Language is a system of communication and understanding, it is not a concrete system like math.

Even math is pretty relative once you get to the higher levels.

Kretoma -- "Christian traditions" is pretty vague. Catholic, Mormon, Methodist, ... ? They're quite different.

Biblical traditions like: Slavery? Genocide? Murder? A god with such an ego that four of the 10 commandments are about him. Hard to follow those if you're an atheist. Most of the other 10 commandments existed as moral rules long before Christianity. Many Christian traditions were borrowed/stolen from other religions, even Christmas itself.

How do you feel about the seven tenets of The Satanic Temple:

• One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
  
• The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
  
• One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
  
• The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own.
  
• Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.
  
• People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.
  
• Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.
  

Normal western christian stuff aka lutheran and catholic. The seven deadly sins for example.
This tenets are nice. Why are they called " satanic"?

Hey now, that Satanic Temple bit is baiting, and does not mean what many people think it means. They are literary a non-theistic religious and political activist group. The name is a satirical attempt to troll Abrahamic religions. They are more a kin to a political activist group, trying to remove religion from goverment than what we commonly think of as a religion, let alone what many Christians believe a Satanist is.


From wikipedia "The organization actively participates in public affairs that have manifested in several public political actions and efforts at lobbying,[10][11] with a focus on the separation of church and state and using satire against Christian privilege that it says interferes with personal religious freedom. It considers marriage a religious sacrament that should be governed under the First Amendment's protection of religious liberty, and which should prevail over state laws.[12] Because the group regards inviolability of the body as a key doctrine, it also views all restrictions on abortion, including mandatory waiting periods, as an infringement on the rights of Satanists to practice their religion.[13] The Satanic Temple does not believe in a supernatural Satan. The Temple uses the literary Satan as a metaphor to promote pragmatic skepticism, rational reciprocity, personal autonomy, and curiosity.[6] Satan is thus used as a symbol representing "the eternal rebel" against arbitrary authority and social norms.[14][15]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Temple

Edited 2/14/2019 17:12:14

Interesting.

I'm a skeptic/non-believer.

Bringing a skeptical kid to church once a week is generally fine, as long as the parent is willing to let them make their own choices by age 16 or so, and definitely by 18. My mom basically required my brother to attend daily religious classes that he didn't want to attend. There are definitely worse things than this, but that seems like overkill. Last I talked to him about it, he doesn't regret attending those classes. I attended the same kind of classes, and I don't regret it either.

Master Jz,

it seems harmless, but it isn´t.
It is indoctrination.

Saying it is "generally fine" because you can choose later in age is wrong.
It should be the other way around.
Teach children nothing of religion or at least its practice. And then at age 18, try to convince them of (your) god.
Because at that age they should be able to make a choice without any contamination.
But I think you would see a steep decline in your religion in a generation.


I ask you to perform two acts, if you feel comfortable enough with it ofcourse.

first, speak out very loud: "Ra doesn´t exist and if he does, he is a fool"
second, speak out very loud: "God doesn´t exist and if he does, he is a fool"


I am sure that most of those brought up in an Abrahamic religion will at the very least feel somewhat uncomfortable with the 2nd one.

How can you not regret spending hours as a child listening to magic stories and being brainwashed.
Those hours would´ve been much better spent learning a 2nd language to young children.

My mom basically required my brother to attend daily religious classes that he didn't want to attend. There are definitely worse things than this, but that seems like overkill.

I heard from many former students of such schools that the best way to have an atheist child is to send them to a religion school.

The Biblical stories and history were worth learning. As an adult, I've also enjoyed learning about Norse Mythology and the Greek Gods.

I was indoctrinated into a high demand religion and definitely don't think that was ok.

@Жұқтыру Can't speak for my brother, but going to church as a skeptic solidified my non-belief.

Edited 2/15/2019 03:20:45

> The Biblical stories and history were worth learning.

The question is how many Biblical stories are actually verifiable history? Or are they as real and as useful as the stories about the Norse and Greek gods? Or Aesop's Fables or Grimm's Fairy Tales?

The Mormons have additional scriptures "documenting" history. Are they less (or more?) believable than the New Testament?

Do not compare Mormon scripture to the Bible. Mormonism and those pagan religions are falsehoods.

@OgreZed How much of anything that we 'think' we know is verifiable truth with a capital "T"?

@OgreZed By Biblical history, I mean the Council of Nicaea, translation of the Bible into English, the protestant movement, religious movements in the US, the compilation of the Bible and how the books were chosen and ordered, who likely wrote the books, and so on.

The question is how many Biblical stories are actually verifiable history? Or are they as real and as useful as the stories about the Norse and Greek gods? Or Aesop's Fables or Grimm's Fairy Tales?

I suspect the number of verifiable stories in the Bible is very small, and likely limited to things like conquests and the rule of certain kings. There is a mix of good and bad in the Bible stories, but the same can be said of Norse and Greek ones. I don't know that I'd rate any one over the others. All of them give us a look into the cultures of the people who told the stories.

The Mormons have additional scriptures "documenting" history. Are they less (or more?) believable than the New Testament?

It depends on which LDS/Mormon scripture you are talking about. The Doctrine and Covenants does include real events. Considering evidence related to ancient American civilizations and settlements, the Book of Mormon does not appear to detail real events at all. If only looking at historical accuracy (excluding all theological claims), I'd put the New Testament below the Doctrine and Covenants, but above the Book of Mormon. I don't believe any of the theological claims, but if I had to rate them, I'd say the Bible is more believable than LDS/Mormon scripture because it claims less.

0 - 16 - Teach them good morals.
16 - 18 introduce the idea of religion and give them all the options with a brief description of what they are and ideally give ways of how the child could learn more. Parent can help guide them if needed.
After 18, your child should be a mostly independent adult (except financially) that can make his/her choices.

If you're a parent, I think you should introduce your child to all the religions (the main ones anyways) and not one.

However, the greatest gift you could give to your child is art of critical thinking skills, being able to think for him/herself and able to dissect difficult complex issues and find a way for him/her to at least try and find the answers.

At the moment, there's a lot of brainwashing and social conditioning going on. You have parents forcing their religious values, you have parents wanting their child to marry a person of similar religion. It's a very silly mindset which arguably goes against the idea of a utopia of a religion.

....the greatest gift you could give to your child is art of critical thinking skills, being able to think for him/herself and able to dissect difficult complex issues and find a way for him/her to at least try and find the answers.

Hear! Hear!