Religion and Children
Saturday, June 14th, 2008Reading through my daily dose of blogs this morning, I came across two interesting and related items. First, at Ask Philosophers, an intriguing question and answer involving step-children being raised by fundamentalist parents. Then, The Legal Satyricon links to a post equating religious upbringing to child abuse.
These issues are… touchy. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that all religious upbringing is child abuse. This implies that the government can prevent children from instilling particular religious views in their children. And as much as I and others may disagree with a particular religious viewpoint, banning its teaching to one’s own children is not a good idea.
However, the scope of the indoctrination presented in the Ask Philosophers question is also worrisome. Is it really child abuse? I’d be inclined to say that it is, but I see no easy or effective way to prevent it from happening without also limiting fundamental rights.
Thoughts?