Is Teaching Children They Might Go to Hell Child Abuse?

[Bloomdido]

I think that indoctrinating any child into a belief system is abuse. Like 'atotalstranger' says, it's indoctrination and it inhibits freethought. Is it any wonder that we tend to have the same religion as our parents/community or move away from religion? They get us from an early age and tell us a load of rubbish. However some people aren't able to see the reality, even in adulthood.

 

[England my lionheart]

I went to Catholic school, we didn't have any severe reaction to being taught about the existence of Hell, we were taught it was where the unrepentant sinners people go, I believe Sr. Brendan would have cut our her tongue before traumatising a child in that way.

I don’t doubt some people instil the terror of eternal damnation en lieu of reasoned discipline, but some people tell their kids the boogeyman will get them if they get out of bed at night or that the cops will take them away if they tell lies, or their penis will turn black and fall off if they play with it.

I remember reading about Alfred Hitchcock and his father had the local police lock him in a police cell overnight when he was a kid to teach him a lesson. You don’t need religion to carry out some dodgy child rearing.

Good point

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

"You are a worthless piece of trash and I regret the day I conceived you." <<There is no worse a thing for a parent to do than to sever that precious parent-child bond by showing the child an utter lack of love.

In many cases, teaching a child doctrines concerning hell and judgement amount to "you are a worthless piece of trash and if God were to torture you forever, I'd call that a good thing."

Basically, it's teaching kids that if you do bad things, you get punished.

I don't think so. In Catholicism, you can be consigned to hell not for doing bad things yourself, but being "tainted" with the sin of Adam.

In most forms of Protestantism, you aren't damned for doing bad things; you're damned for not accepting Jesus, and they're very adamant that doing good things won't save you from hell ("sola fide" and all that).

 

[monta]

I don't think so. In Catholicism, you can be consigned to hell not for doing bad things yourself, but being "tainted" with the sin of Adam.

quote]

Original Sin is absolved at baptism soon after birth , and sins are also absolved in confession, and last rites. Theoretically you can do some pretty bad crap as a RC and still go to heaven provided you repent and are absolved by a priest.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Original Sin is absolved at baptism soon after birth , and sins are also absolved in confession, and last rites. Theoretically you can do some pretty bad crap as a RC and still go to heaven provided you repent and are absolved by a priest.

Which all would be cold comfort to little Johnny, baptized and looking forward to all the other sacraments when he worries about his playmate Derek whose family is Baptist, or Ravi, whose parents are Hindu.

The message to the kid in that situation is that many of his friends will be punished for not being born to Catholic parents.

 

[Storm]

I think that indoctrinating any child into a belief system is abuse. Like 'atotalstranger' says, it's indoctrination and it inhibits freethought. Is it any wonder that we tend to have the same religion as our parents/community or move away from religion? They get us from an early age and tell us a load of rubbish. However some people aren't able to see the reality, even in adulthood.

To call indoctrination child abuse is to trivialize the suffering of survivors of actual abuse.

 

[Bloomdido]

To call indoctrination child abuse is to trivialize the suffering of survivors of actual abuse.

I have seen the trauma caused in adults by religious indoctrination when they were children. I worked for victim support for many years and the people who had the most difficulty recovering from serious crime were the ones who had the requirements of their religion to deal with as well as their own needs.

 

[Storm]

I have seen the trauma caused in adults by religious indoctrination when they were children. I worked for victim support for many years and the people who had the most difficulty recovering from serious crime were the ones who had the requirements of their religion to deal with as well as their own needs.

Counting the hits and ignoring the misses.

 

[Troublemane]

I say spare the child and spoil the rod!

..thy hot rod, that is! vroom vroom!

 

[AlsoAnima]

No. Don't belittle child abuse with your trivial vendetta. You should be ashamed of yourself.

 

[opuntia]

Most people seem to think they are going to hell. It should be most people thinking they are going to heaven. The Catholic tradition I am not fond of, teaching only of the negative when it is the positiveness of God we should be looking at. Only a few will endure the pains of hell, for most people believe in Jesus or in the goodness of God. Positive belief is actually an insurance against such penalties. Most who go there are going to be those who have committed those heinous acts we hear about in the news: murder, rape, robbery, so forth. If you are law-abiding and are trying to do your best, you should not trouble yourself. If they who are committing such acts turn away from them, then salvation is possible for them.

