Children, Parenting and the Occult

[ElectroConvulsiveJeremy]

It is my firm belief that children should never have religious or spiritual beliefs forced upon them ore introduced in a dogmatic way at an early age, as this is such a personal decision it should be made by them when they are ready and educated enough to make their own choices.
Where I come from in the UK, a school that is not even religious will often have their pupils say prayers before dinner, during assembly etc, which I think is wrong as children are so impressionable that to assert the dominance of a particular god or belief, especially as an authority figure like a teacher, this can lead to a pre programming leading to a predisposed bias toward a particular faith or belief system.
Anton Lavey even introduced a form of baptism and, whilst I would personally lean more towards this than another form of religious / spiritual initiation for a child, I still feel that this falls into the same category as a christian baptism - removing the choice for the child.

We all have a responsibility toward children as they are, after all, our future. But helping them grow up with an open mind and enabling them to make their own free decisions, without bias, I believe is very important.

Would be great to hear everyone's thoughts, advice and suggestions on this.

[Serenitydawn]

You share the ToS view on this. No I'm not a member, I just know and share some of their views. As a mother I agree with you, as much as I worry my child will be brainwashed at school because everything in America is Christian. My child is autistic and wouldn't understand anyway. However I know a lot of people on here started getting interested at a very early age and fumbled through with no guidance. My daughter is too young, but if she chooses to learn about the occult and starts asking about it I think I would rather help her. It's not something I would force on her though. I will probably try to teach her meditation though to deal with her emotions lol. [lol]

[Rin]

Absolutely agree, but I don't think indoctrination is something we'll ever get rid of entirely, sadly.

[Flowers Jasmin]

This is something we have deal with for a long time. In as much as am a member of a certain faith, I do not force my kids to prescribe to it. Funny enough some have joined the faith while others have totaly rejected it.

[TheSeeker]

The last time we were in Germany, my then 4 year old son insisted on lighting candles in the Cathedrals we visited,
"So Thor and Jesus will look out for us."

[Penelope]

I guess education is the key. Growing up in a convent school left me with more questions than anything; questions i'm not sure i'd have asked if i'd been religion free my whole childhood - but it's definitely not like that for everyone and I certainly don't agree with forcing beliefs on kids. Lots and lots of education. Luckily most religion is sort of storybook (like most myth and a lot of magic) and that's interesting for children and can be real or just a tale. Interacting with different cultures has to help. Education!

I once told a philosophy teacher of mine about the times I would question not doing things like prayers before lunch and be told that "just do it or you WILL go to hell". He decided that it was child abuse? I thought that was taking a bit of a stance and a half on it... At the time I just took it as an "I don't know so HERE IS A REASON STOP ASKING". Religion isn't going to get stamped out of schools any time soon, but i'm sure it's a huge amount more tolerant and flexible than it was even last decade.

[TheSeeker]

Religion isn't going to get stamped out of schools any time soon, but i'm sure it's a huge amount more tolerant and flexible than it was even last decade.

If you don't mind my asking, wherabouts are you that Religion hasn't been stamped out of the schools?

[Penelope]

Religion isn't going to get stamped out of schools any time soon, but i'm sure it's a huge amount more tolerant and flexible than it was even last decade.

If you don't mind my asking, wherabouts are you that Religion hasn't been stamped out of the schools?

Am I so unlucky? Rural England - you have to be a real hippy with a fair bit of £££ if you want to avoid token Church of England prayers et al - let's not even start on the Catholic schools.

So the world Out There is slightly less school religion happy then? [yay]

[TheSeeker]

So the world Out There is slightly less school religion happy then? [yay]

Urban Canada.
Far too multicultural here to be able to impose that kind of thing.

[Gaeus]

Over here we teach kids not to be religious lol! Unless your parents are rich and send you to Catholic school. If so your just SOL. God bless Amurricca!

[Serenitydawn]

Over here we teach kids not to be religious lol! Unless your parents are rich and send you to Catholic school. If so your just SOL. God bless Amurricca!

That was sarcasm right?

