Zombies are real

[gunslnga]

is it putting pressure on your children or on you? If I had a kid and didn't know anything about being a Sikkh should I prevent my child from learning/making the decision to practice this religion based on the fact that I am unfamiliar with it, and somehow this would cause undue stress to my child??? I think if more people allowed their kids to LEARN with an open mind then the world in which we live would probably be very different from how it is now. Why should a child be taught to practice a default religion, one that you have chosen for them?
in response to your "liberal parent going overboard", I can bring up yoga as an example. some "christian conservative" complained in the school systems that their kids were being taught some horrible strange religious beliefs in P.E. So there you have it. no more yoga.
wars also happen because of money.

I agreed with you, but the human condition has to be overcome in several ways before parents who only know, Catholocism, Protestant, Metodist,buddist,siek, or what have you, to start believing, practising, and or preaching a religion that is foreign to the parents. So I guess 5 year olds should be allowed to choose at random any belief they want, if my child wanted to sacrifice animals and priase vampires as her gods, I should'nt have a say in it??I dont know alot of kids these days that understand anything more than surface understanding of any religion, pushed by parents or discovered by themselves, let alone have the mentality to accept the rites and rituals to practice by themselves if it's not the religion of the parents. I stated that I have studied several things before I came up with my beliefs, and I'm still working on it, but I had a base before I started to build my house with the new supplies.

[anticlmber]

Religion is religion much the same as a gun is a gun. How you use them, the conciousness behind it, makes the difference. A gun is a tool or a weapon, what are you shooting? Religion is a vessel for enlightinment, a yardstick by which others are measured or prejudged. Everyone has a faith. Be it that everyone is out to get you, or you're attractive, or there is a god, or climber's are great people. OK so the last one is B.S. Thew only problem I have with religion(s) is the childish bickering and forcing of beliefs. With that said. The biggest problem with non-believers is THEY love to force the, "No God" deal more than the faithful preach the gospel. Double standard religions suck balls.

[Yasmeen]

I was raised in a home where religion was irrelevant. I had to ask my mom what to put in the blank after "Religion:" one day in elementary school, because I'd never been told that I had one. Turns out, I didn't - it had never affected how we behaved as a family or how my parents raised me to be a good person. While my experience is only one example, I think it's fairly safe to say that until children are made aware that they "should" have a religion, the whole thing doesn't really matter to them. It matters more to their parents. I've met many people who've been completely happy with the faith their parents gave to them, and many who haven't been, and who have thus decided to follow a different one. I never felt the need to choose, so I just created my own belief system that makes no sense to anyone but myself. I'm happy with that.

[Crankmas]

something that always got me was the speed of light being a constant frame of reference for science and Jesus reference to himself as the " light " gazing at that star filled sky last night was quite humbling to me anyway, I'm amazed at the arrogance of human beings we certainly think highly of ourselves and our "science" when we don't even understand the basic building blocks of matter and the mystery of life itself

[dmw]

why should their base be a default religion decided upon by someone else? Is there something wrong with a child not being labelled by one religious group or another? I agree that five year olds only have a very shallow understanding of theology, but they do continue to learn, and primarily from their parents. Of course they are going to be a bit older (generally speaking) when they make this sort of decision. I think that a child should recognize from an early age that they have the power to gather and analyze their own information, and not to expect to have it fed to them by someone else. It is a parent's/guardian's responsibility to make this clear to their children. Sadly, as a society, we fall very short of this.

[rhunt]

SCIN, dude man why are you starting another ranting thread. We'd be better off fighting with Pigsteak about why Bush sucks. Politics and religion..same thing.

I've been down the christianity road, was a card carring member for 15 years and it was mostly very unhealthy for me. I've pretty much come full circle and learned that I am pretty much a good person who needs to have more faith in myself than anything outside myself. I think that spirtuality is pretty important, at least for me, but not "faith" in something that will save me or redeem me, or make me a better person. Its funny because I am still trying to learn what it means to be spiritual outside of any kind of "faith" in a religion.

Yes I agree religion is very important to many people and I would hate to think what those people would do without it. Its just too bad that those same people feel the need to force that religion on the rest of us as a way to validate what they believe. That's my personal explaination as to why we have so much war and hate in this world based on religion.

[anticlmber]

Until there is ONE god and ONE language, we will always have war. - Hassan Amirghassanti. 68 yo Iranian man I worked with for years.

[pigsteak]

dmw, you DID catch me in the astrology aisle, you know.....

[dmw]

ha ha, you're right! forgot about that.

[anticlmber]

Hey pig you need help finding YourAnus?