Raising Children Without the Concept of Sin

[elleng]

'My religious fundamentalist childhood was built around the fear of sin. My daughters don’t even know the word.

*Because unbelievers didn’t have the stick of eternal damnation hanging over their heads, they had no reason to act morally, and were therefore, I believed, capable of utter depravity.

But then, as a teenager, I started attending a public school and my black-and-white worldview started gaining color and nuance. I became good friends with a Jewish girl, surreptitiously listened to Casey Kasem’s “American Top 40,” and hid copies of Glamour magazine under my mattress as if they were pornography. I stopped fearing the secular world and grew intrigued by it. And paid the price: At 17, after being caught “fornicating” with my high school boyfriend, I was sent to a Christian reform school where children were beaten in the name of God. It was there that I learned that religion has nothing to do with goodness and there’s a strong link between zealotry and hypocrisy.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/well/family/raising-children-without-the-concept-of-sin.html?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. The people who think you will only be good if you believe

you'll be punished if caught, seem to go out of their way not to be good. And try very hard not to get caught. Whereas those not raised with that belief often behave well simply because it's the right thing to do.

Makes you wonder.

[leftieNanner]

2. A child will believe they are what you tell them they are

If you tell them that they are sinful and bad, then that becomes their core belief in themselves.

If you tell them that they are smart, kind, thoughtful, funny, and lovable, then that is what they install in their hearts.

You don't condemn the child, you condemn the bad behavior with appropriate consequences. Remember, discipline means teaching, not punishment.

[stopbush]

3. We allowed our kids to believe in Santa Claus but we were clear that Jesus and god

were make believe.

[procon]

4. It takes a someone with a better character to

be a good person simply because they know that is the right thing to do. Their behaviors is based on their own personal morality and ethics, not fear, or association with some mystical promice of a fabulous reward for forced compliance.

[franzwohlgemuth]

5. You see...

Religion should (SHOULD) inspire and bolster a sense of right and wrong. If someone needs a religion to tell them right from wrong, they have a problem.