Should religion be part of a childs upbringing?

[Adam]

Also showing respect to people and teaching morals is NOT religion. Morals predate religion and not being religious deosn't mean you have no right to opinions on how people should treat each other

[Adam]

Religion is a stinking sack of shit

[TheoK]

 

[midlifeaspie]

So that's not picking and choosing aspects of religion. I don't want ANY religion. That doesn't mean I can't celebrate holidays (which mean nothing to me in a religious sense and have been around long before their current religious association anyway)

Indeed.  Christmas was Yule co-opted.

[midlifeaspie]

Also showing respect to people and teaching morals is NOT religion. Morals predate religion and not being religious deosn't mean you have no right to opinions on how people should treat each other

As far as I am concerned, religion makes you less moral.  I do the right thing because it is the right thing to do, not because I am under the threat of a judging deity.  If you believe that crap then your actions can never be never pure and are ultimately selfish.

[Adam]

Exactly. I often read things by people asking "how can you have morals if you don't believe in god?"

That is astounding to me

How does it make someone a "good" person if they do good things because they're told to, or through fear of eternal punishment? Surely being a "good person" would be more valid if you have no godly threat to make you do it, but do it outof empathy and caring for others?

and contrary to what a lot of people think, human morality DOES predate religion. all the judeo-christian values people harp on about, are actually natural to us as social animals. And many are found in other primates too

[TheoK]

Exactly. I often read things by people asking "how can you have morals if you don't believe in god?"

That is astounding to me

How does it make someone a "good" person if they do good things because they're told to, or through fear of eternal punishment? Surely being a "good person" would be more valid if you have no godly threat to make you do it, but do it outof empathy and caring for others?

and contrary to what a lot of people think, human morality DOES predate religion. all the judeo-christian values people harp on about, are actually natural to us as social animals. And many are found in other primates too

People stupid enough to believe fairytales for adults can't be expected to grasp morality as a philosophical concept.

[Icequeen]

If you trace the origins of the major holidays like Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving...you will many of the traditions were pagan in origin and adopted by the Christians in the attempt to convert them.

So by picking and choosing the aspects I celebrate, I feel I' m doing no more than many have already did.

I celebrate Christmas as a time of giving, Thanksgiving because I am thankful for all that I have, Easter as the coming of Spring.
...and I'll have to agree with MLA on the issue of morals...I do things because they are the right thing to do, the hardest judgement for me comes from within.

[bodie]

Yes, and many atrocities have been committed in the name of religion.

Church of England was born because the King couldn't get a divorce from Rome - and then many Catholics were slaughtered because they didn't recognise it!   

[TheoK]

Sweden became Protestant so that the King should be independent of Rome and also be able to confiscate property from the monasteries.

[Queen Victoria]

If you trace the origins of the major holidays like Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving...you will many of the traditions were pagan in origin and adopted by the Christians in the attempt to convert them.

So by picking and choosing the aspects I celebrate, I feel I' m doing no more than many have already did.

I celebrate Christmas as a time of giving, Thanksgiving because I am thankful for all that I have, Easter as the coming of Spring.
...and I'll have to agree with MLA on the issue of morals...I do things because they are the right thing to do, the hardest judgement for me comes from within.

but isn't pagan an umbrella word for many religions not recognizing one G_d?

[TheoK]

Religions were invented to control people from the very beginning. One proof of this is that "people in general" are pretty uninterested in astronomy, physics, chemistry, philosophy etc. They were of course even less so several thousand years ago. Thus it is obvious that gods were invented to impose a hierarchy on people.

[Queen Victoria]

Religions were invented to control people from the very beginning. One proof of this is that "people in general" are pretty uninterested in astronomy, physics, chemistry, philosophy etc. They were of course even less so several thousand years ago. Thus it is obvious that gods were invented to impose a hierarchy on people.

Maybe uninterested in the higher aspects of these, but they were interested in
Astronomy - sun rise and set to get up and go to sleep, full moon for hunting, planting, etc.
Physics - how to make a weapon fly farther, how to make fire
Chemistry - cooking is chemistry as well as physics
Philosophy - IDK, because I have no real idea what philosophy is about.  And at my age I really don't have to know.

[bodie]

Pagan's recognise many Gods, as well as spiritual beings.  Yes, it is an umbrella term and it includes Druids, Heathens and many other groups.

They are not Christian. 

[TheoK]

But no religion will tell you any scientific facts about that.

The gods are also identical with one another over a very large geographical area; Thor, Jupiter, Zeus and Indra are in principle the same god, for instance.