"But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die." (Ezekiel 18:21; KJV).

In order to sin, one must understand they are sinning. Young children are not capable of understanding they are sinning. It is only when they reach a certain age and begin to understand when they are doing wrong that the consequences of sin should be taught as well as the consequences of breaking man-made laws, viz. prison.

 

[Vile Atheist]

It can be abuse, depending on factors:

- The age of the child
- The impressionability of the child
- The child's knowledge of religion
- The maturity of the child

Saying "Christianity dictates that ____ go to Hell", is not child abuse. But forcing Christianity on the child and saying "If you do _____, you're going to Hell" is. Telling a child they are going to Hell for non-sins like "Being effeminate" (going by a previous post on page 2), is child abuse.

I think it's a lot more effective to teach the child how to think critically, examine the evidence, both physical and arguments from the Bible, and determine if belief in Hell is viable and rational.

If they don't think it is viable and rational, that's awesome. If so, then continue to teach your child how to analyze evidence and make watertight reasoning and they should eventually arrive at the same conclusion. How can it really be abuse if they don't think it is real?

 

[monta]

The intent behind a spanking can mean the difference between a child who is damaged emotionally and a child who isn't.

It is the same with religious teaching, if some one sets out to terrify a child they will likely damage them.

 

[Bloomdido]

Counting the hits and ignoring the misses.

Counting the Catholics who had been messed up by one big guilt trip because they felt they had done something bad by being raped or sexually abused. Add to that the priests I supported who were attacked after picking up men in gay bars, both lovely men, one who was almost killed by his stalker. You couldn't make it up.

 

[Storm]

Was that supposed to justify your fallacy? Becuase it didn't.

 

[England my lionheart]

Quote Mr Spinkles
I think it's a lot more effective to teach the child how to think critically, examine the evidence, both physical and arguments from the Bible, and determine if belief in Hell is viable and rational

Totally agree,this is basically what i did with my children

 

[Storm]

Quote Mr Spinkles
I think it's a lot more effective to teach the child how to think critically, examine the evidence, both physical and arguments from the Bible, and determine if belief in Hell is viable and rational

Totally agree,this is basically what i did with my children

That was ContentiousMaximus, not Mr. Spinkles.

 

[Vile Atheist]

That was ContentiousMaximus, not Mr. Spinkles.

I'm just flattered he had mistaken me for such a handsome chap.

 

[Buttons*]

Say a child knows about hell from discussions with friends, or attending a church ceremony (with friends, family or otherwise), or seeing a billboard commenting on it. If, in this case, the child is brought up in a Christian home, and is thus told:

1) This is what hell is like .... (own definition)
2) a. We are all sinners, and we all deserve hell, BUT (go to number 3)
b. All you have to do is be a good person and follow a few rules about being a good person
3) a. Say that if you believe that Jesus died for your sins, and you have faith, you will not suffer after this life, no matter what you do. (Just repent)
b. Discuss the rules and why they make sense in a pragmatic way. (It would be hard to slam the 10 commandments and parables of Jesus.)
4. Mentioning that heaven is also a likely possibility, and that it's the child's choice.

None of these options seem abusive to me. Even if a parent coerces their child to have faith in Jesus, the parent is thinking that they are saving their child, not harming them. If it is used as truly abusive, and the parent does something like this:

1) Tell the child about the kinds of suffering in hell, complete with explicit hellfire and suffering
2) Tell the child they are going there because they are a piece of ****
3) Tell the child that anything wrong they do will send them to hell
4) Threatening the child with hell constantly, or condemning them to hell.

It does not seem to be a reasonable way to handle it. THIS is a form of abuse. Not the former, because I believe in good intentions, and I think the parents in the first examples merely want to take care of their children in this life and after. Why is that abusive?

 

[YmirGF]

Is it abusive to teach children that they might go to hell? Why or why not?

I don't think there is a hard and fast answer to this, Phil. To my thinking context is king here. Hell was just a swear word in the household I grew up in.