Parents

[Ridinandreptiles]

“Tell people there’s an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure.”

— George Carlin

This. Lol

[chet1028]

Highly unlikely. If someone isn't interested in religion, then being forced into it is just going to make them hate it.

Agreed. But when you are a parent you often have to introduce things to your kids to things they know nothing about and have no way of learning about them unless they are exposed them. When the OP may or may not end up as a regular church goer, it won't hurt to be exposed to what his family believes in so that he can choose for himself when he is old enough to make an intelligent, informed decision. Sort of like offering your kids a well balance meal and making them try their veggies instead of letting eat HO-HO's for dinner every day. It's really a simple life lesson. You don't always get to do whatever it is that you feel like doing at any given moment. If you did, I would not be at work right now. I'd be home playing with my reptiles. LOL.

[Ridinandreptiles]

Agreed. But when you are a parent you often have to introduce things to your kids to things they know nothing about and have no way of learning about them unless they are exposed them. When the OP may or may not end up as a regular church goer, it won't hurt to be exposed to what his family believes in so that he can choose for himself when he is old enough to make an intelligent, informed decision. Sort of like offering your kids a well balance meal and making them try their veggies instead of letting eat HO-HO's for dinner every day. It's really a simple life lesson. You don't always get to do whatever it is that you feel like doing at any given moment. If you did, I would not be at work right now. I'd be home playing with my reptiles. LOL.

I'm 17 and been doig church stuff for years. In exposed, I can make an informed rational decision tht I hate it

[chet1028]

I'm 17 and been doig church stuff for years. In exposed, I can make an informed rational decision tht I hate it

I understand your frustration. Sometimes you just have to accept the things you can't change. This is one of their rules an you need to abide by it. To you, you are an adult. To them, you are a child. Fighting about this will only make them view you as a little kid throwing a tantrum. Hang in there, you've probably got about 70 yrs of doing crap you really don't want to do ahead of you.

[wolfy-hound]

The fact is that a lot of people in this thread keep saying "Your parents are forcing religion on you!". That's untrue. You cannot force religion on anyone. You can force someone to go to church. You can force someone to hear you talk about Jesus. You cannot force them to embrace your belief system. Do you ONLY hang out with people who believe exactly the same stuff that you do? Got a friend who thinks a different video game is the best? A different music style? If so, you can hang out with people who have different religious beliefs too.

As far as "Oh, if they force you, you will hate it", that's bunk. Plenty of people resist doing plenty of things, but then come to like that activity. Plenty of kids go to school hating math and thinking math is useless, and go on to become scientists and doctors that use math every day, and some even become mathematicians, purely because they love math.

The FACT is, no one can prove God/Jesus/Allah/FSM doesn't exist. So when anyone says "I know GOD doesn't exist.." they are expressing their opinion about their belief system(choosing not to believe in any god is still a belief system). So if YOU want people to respect YOUR right to not believe... you should allow OTHER PEOPLE to have their own beliefs. Yes, if someone else thinks blue is the best color, they are entitled to believe that. You have no right to force them to believe that red is the best color, no matter how strongly you feel that blue sucks.

I personally believe that most Christian beliefs are detrimental to society, right down to "praying for someone else". I think people waste their time and money devoting themselves to a religion. But I won't tell them they have no right to do it. They can't tell me I cannot spend my extra money on action figures, and I can't tell them they can't spend their extra money giving it to a church.

[Ridinandreptiles]

The fact is that a lot of people in this thread keep saying "Your parents are forcing religion on you!". That's untrue. You cannot force religion on anyone. You can force someone to go to church. You can force someone to hear you talk about Jesus. You cannot force them to embrace your belief system. Do you ONLY hang out with people who believe exactly the same stuff that you do? Got a friend who thinks a different video game is the best? A different music style? If so, you can hang out with people who have different religious beliefs too.

As far as "Oh, if they force you, you will hate it", that's bunk. Plenty of people resist doing plenty of things, but then come to like that activity. Plenty of kids go to school hating math and thinking math is useless, and go on to become scientists and doctors that use math every day, and some even become mathematicians, purely because they love math.

The FACT is, no one can prove God/Jesus/Allah/FSM doesn't exist. So when anyone says "I know GOD doesn't exist.." they are expressing their opinion about their belief system(choosing not to believe in any god is still a belief system). So if YOU want people to respect YOUR right to not believe... you should allow OTHER PEOPLE to have their own beliefs. Yes, if someone else thinks blue is the best color, they are entitled to believe that. You have no right to force them to believe that red is the best color, no matter how strongly you feel that blue sucks.

I personally believe that most Christian beliefs are detrimental to society, right down to "praying for someone else". I think people waste their time and money devoting themselves to a religion. But I won't tell them they have no right to do it. They can't tell me I cannot spend my extra money on action figures, and I can't tell them they can't spend their extra money giving it to a church.

What you just said right there is EXACTLY why I consider myself agnostic not atheist. But tonight I have it so ill try reading a book disguised as a bible and see how that goes

[CatandDiallo]

The fact is that a lot of people in this thread keep saying "Your parents are forcing religion on you!". That's untrue. You cannot force religion on anyone. You can force someone to go to church. You can force someone to hear you talk about Jesus. You cannot force them to embrace your belief system. Do you ONLY hang out with people who believe exactly the same stuff that you do? Got a friend who thinks a different video game is the best? A different music style? If so, you can hang out with people who have different religious beliefs too.

