I think that no one has the right to force their religous opinions on to their kids.It would clean up a lot of problems...catholic priests been one..I know of many children whos lives are screwed up due to the extreme religous childhood. They can have no part in the modern/normal world due to this.
Children should be allowed to make their own mind up.

What did your parents bring you up as?

;)

catholic..bit extreme. Boarding school was benedictine. Right bunch of wankers...
No they did not have any right to force any of it on me.

LUKE!!!!!!! " THAT SAYS IT ALL""" LOL

true...

I agree children should not be taught to follow a religion. When they are old enough to decide for themselves let make thier own decision.

Thankfully my parents didn't christen me or involve me in any other wierd ceremony, they wanted us to make up our own minds :eek:

Thats why I turned out so well balanced ;) :D

Have not felt the need to get involved with any so far.....and cant imagine I ever will

Something I feel very strongly on. Until the age of consent, religion should not be forced on children - let them make their own mind up when old enough.

Off topic perhaps but how about one age of consent for all things?

Married at 16 but can't drive or have a drink - what’s that all about?

David

I believe that Humanism will become the primary religion of the 21st century.

I don't believe in the existence of God, or Father Christmas, the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny for that matter. The time will come when the majority of people will consider the Christian God as we do the Roman Gods, Greek Gods, Norse Gods and realise that man invented God and not vice versa.

Ludovic Kennedy has a book on the subject called 'A farewell to God'

Gary

I think religion should be banned full stop.

Nice one Bob! :D

I was christened & indoctrinated from an early age but saw the light and realised it was all a load of bollocks just like Santa & the tooth fairy :D

I now think all religion is, in itself, the biggest problem on the planet! It is used by people to justify actions that any sane person would think inhumane.

they are all nutters the lot of em!

Gary, you got an Amazon link for that book?

[Edited by CharlieWhiskey - 11/21/2002 11:05:30 PM]

Jason, I'm curious to know where you got your facts re: Jehovah's witnesses. I'm 24 and have been brought up as one. HOWEVER, this was never forced upon me, and infact I was encourage from as young as I can remember to question and check everything that we were taugh, making our faith our own, if you like. My brother decided it wasn't for him, and I can assure you, I love him as much as ever and can't go a day without getting in touch with him! LOL!

It's cool!!!

Religion brings comfort to the old and sick which must be a good thing.
I sort of envy believers but I know it's all bollocks.

It's for the insecure who desperately can't accept that we're just transient animals.

fine for old people (it's effectively their local support group/ youth club) but for the rest ??!!!

always amazes me that war can be fought in the name of religion with both sides apparently praying to the same god. pathetic.

and it also amazes me how often people confuse race with religion. I worked in Israel for 6 months and met numerous Israelis who were atheists but still claimed to be Jewish. how does that work then?

G

Yup, it's about time some peeps grew up and saw religon for what it is, an outdated form of mind control for the masses. Soon the human race ditch this utter nonsense, the better IMHO.

Always going to be a touchy subject LOL

I think about it like this - there are say 50 different religions (probably much more but i cant think of them), can anyone really be expected to believe there are 50 different Deity's all sitting up there together? and that one of them is better than all the rest of them?

If that really were the case, why dont Carling compile Opta Statistics about them? i.e. thunderbolts completed, plagues caused per game etc etc ;)

happily agnostic :)


ooh a corner, maybe its a sign there is someone looking out for me after all!

[Edited by merkin - 11/22/2002 10:19:35 AM]

Neither pro nor anti, although in favour of separation of the state and religion (Charles definitely shouldn't be defender of faith, TB shouldn't 'recommend' Arch B of C to the Queen, etc.)

The point I wanted to raise is, don't forget Christianity developed under the rule of Rome, where it wasn't just illegal, it was punishable by death. Banning it won't make a lot of difference.

IMHO, if god does exist he must be have a piss poor imagination. If this, the total of his creation is the best he can come up with, with all its bad points which far outweight the good, then Maybe he was pissed when he came up with the original idea!
Either that or he just wanted some pets :D
astraboy.

FWIW we had a Humanist wedding ceremony (in addition to the registry office job). My wife had been divorced (so we couldn't marry in a church) and she is a Muslim and I was of no fixed religion ;)

It was organized by the British Humanist Association, and we were so impressed that we're going to use them again for a sort of 'christening' (for want of a better word) for our first-born. :D

Isn't wanting to ban religious teaching until age 18 or whatever just as 'wrong' as promoting it? Just a thought...

Agree with Astraboy (I often do, which is scary :eek: but at 49 I'd be a bit out of place at a rave :D ). If God really created all this mess then he needs to get a life ;)

But religion has been around for rather a long time and isn't going away. Personally, I think it's incredibly arrogant for humans to think themselves so superior. Is it that hard to accept that we're all just a tiny part of a giant chemical experiment?
And humans will eventually go the same way as all other extinct species.

Richard.

Religeon should be banned full stop. I mean look at the problems it has caused to the world.

Katana, don't confuse religion with tribalism. It is the latter that has done such terrible things, often under the guise of religion.