my mom died I was made to go to a baptist church... and trust me... you don't wanna know what they teach about pagans... or the things some will condone being done to pagans.

Erica. I have the opposite experience. everyone has an obsession with trying to influence them early to believe mommy is going to hell... so... sorry. I do however agree with you. Your kids should be well educated (even though picking apart the bible IS kinda fun... especially when you start pointing out the contradiciotns in JUST the old testimate... or JUST the new testimate... my guilty pleasure when faced with annoyances at my door when living in the bible belt).

Elizabeth - posted on 05/12/2011

Though I dont have Paganism forced on my children. My daughter is 11 and we live in the Bible Belt. A couple of days ago God came up while they were at PE. Well when someone asked my daughter what she thought, she proceeded to tell them Im not sure if I believe in your God. Well that set off alot of ill and nasty statements along with getting smacked and told she should be ashamed of herself and she was going to hell. My husband and I have a very opened ideal about allowing our children finding there own religion paths. Though my children have not really asked about our religion it has opened many doors for her now and she is like a sponge soaking all in. I want her to know all the facts because she keeps coming home saying things like you will never believe what they said to me today. That your mom and dad are pagans so they worship the devil. I could only laugh. What are the christian parents and churches teaching the children.

Amber-Lee - posted on 05/11/2011

I was lucky to have a father who felt the same way you do. He decided that it wasn't right to force his religion (Christian) on his children. If I ever had a question he would tell me what he believed, and what some other people believe, and tell me it is something I have to find in my heart.

Personally this is what I believe in teaching my kids. I may have found that my heart lies in paganism, and my husband is agnostic, but my girls will have to find what works for them. I will always try to give them an unbias awnser. I would even take them to church if they wanted to check it out. After all I am responsible for leading them to find their own path, the least I can do is support them all the way.

√v^√v^√♥ - posted on 04/18/2011

Banning intolerance is too big of an idealistic fantasy. Fantasy because it stands against good aspects of American culture, like the right to have an opinion and share it with others. The right to be different, to express your individuality and share it with others. Even if they do not agree. You have the right to tell Christians to go away, slam doors in Jahova Witnesses faces, and ignore friends who tell you exactly how Pagan you should be.

Where would you end up drawing the line? I wonder. You'd start to discuss your religion with someone else and what, the Naval Guard steps in to arrest you two if you start yelling for being 'intolerant' of eachother? And where, may I add, should we put all 'intolerant' people? How do we punish them? On what grounds of severity? The reprocussions of 'banning intolerance' goes on and on.. and on. In a hugely negative way, I believe.

I'm perfectly happy with our culture. I'm GLAD everyone has opinions. I just wish sometimes people were smarter :) but at least we have the ability to grow, expand, think and be as we want to be! Cherish it while it lasts

Mara - posted on 03/15/2011

Any kind of intolerance and proselitism should be banned :)o(:

Kerri - posted on 01/22/2011

I have often been asked why I am not openly teaching my girls any one specific path, and while I don't know if it will help you here is what I tell people.
Faith and belief are things you cannot teach. You can show a person the rituals, read them the text, preach your faith, but you cannot teach belief and faith. Both are personal, emotional things. You can teach a child how to be loving, but not how or who to love, they choose that for themselves and honestly religion in any context is the same. I came to my beleifs threw study and learning, and because I found something I could believe in, I have more faith in it. My children are exposed everyday to different thoughts and spiritualities and we often have discussions on why and what they take from it. I will not choose a path for them, I don't have to walk the path they take, I can only teach them how to navagate it.

Cathie - posted on 01/08/2011

i have struggled with this particularly with my fiance's mom she is a christian and my fiance and i were discussing whether or not to get him a pentacle for as a present for this past yule and we were driving with her and she was like he needs to be wearing a cros and i was like no and she was like why? and i replied because we are not christians! and she backed off on it but i go thru this with her all the time. she also has never gotten over the fact tht he was not baptised(my reason being tht i feel having tht sort of ceremony would be lying IMHO... does anyone have any advice for dealing with someone like tht?

Cris - posted on 12/31/2010

I don't believe you are the only one who's being pressured to raise their kids in a particular way. Unfortunantly my husband and I are forced to keep our Paganism 'in the closet' due to our surrounding family and community. My mother-in-law is a devote Mormon and it upsets her that we have not declared an 'official' religion for our kids (particularly the Mormon religion). My parents are Baptist and feel that that is the only true religion. It's been my experience that no matter what the religion is there will always be people that try to force their beliefs down others throats. Although most Pagans that I have come to meet and know are very open minded and respectful of others beliefs, there are those who force their opinions on others. In short, I don't think it really matters what a persons religion is, it's their personality that makes the difference.
As far as raising our kids .... we do not talk about all the different religious groups. As far as our kids know there is no such thing as different religions. Both of them know about God and Goddess, Heaven and Hell, Jesus, Joseph and Mary, the Wiccan Ruede and the 10 Commandments. They also know that some people believe it's wrong to eat meat while others feel that they are allowed to kill in Gods name. They're still young and we're trying to give them as much information now so when they choose their own spiritual pats later they won't be doing so blindly. I can only hope they will chose the same path as my husband and I, but no matter what we'll support their decisions.
Personally I think if a child is well educated in all the different religions of the World it doesn't matter what religion they were raised in. For example, I was raised in a Southern Baptist home (please don't judge me for that). At the age of 14 I felt something was not right with that religion and declared myself Agnostic. It wasn't until I turned 19 and left home that I realized that there were other religions. I started doing research, and after about 4 years of studying many different religions I chose Wicca as my 'official' religion. For the past 5 years I've been learning as much as I can from all different kinds of people and now I generally put myself into the Pagan category. I've come to find that a general category works best for me since what I've now chosen is almost a complete opposite from what I was raised on. (On a side note: my parents do not know anything about my religious choices - they are Baptist and not very accepting of others differences).
In short, I don't think it matters what 'official' religion you raise your child as. I do believe that if your child is raised in the right religion it will make their spiritual journey alot easier (I know that one personally). However, in the end the spirit knows the truth and will always come back to what's right.
Hopefully this has been helpful. :)

Kimberly - posted on 12/04/2010

I'm the odd pagan out in my family. I'm ecclectic and my husband is a Shamanistic Druid and we're in a family of Christians, so we have the problem of being told to raise our son in the church. However, exposing them to many things and letting them choose what's right for them, I think, is best. God isn't something you are taught, it's something that you come to terms with on your own, in your own time, and it's also based on faith and what feels correct for you. Letting your kids ask questions and learn is great, but anyone who says you need to bring them up a certain way doesn't really get what having faith means. Teaching your kids about your faith and letting them participate is letting them learn, but it doesn't have to mean that they are being told to be of that faith. It just means you are exposing them to your chosen faith.So long as the kids understand that they have a free choice to take the path or not, I don't think you're doing anything wrong. The main thing, I would say, is to make sure that your kids understand that they need to show respect, if not agreement, with other faiths. Respecting another's faith not your own is a big path to keeping them from being the Pagan version of a Bible beater. Sorry if I sound soap-box-y. I minored in Religious Studies and respecting faiths outside of my own has gone a long way to keep the arguments and issues to a minimum. I've mainly learned to explain why I don't go the Biblical way of faith and that I've found that God/Goddess/Cosmic Force speaks to humanity in many ways and it isn't my place to argue the validity of someone's path to said Force.Wow...that sounded even more like a soap box so I'm going to stop and go to bed now. I hope I've been somewhat helpful. Sorry if I haven't been.