Emile, X's post in response to yours was so thoughtful, so eloquent and so right on that I am a little blown away by its power. The only thing I could possibly add is in response to this statement of yours:
<To withhold the light of Christ is the ultimate child abuse.>
Of course it is your right to say this, as a part of your larger belief system, as long as you can see that it is just a belief system. However, the history of Christianity would not be fairly told without some mention of all the horrific child abuse, including the deaths of children, and the eternal torment of their hearts and souls, as the result of another Christian belief from the Bible--"Spare the rod and spoil the child."
Looking beyond the Bible, one only has to read the newspaper to discover one true story after another of priests molesting children, nuns starving and beating orphans in their care, or children denied lifesaving medical treatment because their parents supported some sort of Christian belief system. The situation in Ireland is so bad that Catholic churches and schools are closing for lack of interest; there is the realization there, especially among the young, that Catholicism is full of hypocrisy. The latest scandal I read about concerned some Protestant denomination where the missionaries left their children in the custody of their church, so that they could go out in the African wilds and convert the poor misguided pagans. While they were doing that, their children were being systematically physically and sexually abused, and threatened with death if they told their parents. How is that for wonderful Christian child care?
That is not to say that all Christians are bad parents. I am sure that some of them are loving and kind, just as there are multitudes of wonderful parents who are pagans, atheists and agnostics. But nothing in the history of Christianity cries out as a particular example of enlightened parenting. Isn't there some common agreement that a healthy child is well loved, not abused in any way, and taught to think for itself? How could that possibly happen if the child is beaten, threatened with damnation, and has its parents' rigid belief system drummed into it from babyhood? I actually consider it child abuse to present that belief system as fact to a developing small child. |
