Children should be taught to question everything, to weigh evidence in evaluating truth, they should be encouraged to be open-minded and to consider whether something is genuine or useful or not. They should not be taught to accept the Bible uncritically. They should read the Bible as literature not as dogma. Children should not be raised as fanatics because that will stunt their intellectual growth.
Did it ever occur to you that children could be brought up to use critical thought and question things, and still receive a religious education?
Catholic theologians are a little more reasonable about these things than many "evangelical" groups are, since they do not rely so much on sola scriptura.
I agree that what's shown in those videos is borderline wrong and is pretty much blatant indoctrination, but you should realize not all Christian groups are like that. Those videos are from the blue ridge mountains in North Carolina, which is considered "out in the sticks" and pretty backwards. (It is part of the wider region known as "Appalachia") There are all sorts of whacky things that used to go on in that region until very modern times, like snake preachers. You will also notice that those videos are from the 1980s. You can tell from the video quality. That should tell you something.
I think Christmas is a good experience for a child to learn to seek the truth on their own - without Santa, there would be no Christmas
Interesting idea. But you must admit it is dogmatic in itself. Some things must be accepted on faith. Even in math there are there are axioms. The fact that someone has moral beliefs does not make them a fanatic, living as if those beliefs were true does not make them a fanatic. Even forcing others to live by those beliefs does not make them a fanatic: we do have laws based on morality. I for one do not think the entire world is intellectually stunted for living under laws.
no one said it did, they said "Children should not be raised as fanatics" you can be raised Christian without being raised as a fanatic, I know many good Christians that are not fanatics
They said the Bible should not be read as dogma - a set of unproven assumptions about the world that should be taken as true. The next sentence said children should not be raised as fanatics. The obvious implication is that there is a cause/effect relationship between the two. Not all arguments are explicit. Nor did I say that Christians are fanatics. In fact, I said not all were. We appear to be arguing the same point. there is a misunderstanding somewhere. It could easily be me. Perhaps resisting arrest will come back and clarify what he meant. Edit: For the record, I know Atheists who are not fanatics. On the other hand, I've also known some who foamed at the mouth when religion entered the discussion. The same with Christians.
