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Should We Be Trying To Save Children From Religion?
Many modern voices are raised telling us that we should protect children from the divisive and segregating influence of religion and that we should not force them to go to church or Sunday School. Rather, they say that we should wait until they get older and gain an understanding of the world. Then they are in a better position to choose for themselves which religion, if any, they prefer. I have a problem with that view.
Most civilized adults, particularly parents, educators and activists would be quick to assert their commitment to the protection and welfare of children. We all want them to have a good start in life and to be spared the ruinous effects of ignorance, accident, hunger and disease. We want them to lead long, happy, successful and productive lives, and so, to that end, we strive to provide for them all the advantages we possibly can and to eliminate, or at least limit, the number and intensity of the dangers they must face.
Part of that endeavor involves ensuring that they do not end up with warped ideas, destructive habits, drug addictions, gang involvements, terrorist activities or jail-time, but that instead, they get a good education, learn positive and healthy attitudes and develop healthy bodies and life-styles.
Much of the success we want them to experience depends upon the values they are given at an early age and the character they develop as they mature. Very often we depend upon the television, the school teacher, the church or good luck to accomplish that Herculean task for us. Doing that is a luxury we dare not indulge. It is a cop-out and there is too much at stake. Parents must assume the primary responsibility for all aspects of their children's upbringing. Self-discipline, good judgment, industry and manners are not a product of chance but of loving discipline and cultivation based on modeling.
So, in this process, how do we save the children from religion? Can we save them? Doesn't everybody have a religion or believe something? Doesn't their belief system underlie all aspects of their lives and actions? It is certain that they will each believe something. Where are they going to get it, and from whom? Is it not the great privilege and duty of parents to influence or structure this crucial area of their child's development at least as much as they would diet, health habits, politics, morals or standards of decency? If there is truth should we not seek and share it? If there is good and bad should we not promote the good?
If this be the case, should not innocent children be guided to believe what is true rather than be left as prey to the vagaries of chance or the subtle enticements of more sophisticated promoters of falsehood? Should they not be taught the skills of testing for truth and given the tools of wisdom to aid them in considering the source, meaning and destiny of life in this world? It is obvious that there are many contradictory belief systems that surround each one of us and that many of them must therefore be false.
Evolution is a religion because it is an untrue, unscientific and un-provable belief system based on assumptions promoted by authority figures and popular opinion rather than historical or scientific facts. It provides the believer with the assumed luxury of eliminating what he perceives as the tyranny of accountability to a creator, and, for many people, has become the justification for an immoral lifestyle that would not be in keeping with a belief in a Divine Judge.
Atheism is another religion which has both contributed to the popularity of evolutionary theory and, in turn, been greatly promoted by it.
A close cousin to these is Secular Humanism or the deification of man and the denigration of God which is another popular, self-gratifying religion for many modern sophisticates.
Then of course there are all the major world religions, cults and occult practices to further complicate and endanger the world of ideas facing any child arriving at the age of understanding and curiosity.
All of these, however, are in addition to and intertwined with our universal proclivity to do wrong. No-one has ever had to teach little Johnny to steal a cookie, to disobey Mom or Dad, to lie or throw a tantrum. All this is part of our nature. We all know that most people can't keep their New Year's Resolutions, lose weight, stop smoking or reach other goals of perceived good. We are weak and flawed. The world is filled with strife and suffering in spite of the heroic efforts of millions to improve the situation.
The Bible says we are sinners because we are born with a sinful nature and are incapable of ridding ourselves of its stain. It further tells us that God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to die in our place to pay for the price of our rebellion and to offer to us as a result the free gift of forgiveness and a new life in Christ. The Christian Gospel teaches that God wants to live in our hearts and change our fallen nature so that we are freed from the slavery to sin and enabled to do right. Furthermore it tells us that unless we allow Him to forgive and change us we will not be admitted to His heaven (to pollute it like the earth) but will suffer in the hell that was provided for the devil that messed up our world. God wants all people to allow Him to save them but He gives us a choice between serving Satan or Himself.
If all of this is true (and it is), then saving the children from FALSE religion is the greatest responsibility we have, but "saving" them from TRUE religion by leaving the choice up to them or to chance, or leading them into a wrong one is the greatest of crimes.
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By Art Willock, current Director of Expanding Youth Ministries,
Art is an educator, speaker, and retired farmer. He taught both in
elementary and high school, and has been a school principal too.
His wife, Rosella was a missionary in Japan for 20 years.
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