As far as "Oh, if they force you, you will hate it", that's bunk. Plenty of people resist doing plenty of things, but then come to like that activity. Plenty of kids go to school hating math and thinking math is useless, and go on to become scientists and doctors that use math every day, and some even become mathematicians, purely because they love math.

I pretty much disagree with everything you said here (as you could probably guess).

You can DEFINITELY force religion on people. Look around the world, much of it is happening every day, including people in our countries. Forcing people to go to church and forcing people to listen about Jesus/whoever is forcing religion on someone.
What you CAN'T do is force someone to BELIEVE in the religion you're forcing upon them. I'm not sure if that's what you were trying to say.

You're forgetting about the fact that children are extremely impressionable. If Mommy and Daddy believe in ____, it must be true so I must too! Wow look at all these people in church/in the mosque/in the temple.... if all these people believe in it, it must be true!
Of course, when you grow older you have the ability to be exposed to other belief systems and lack of belief systems, but by that point, religion may have such an impression on the child/young adult that they can't think any other way.
Honestly, how do you think organized religion keeps its followers? Why do you think many religious people have so many children? Indoctrination, is the answer.

Honestly, my main issue with this is the lack of respect that the parents are showing towards an "almost" grown adult. If your child hates something so much that it is breeding resentment towards that subject/you, why on earth would you continue to force it upon them?

It disgusts me, to be frank with you.

The FACT is, no one can prove God/Jesus/Allah/FSM doesn't exist. So when anyone says "I know GOD doesn't exist.." they are expressing their opinion about their belief system(choosing not to believe in any god is still a belief system). So if YOU want people to respect YOUR right to not believe... you should allow OTHER PEOPLE to have their own beliefs. Yes, if someone else thinks blue is the best color, they are entitled to believe that. You have no right to force them to believe that red is the best color, no matter how strongly you feel that blue sucks.

I personally believe that most Christian beliefs are detrimental to society, right down to "praying for someone else". I think people waste their time and money devoting themselves to a religion. But I won't tell them they have no right to do it. They can't tell me I cannot spend my extra money on action figures, and I can't tell them they can't spend their extra money giving it to a church.

No, I can't prove that they don't exist, nor have I tried to. Believers have tried to prove that god exists for centuries now, but have not been able to either.
This is why I don't believe that any "god"/"higher power exists".

I still don't see how choosing not to believe in god is a belief system. It is actually the lack of a belief system, or perhaps just a belief. There's really no system to it.

Most of the atheists I know have NEVER said that "I KNOW that god doesn't exist". Most are like me and just don't BELIEVE it exists because of lack of evidence. To state that you're completely 100% sure that god doesn't exists is ignorant and in my opinion, dangerous for the atheist community.

I expect that people who say that are the more outspoken, militant, annoying non-believers.


"So if YOU want people to respect YOUR right to not believe... you should allow OTHER PEOPLE to have their own beliefs."

Many of us do. When have you seen people try to change the laws of a country because it was offensive to atheism? That it doesn't follow the rules of atheism?
Never.

When have you seen people try to change the laws of a country because it was offensive to their religion?

All the dang time. Look at your own country right now.



That's all I have to say for now. *bows out*

[chet1028]

I think it is funny how this has become a debate about religious freedom instead of what it truly is. A 17 yr old kid who thinks he knows everything and does not want to listen to his parents. Bottom line is: every teenager in history has felt the same way. Suck it up. Do as your parents ask or accept the consequences.

[Raptor]

Agreed. But when you are a parent you often have to introduce things to your kids to things they know nothing about and have no way of learning about them unless they are exposed them. When the OP may or may not end up as a regular church goer, it won't hurt to be exposed to what his family believes in so that he can choose for himself when he is old enough to make an intelligent, informed decision. Sort of like offering your kids a well balance meal and making them try their veggies instead of letting eat HO-HO's for dinner every day. It's really a simple life lesson. You don't always get to do whatever it is that you feel like doing at any given moment. If you did, I would not be at work right now. I'd be home playing with my reptiles. LOL.

Math =/= religion. Math is something that's needed to survive in the real world. Without math, you're not going to be able to balance your checkbook to know how much money you have in order to buy food. You're not going to know how many doses of a particular medication you need to take based on weight.

Religion, like politics, is a personal choice. It should be something that the person chooses for themselves. I see far too many people who follow religion unquestionable because their parents did.

I think it is funny how this has become a debate about religious freedom instead of what it truly is. A 17 yr old kid who thinks he knows everything and does not want to listen to his parents. Bottom line is: every teenager in history has felt the same way. Suck it up. Do as your parents ask or accept the consequences.

Yet a number of people that are older than him are agreeing with him.

[Ridinandreptiles]

I think it is funny how this has become a debate about religious freedom instead of what it truly is. A 17 yr old kid who thinks he knows everything and does not want to listen to his parents. Bottom line is: every teenager in history has felt the same way. Suck it up. Do as your parents ask or accept the consequences.

Where did I claim to know everything?