Overheard conversation......

[SoulTYPE]

OK, I was at a hotel lunch, and a kid and his son were next to me. This is an interesting conversation I overheard from them:

Father: We have to be Catholics and go to church.
Son: Why do we?
Father: Because if we don't, God will be upset.
Son: Will we get in trouble from God?
Father: Yes, we will be sent to Satan if we don't go to church.
Son: Who is Satan?
Father: Satan is a monster that looks like a man with a goat's head, (I thought of a minotaur, lol) and he is a nasty man that does bad things.
Son(scared): Dad, I want to go to church now...

Is it just me, or is that a bit much to tell a 10 year old?

Answer how you like. I'm off for awhile.

 

[Sunstone]

It strikes me there is nothing positive in that motivation for attending church. No doubt the father thinks he's doing best by his son, but a spirituality that is based on fearfulness isn't much of a spirituality, I'd say.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Without question, this is the textbook method for indoctrinating the next closed minded bigot (religiously speaking). The idea of scaring a 10 year old into blindly following whatever he is taught is repulsive to me. I don't suppose the idea of teaching him to be openminded ever occured to this father... :banghead3

TVOR

 

[Sunstone]

Without question, this is the textbook method for indoctrinating the next closed minded bigot (religiously speaking). The idea of scaring a 10 year old into blindly following whatever he is taught is repulsive to me. I don't suppose the idea of teaching him to be openminded ever occured to this father... :banghead3

TVOR

I agree, Voice. I think a fearful spirituality very often leads to closed-mindedness and bigotry.

 

[robtex]

I got that speech three times last year. I am 36.. Twice and my full time and once at my part-time job I was offered salvation by attending their churches. At my full time job Once as a catholic and one non-denominational. While they left the Satan part out they told me that I was on the path to an eternity of hell for not following the Christian God. I was not offended but, I was amused at their attitudes. One was 23 and the other was 38 years old. At my part time job a Christian said the same thing to me. She later recanted and said I was very moralful (which was touching) and might make it to Heaven anyway. She is 27and also non-denominational.. All three are my friends so we had a prior bond before the speech. All three spent some time thinking about it before working up the nerve to present that idea to me. All three were woman although I don't know if that influenced it ...but they were. For all three it was a very emotional thing for them to say. It had an visible emotional impact on themThe last one knew I was Unitarian the other two knew I was gnostic but rejected the trinity and the notion of orginal sin.

What struck me as odd though, is that it was more than a kiddie story to them. I guess you can tell it to a kid since in your story they did..but they all believed to some degree that the 67-75 % of the world that is non-christian are destinded to be permenant roommates with Satan.

I would contend though from personal oberservation and experience that the go to church or go to hell speech is not just for small children anymore!! (if it ever was).

 

[Lightkeeper]

I don't know how you kept yourself from jumping on his table. When you hear a conversation like that, it sounds like child abuse. I think helping a child to find out who they truly are is the most spiritual thing you can do.

 

[Scott1]

I would have to agree... but unless I met the man, I would not clasify it as abuse...... just a lack of education.

 

[Adie]

I was lucky enough to never receive a talk like this from my parents, although I've had many such conversations with neighbours, coworkers, friends, and other family members throughout my life. The idea of scaring your child into doing anything is a little deranged, in my opinion. I can understand trying to give your child a solid basis in faith, but why not explain both the pros and cons of going to church instead of preaching your own Fire mass? Just from watching some of my friends who were raised in strong Christian families, I've seen that those who were given the "Go to church or go to Hell" speaches often rebel and either become Satanists or Athiests, whereas those who were given a more rounded and reasonable explanation kept their family's faith and now enjoy going to church and being a Christian.

I feel sorry both for the little boy and his father. I assume that his father got a similiar speech from his father, and is afraid for himself and his son. How can a faith based on fear give anyone any comfort? Religion is supposed to give a person a sense of self and a place in the universe, but if they're simply believing out of fear they can't truly understand themselves or the world around them.

 

[robtex]

I've seen that those who were given the "Go to church or go to Hell" speaches often rebel and either become Satanists or Athiests, whereas those who were given a more rounded and reasonable explanation kept their family's faith and now enjoy going to church and being a Christian.

Adie, I just wanted to comment on the paragraph above. I have read the satanic Bible(the Anton Levey org) and I concluded from reading it that Levey and many of the high ranking members were atheists as opposed to people who believe in a red fella with hooves and horns

Here is there website
http://www.churchofsatan.com/

Atheists are not rebels. I don't want to speak for atheists since I am not one of them, but I want to share with you what I have learned from by providing you with two excellent resouces about atheism that were given to me some time ago by my atheist friends in cyberspace.
http://www.infidels.org/index.shtml
http://www.atheists.org

I spent some quality time with Atheists many of whom now are my friends, and my thoughts on this forum here:

http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/showthread.php?p=38959#post38959

 

[skills101]

Hopefully the kid will grow up to learn unbiased facts, and either get a better sense of himself or convert to a belief that suits him best.

 

[maggie2]

I think I would have had a hard time not ripping a strip off that father. To scare a kid like that is awful. Hope the poor kid has a chance to learn better down the road.

 

[huajiro]

Without question, this is the textbook method for indoctrinating the next closed minded bigot (religiously speaking). The idea of scaring a 10 year old into blindly following whatever he is taught is repulsive to me. I don't suppose the idea of teaching him to be openminded ever occured to this father... :banghead3

TVOR

I agree, this is exactly where it starts, the fear, which will create ignorance.......and the bigot follows.

 

[cardero]

The first way that I was introduced to GOD was in Sunday School when the teacher was discussing the Garden Of Eden Story about Adam and Eve. Though this may seem like a logical place to start when teaching someone about GOD I must admit, as a small child, I was not impressed.

 

[mrscardero]

When you are forced to go to church by your parent at a very young age (ex. at the age of 5-9, I was getting up at 4 to go to church at 5am dressed in a flower dress with lace socks and a bow on my hair and go again to a pm mass...at the age of 9-11 getting up at 6 to attend am mass with flower dress and a bow in my hair) is not a good way to teach your kids to believe in what they believe in. It makes the child grow up knowing they were forced to follow that faith. At that age, I never understood what they were talking about in church. Either I was too sleepy for waking up too early or I never wanted to listen in their belief because I never understood. I respected my parents so I got up when they wanted me too. Plus, if I didn't go, I got punished. When the child is old enough to understand, let them make their own choice of what they want to believe in. Don't threaten the child that will scare them to a point where they are probably going to grow up needing to see a therapist...lol

 

[huajiro]

When you are forced to go to church by your parent at a very young age (ex. at the age of 5-9, I was getting up at 4 to go to church at 5am dressed in a flower dress with lace socks and a bow on my hair and go again to a pm mass...at the age of 9-11 getting up at 6 to attend am mass with flower dress and a bow in my hair) is not a good way to teach your kids to believe in what they believe in. It makes the child grow up knowing they were forced to follow that faith. At that age, I never understood what they were talking about in church. Either I was too sleepy for waking up too early or I never wanted to listen in their belief because I never understood. I respected my parents so I got up when they wanted me too. Plus, if I didn't go, I got punished. When the child is old enough to understand, let them make their own choice of what they want to believe in. Don't threaten the child that will scare them to a point where they are probably going to grow up needing to see a therapist...lol

Same here (except for the flowered dress ). I remember I was always forced to go to Church, as were all the other kids. I would have preferred to go to the dentist than go to Church. That shows you how powerful the fear of "God" can be in some Christians.