Posted by pancho from ? (64.79.4.2) on Sunday, February 24, 2002 at 8:56PM :
It's funny, the only thing Catholics agreed with Protestants about was that you HAD to persecute heretics...non believers got off lightly. Luther was all for religious freedom till he had enough clout to ban and burn non-believers...in HIS sect.
People say that with all of their considerable flaws and obscurantism, still formal and organized religion is necessary to instill moral and ethical beliefs and behavior in CHILDREN???!!!
Are you KIDDING me or what!!!
I'm raising my three without help from any of the three sisters from hell, thank you. They know about them all and will learn to respect them all when they behave like decent human beans instead of blood mad demons from hell.
They will learn to look past and ignore all religious dogma, focusing instead on a person's heart and mind, somewhat...but more on what that person actually does. There is no need to scare the shit out of children in order to scare religion into them, not unless one is supposed to fill the place vacated by the other...none at all, not unless you plan to brutalize your children in other ways, intellectually and morally and just by denying their basic humanity and childishness
One can take the gentlest teachings and wisest precepts from all of humanity and roll them up into the Golden Rule which was NOT invented by Christians..."do unto others..." That one is enough...and it makes great and good common sense...no need to drive the point home with angels and devils and curses and fishes and bread and burning bushes and throwing stones at devils...not unless you make children so frightened and kill their reason and ability to think that you then need to come back and pry the vise loose that you yourself placed their head and heart in.
Just skip all that crap and treat them with kindness and consideration and ask them to pass it along.
-- pancho
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