Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: lieuwen@mycella.cs.wisc.edu (Dan Lieuwen) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Fundamentalism and Catholicism Message-ID: Date: 25 Sep 90 08:02:37 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept Lines: 26 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu >>I had intended this rather simplistic question to be rhetorical, but I did not >>convey my meaning clearly. My reasoning was as follows: if children are not >>deemed qualified by this Roman-Catholic (or whatever the case may be) to >>appropriately judge the value of religious doctrine, how can this same person >>then in good conscience himself proceed to religiously `indoctrinate'? Or, >>in the larger question (and what I am really getting at), should parents >>force their children to adopt a particular religion while they are obviously >>not capable of judging its validity? If children are not taught the religion of their parents they will almost assuredly grow up non-religious. I have met a number of people whose parents let them "make up their own mind". Almost invariably they chose to be irreligious (although some came to some faith or other later in life). In _This is My God_ by Herman Wouk (Orthodox Jew), he argues that not raising your children to be religious is to do them a great disservice. It is far easier to give up religious practice and thought than it is to pick it up. Look at our culture--there are a lot more people who've left they faith they were brought up in than have chosen another faith. Dan -- --Dan