5 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Teach Religion to Your Child

5 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Teach Religion to Your Child

Thank You to viewer Angela for suggesting we do this video!

A lot of parents, even atheist parents, think they need to bring their child up with religion because it'll teach them values and morals.

Now, obviously, you can do those things without religion. Even children know why lying and stealing are bad -- because they wouldn't want people to do it to them -- and Jesus doesn't have to come into the equation.

Some parents indoctrinate their children because their parents or relatives want it to happen.

But I want to tell you that raising your children with a particular religion is a bad idea, especially if you don't really believe it yourself. Here's why:

1) Religion often teaches children to do the right things for the wrong reasons

If you want to teach children to act a certain way -- telling the truth, for example -- many parents simply say that lying is a sin. Lying makes God angry or upset.

God hates sinners. God killed Jesus because people were sinners. You got blood on your hands, kids.

How awful is that? To teach a kid who may not know any better that he's guilty of a crime that put someone else to death?

No! You shouldn't lie because society wouldn't function if everyone lied to each other.

You want people to be honest with you, so you should be honest with them. That's why you shouldn't lie.

What about when they're older? The same sort of mentality is often in effect.

I understand wanting to teach your kids to value their own bodies.

But religion does that by saying masturbation is a sin and that any sexual activity before marriage makes the Baby Jesus cry.

This is the awful power that religion has. It teaches children morals and values... through fear. And guilt. And shame. Why would you do that to them?

I don't want my kids to behave a certain way just because they think God is looking over their shoulders.

As a former math teacher, teaching kids religious reasons for behaving ethically is like handing kids a formula sheet before a test. They may get some answers right, but they have no clue how to apply the formulas in difficult situations.

You're better off teaching them how the formulas came about, and how they apply in various cases, and how they don't always work in every situation.

2) Religion often teaches children to suppress their doubts and questions

3) Kids will believe whatever you tell them... so don't lie.

4) It suggests that faith is a virtue.


5) It teaches them to accept bad explanations

....

Why am I telling you all this? Because I want to live in a world where children are taught how to think, not what to think.

I want to live in a society where we don't pass down bad ideas just because it's tradition.

I'm not a parent yet. I know this is all easier said than done. But when I talk to parents who raised their kids without religion, I promise you their kids are just as ethical and thoughtful as anyone else. It can be done!

And, to be clear, I am completely in favor of teaching children about religion. They need to know what others believe. But let's not give religious ideas more respect than they deserve.

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[robomania]

"I want to live in a society where children are taught how to think and not just what to think..." Bingo. This is the difference between education and indoctrination.

[Poseidon]

Teaching religion to kids is dumbing them down, which leads to a dumb adult,
, it's child abuse, don't do it.

[JFox]

I think religion should always be taught, but taught as fiction or legend, like Greek or Roman mythology. Religion is a part of culture and a culturally diverse world needs to appreciate the views and beliefs of past and present religions. But children must always be allowed to make their own choices about what they want to believe. If a child wants to be religious then fair enough.

[mmh]

As a child, I'd often cry a lot because I was so scared of going to hell. And the teachers made it worse when they described how we'll get tortured eternally there. Keep in mind that I was a CHILD and I was too sensitive at that time. I felt really guilty all the time for not praying or for stealing that bottle of glitter. I even got nightmares because they told us there were jins (kinda like demons) every where especially at night and in the bathrooms. That's how I have an irrational fear of darkness up until now I'm still afraid of the dark, even after I stopped believing in those stuff. A religion that's supposed to be all loving and caring gave me a fucking phobia. Just how ironic is that?

[AbiZolanski]

There's gonna be a huge problem when I have kids cause my parents still think I'm Christian. I've got to come out sometime. 😔

[joecastella]

2 main reasons why most people remain religious. 1. The long for eternal the reward. And 2. The fear of the eternal punishment. The bad part is the harm they do to themselves and others because of the fairy tale.

[zade]

My Dad won't accept that I'm an Atheist. If I disagree he has one answer: You're not being open minded.

[kenotube]

Great video.  When I was a kid I had no choice but to go to Hebrew School for 4 years and then get Bar Mitzvahed.  My mom wouldn't take no for an answer, no matter how much I pleaded with her.  I had to go Tuesdays and Thursdays after regular school and one day of the weekend.  Most of my friends were not Jewish, so while they were out having fun, I was trapped in sheer misery in subject matter that I despised.  To make matters worse, my older sister never had to go, since most Jewish girls don't.  My mom wasn't involved in the temple herself and was not very religious, so I didn't know why it was so important to her that I go.  I didn't find out until many years later that I had to go because that's what my very religious grandfather, her father, who was never close to me, wanted.  I felt completely used and unimportant.  So what you said about losing a bond with your parents later on was very true in my case.

[drummingdyl]

I'm 14 years old and I was raised a Christian since my whole family is. I have been an atheist for about a year and I'm glad I made that choice. The only real reason I held on to Christianity so long was because of the guilt and fear that Christianity brought to me. Even when I was about 7 years old when I started really getting exposed to Christianity I questioned it a lot. I used to think "if everything was created at once, wouldn't Adam and Eve be living with dinosaurs? " and " if the bible says killing is wrong, then why did god kill millions of people?" Becoming an atheist really has helped me especially with my anxiety that I was feeling from the pressure of Christianity.

[eden]

When I was younger I would ask my grandma all sorts of questions about God, and when she didn't have an answer she would say "Won't it be fun to ask God in heaven?" I used to dream about dying because it meant I could see God and talk to him. THAT IS NOT HEALTHY. Little kids shouldn't want to die!

[lukejason]

I was raised as a christian, only to realize that the things I was taught were not found in the bible

[isgamer-]

My parents force me to be Christian but behind their back I'm am an atheist

[JadesOfGrey]

As an athiest parent I don't tell my child about Santa for the reason you mention in the video: I don't believe in lying to my child. About anything.

[kylesummers]

If religion couldn't be taught to any people 17 or younger worldwide, the world would become Atheist much faster.

[DustinZilbauer]

If I had children, I'd sit them down one day and tell them that lots of people believe that there's an invisible 3-in-1 sky being that spawned itself through a virgin so that it could forgive humanity by killing itself for the weekend and then ask them if that makes any sense whatsoever.

[savannawix]

I am 12 and I used to be a Christian a year back. I stopped being a Christian after I realized I was only doing it for my aunt, and that I actually couldn't bring myself to believe what I was hearing. Alot of my Christian friends and family are not happy that I am athiest, and its hard for me. I recently started watching your videos and I can't really relate to them and your videos give me tons of reason and inspiration. so, thank you for your videos. they have really helped me. keep posting 👏 +The Atheist Voice

[sgringo]

EXTREMELY well stated. This should be mandatory viewing for anyone considering starting a family.

[akzodiak]

I was raised Mormon and man it really messed me up. I was literally going through psychological torture and guilt when I was a young teen. Once I left and realized I wasn’t bounded by religion, I started pursuing my dreams of becoming a rapper.

[alanw]

Christianity is void of any actual morality...unless you want to claim charitable work of which you don't need religion for that.

Real morality isn't shaming people for what consensual sex they are having, real morality is speaking out against unjust wars, demanding a living wage for the working poor, speaking out against discrimination (AKA... religious freedom), etc.

[alfnemesis]

But as they grow up, they realize we have different methods of discovering the truth.