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Religion and Lack of Religion

Harlequin

Harlequin

Active member
The other thread's getting a little bit long right now and what I want to post doesn't fit in the existing, recent thread about religion.

Someone at another forum I visit recently started a thread detailing documentaries she's found interesting (it's a really good list, actually, I'm working my way through it) and on my read through of it I came across this. It's a documentary called Jesus Camp and it's completely, utterly terrifying.

I'm talking about high octane nightmare fuel here. I sit here watching this right as I'm typing this post and I'm absolutely horrified that something such as this exists. I know that things like this exist. I've known about things like this for a long time now.

What I lacked was understanding. I hadn't truly understood just how absolutely terrifying and scary this was. I don't quite know how to articulate my thoughts about what I'm watching. I feel ... I feel sorry for the children involved, because they're just being children: they want to please their parents, they're naturally gullible and credulous, so you can't fault them. The parents, too, aren't completely at fault. They were presumably raised in a religious manner and so it's unsurprising that they want to impart their religion onto their children.

I can kind of understand their motivation for doing it because they really, truly believe what they're doing is right ... and that makes it even scarier for me.

Anyway. I just thought I'd share and maybe kick off a new general-purpose religion thread.
 
Yeah, that documentary really is terrifying. But it was made during the Bush era, so I like to think at least they aren't as pervasive in the government anymore. Very scary thinking what a large influence they had.
 
That movie is so creepy. Like... I'm only in the first 13 minutes and even since that women came on my face has been stuck in a permanent "D=" face.

And now they started talking about science. I... I'm going to need a moment here.
 
Something that makes me feel tons better about the documentary and the events described inside it is that the woman was forced to shut down her camp, but even so it's absolutely frightening.
 
Harlequin said:
Something that makes me feel tons better about the documentary and the events described inside it is that the woman was forced to shut down her camp, but even so it's absolutely frightening.
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Really? That's pretty awesome, haha. I wish I could see her reaction to that. It was, after all, an action of god, surely!
 
Pathos said:
Really? That's pretty awesome, haha. I wish I could see her reaction to that. It was, after all, an action of god, surely!
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It was the Devil working through corrupt government.

I'm really glad that got shut down. You should never indoctrinate children. Children should be allowed to learn, allowed to question and allowed to experiment with things and ideas for themselves. Teach children how to find things out, teach them how to seek answers and help them find their way to things, but we shouldn't do what was being done to the children in the video.

I think that that's wrong and that it does a disservice to the child.
 
religion could not exist without usage of indoctrination
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This isn't true. It's true that the majority of religious people come from religious backgrounds, but plenty of people 'find' religion as adults, often after actively 'looking for meaning'. You can't generalize like that.
 
Religion should be taught, if at all, when you're older, i.e. during your teens. Being raised religious just pisses me off. Especially when people balk at the idea that it's indoctrination.
 
"Kids today are hungry for the supernatural, and this course shows you how to bring them into their god-given spiritual destiny that they were born for" ...for only $314.96!
 
I don't think schools should just do religious education. I think there should be philosophy classes at second-level and that religion should be an aspect explored in them, but it shouldn't be the focus of a class all on its own.
 
Teh Ebil Snorlax said:
I don't think schools should just do religious education. I think there should be philosophy classes at second-level and that religion should be an aspect explored in them, but it shouldn't be the focus of a class all on its own.
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even as an elective?
 
I think studying religion is important, especially in areas where people of lots of faiths co-exist. Understanding what and why other people believe is a major part of building multicultural communities.

Plus, religion is a completely inexctricable part of history (of just about any country you care to name) and society (every introduction to sociology class will have at least one lesson, if not an entire module, dedicated to the sociology of religion), as well as being a significant influence on all branches of the creative arts, psychology, archetecture, literature, philosophy and more. Regardless of whether or not you think children should be taught to be religious, bringing them up without any kind of understanding of what religion is will leave a giant gap in their knowledge.

And they'll never get the Bible questions on University Challenge right.
 
Tarvos said:
You can also be taught about religion without generally believing in it
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I was a Christian for 15 years of my life simply because my parents were (and they're not exactly devout, either.) Parents have immeasurable influence over their young children and instil a foundation of values.

Relatedly, I am now an antitheist.
 
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What Tarvos means is being taught about religion as a mythology, not as truth. Which I agree should be done because religion is a huge aspect of world culture.
 
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