So I don't know if this has been posted before (even though I remember seeing part of the debate in some other thread about something else) but here it goes. So I watched the very interesting debate "Is religion good for children" on The Big Question, which I found very interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNNkYRjrIwwPersonally, I think it depends on how you teach your child "religion", from my own experience there are numerous ways of handling the issues of faith and bringing up your child. This has become even more clear now when I see that the way I,
as a Muslim, brought up my child, is very different from the way my ex wants to raise her on his own, while the way I raise my child
now is not that very different from before if I really look at the big picture. And I'll tell you how.
Personally, I never introduced the "fairy tale" parts of the faith to my child, if I ever taught her something about faith it was about right and wrong. But even then, I never had this dogmatic approach or pointing fingers kind of way of doing it. I made it very clear that there would always be people who do or think differently, even though there were some universal principles like being truthful and honest, generous and kind towards other people, being polite and respectful of everyone and so forth. Even in matters of "haram/halal", I never talked about it as being "sinful" or "prohibited", instead I focused on what other things we could do instead of that particular practice. I now experience that this is not how my ex is thinking at all, part of his method is the very stereotypical idea you have of what religious people usually do; shaming and frightening children with hell, punishment for sins and so forth. It's frightening because I see the difference in my own child what it can do to a young person.
That's also why I find it utterly despicable how that Christian guy said that he will give his children a "choice", but that he must inform them of the "consequences" of such a choice. In all honesty, I think most people would not see that as a choice at all, but as intimidation and black-mailing someone into believing in something while brainwashing that person to only know that particular set of beliefs as "truth". How is that a choice?
In general, my answer would be no, I don't think religion is ever good for children. Whatever good comes out of religion can be given to the child without the extra baggage. A baggage that actually in my view almost nullifies the "good parts". As many of you have mentioned, and what I've gathered from other ex-religious people (in particular ex-JW), the religion upbringing during childhood almost entirely has a negative impact on them as adults.
Am I too critical and harsh, perhaps even intolerant, or how do you look at it?
Topic: Religion and children: "is religion good for children?"