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Politics : About that Cuban boy, Elian -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: X Y Zebra who wrote (7177)	6/9/2000 10:37:00 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9127

Well... assuming I buy into the Santo Clos etc... I may see a point to those. But the church ? sorry, I can't accept that, it's like teaching a child to be a hypocrite. Tazio, I have no more fondness than you for the Catholic Church nor for hypocricy. But I don't see why adding religious fairy stories to the list of other fairy stories traditionally told to small children is necessarily harmful. On the contrary, it seems useful to me. Just to make sure you understand that my feelings about the Church are every bit as strong as yours, I'll tell you that I thumbed my nose at it when I was 17 under the threat of excommunication for attending my high school baccalaureate services. That did not leave me with warm and fuzzy feelings; it left me defiant. I have told friends contemplating raising their kids Catholic (with only a touch of hyperbole) that I consider it tantamount to child abuse. Nonetheless, I see some advantages to a religious education for small children, particularly in a nice rational church like maybe the Unitarians. In the first place, it is a convenient way to communicate and reinforce the teaching of right and wrong. In addition, it provides a framework for communicating difficult things to kids in an age-appropriate way, for example, telling 6 year old Elian that mama is in heaven. And lastly, it doesn't make them seem different from their playmates. Kids can be cruel to those who are different. Let them choose to be different when they are old enough to handle it. I don't think it is hypocricy to tell kids age-appropriate fairy stories and let them grow out of them when they're ready. What boggles my mind, though, is why there are so many adults don't ever grow out of it. Karen