Read this and tell me that this woman is virtuous. Reminds me way too much of my own childhood. I was taught that I was so evil that I was scared enough of hell that I was saved at the age of five. Made me into a timid and self-hating young man. Yes, I believe that teaching your children that they are horrible sinners is child abuse.
Tip of the hat to Stew at the The Raytractors. Also, here.
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3 comments:
Thanks for the hat tip Rob
I feel kind of bad because this got posted on the forums at richarddawkins.net (not by me, I'm not a member - yet) and so a pile of people have ripped into her on her blog.
I didn't mean to make the hordes descend on her.
Hey Robert
I appreciate your reasonable response to this 'dispute'. However, the hatred spewed out at the lady in question does 'atheism' no favours whatsoever, because the hatred is irrational and based on assumption.
The lady does not speak to her child in the sense in which she has blogged.
Do I believe that we're all sinners? Yes, so did my parents, but they nevr rammed it down my throat and beat me up with it - I think this is where the mental abuse comes in.
How do I handle it with my own son? I tell him we all do bad things - he knows that cause he does bad things himself. I don't have to take it any further than that.
I perceive in all this a bit of desperation on the part of some parents that their children MUST conform young or the end of the world is nigh. I prefer to trust God and let Him deal with my son the way he feels fit. However he grows up, whatever path he chooses, I'll still love him.
Back to the point at hand, I think this is a storm in a teacup over an 'in-house' comment. If I for a moment thought that the lady in question harangues her girl with 'you are evil, you are wicked', then I'd tell her to pack it in. But I don;t think she does. She has a little girl who loves to do good things and wants to please her mum, and asks for, and gets, feedback on her conduct.
I hope that folks like yourself and Stew can breathe a little sanity into this situation from 'the other side' of the fence. But you seem to be outnumbered by rabid mob hordes of haters.
Thank you Jonathan,
I can't control what other atheist do. Many are atheist because of anger at religion. Many are right in being angry. Anger was something I had to give up.
Today, my atheism is reinforced by logic and critical thinking. Not every atheist is going to use those skills when dealing with that story.
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