Yep in my opinion we should raise kids without religion and if they form an interist of there own on the subject later let them persue it where supaused to have freewill so why file a kids head with are political and religious belief

Yes, but we have to make the difference this early in this insane game of whats real. Eyes wide open versus eyes wide shut is rough at this time. Unfortunately until more people stop hiding and join in we have along way to go to beat the bad case of theology bs.

Slippery slope. If you look at religion as a form of mental child abuse, that opens the door to all sorts of arguments. Things like letting your child play video games or sit in front of the TV all day or anything that someone can view as negative for their mental wellbeing could be considered child abuse.

To me, no. It's irresponsible, for sure.. but if I considered it child abuse, I'd have to consider countless other non religious things as child abuse. Coming from a smoker with a child, smoking in front of them (without exposing them to smoke) would be child abuse as they're passively learning the habit. Hence why I try to avoid my daughter witnessing me smoking a cigarette through the window or glass door.

Not legally, no. The legal definition of child abuse is a pretty high bar.

That doesn't mean some religious environments aren't profoundly harmful to a child's development. Authoritarian religion tends to produce shame and feelings of worthlessness for example. Deconverts here talk about that all the time.

If you become so ingrained that your child is like the ones in Jesus Camp, then yes I think it is. In any event, it definitely fills them with guilt, and keeps them behind their peers in science.

Good questions. Absolutely not! Is it child abuse to raise your child as a democrat or republican, American or Canadian, Vegan or omnivore, thin or heavy, city or rural, Buddhist or Taoist, Star Wars or Star Trek? Who cares. I'm agnostic and I raised my two boys to be free thinkers. They both chose a church based on the fun stuff their friends where doing. I was careful to warn them about brain washing but didn't brain wash them with my own nonreligious righteousness either. One is now a mild Christian with progressive beliefs and the other does not like labels of any kind. Thanks for the question.

It was okay for me until I was 12 and the folks became fervent xtian cultists. Coming out of a fairly liberal denomination into that lot of wackos was horrific. Toss in a fondling "evangelist," and there is MY life.

It's called freedom of religion, protected by the 1st amendment of the US constitution.

No. A typical church community is a great space for children. They have fanciful stories and songs. They provide a space for community and support.
That being said there are definitely churches that are abusive and dangerous. But any loving parent not drinking the Kool-aid should easily be able to identify the good from the bad.

That depends, if you have bought an old church and turned it into a home than no, but if you are one of those fanatics, no matter of what religion and beat your child into submission, then yes.

The thing is the parents who believe in god think that they are doing the right thing to bring them up in the faith. We know that they are misguided, but I don’t think it can be called child abuse if they think they are doing it in the best interest of the child.

I think it would depend on how heavily the was pressured to believe in the church and whether or not it was a cult

Mental abuse such as hellfire and eternal damnation, plus the possibility of being mollested by a preist. Nah.

I think that if religious people believe that their god gave them free will, they ought to provide their children with the opportunity to develop their minds and understand the world a bit before they choose whether or not they wanna believe in the big g.

Threatening eternal damnation.. yeah, I think that qualifies.

Teaching kids things like they could burn in hell is undoubtedly emotional abuse