[Gaeus]

Technically it's a pun lol.

[Stale1]

Well, where I'm from religious teaching is part of a curriculum.
You get graded on it like any other class.

But here it's not just a matter of faith, it's a matter of national identity to.
Three religions and three nations without much love for each other.

[Serenitydawn]

Well, where I'm from religious teaching is part of a curriculum.
You get graded on it like any other class.

But here it's not just a matter of faith, it's a matter of national identity to.
Three religions and three nations without much love for each other.

Oh wow, that sucks. [eek] Where do you live?

[TheSeeker]

A brief conversation with my 3 1/2 year old last night before bedtime stories...

"Jesus died, right Dad?"
"That's right, Dude."
"So, he's not a god, right?"
"That's right, Son. He was a man, like Buddha."
"But Thor can't die, right Dad?"
"That's right."
"So he is a god, right?"
"Yup."
"I wanna hear stories about Thor tonight, Dad."
"Of course, Dude. Hop up..."

No problems here. [smile2]

[hobotubbie]

i had that in pre school aswell because of the college i was in.. which was a private school runned by nuns. I had classes after aswell but it didn't had any effect in my.. actually i kinda hate christianity.. but it has nothing to do with my education but with the motivations and factual results of such a religion.

Anyways .. saying that i don't doubt that .. even if it didn't influence my growth it might have a great influence in others.

[Stale1]

Well, where I'm from religious teaching is part of a curriculum.
You get graded on it like any other class.

But here it's not just a matter of faith, it's a matter of national identity to.
Three religions and three nations without much love for each other.

Oh wow, that sucks. [eek] Where do you live?

Bosnia and Herzegovina.
And yeah, it does suck. Especially if you live in a small semi-rural community
like I do. Everything here is very homogeneous. It's not easy being different.
No company, no one to hang out with. Gets a bit lonely. [crymore]

[Serenitydawn]

Yeah everybody I know in real life is Christian. However, I at least know there is an occult community in the city (about 45 min. from where I live). That must be really difficult and I have no doubt it gets lonely. I think a lot of us keep our occult life secret to an extent. If my family knew, it be like "You deal with the Prince of Darkness, you are evil!" [lol] Then they'd probably throw crosses at me or something silly. [rolleyes] That's where forums like this and even fb help a lot, being able to talk to others into the occult.

[TheSeeker]

Yeah everybody I know in real life is Christian. However, I at least know there is an occult community in the city (about 45 min. from where I live).

I'd forgotten what it's like to not live in a big city.
We live in Toronto, and there are people from everywhere.
It's cool. Within two blocks of my home there is a Christian Science [not Scientologist] church; a United Church; a Baptist Church, a Jeebis Church, and two Anglican Churches. Elsewhere in our city the Italian Catholics have an awesome Easter parade with Romans and a charming bleeding Jeebis who they actually flog through their part of town; there's a big annual Hindu parade with elephants, along with a huuuge temple out in the Burbs that looks like it came from India about 500 years ago; Caribana; a fair sized Yoruba community from Africa --wicked rituals, btw; a Tibetan Buddhist temple down the street from us, sitting aboot [wink2] a hundred yards from the Jewish Community Centre, and it, the JCC, is only about a half a block from the Native Community Centre --not to mention a whole bunch of Asian university students of various nationalities, a whack of relocated white Europeans lookin' surly, and a large Latin American community, and I'm sure I've missed a bunch...
Everyone seems to get along for the most part, too.
I like it here. You can be pretty open about it. Pagans don't get hassled unless they're bein' jerks --much like anyone else. [cool2]

[Serenitydawn]

Seeker that sounds awesome! Especially the elephant parade, my daughter would flip out. She LOVES elephants. I wish we lived in a community like that. Being in an almost rural community it's not diverse at all. It's all white Christians pretty much. I used to live in the closest city and it was more diverse. Growing up in the Navy I got used to seeing more diversity, even lived in Japan for awhile. I can't help thinking my daughter is missing out on that.

[Jack-o-diamonds]

growing up a pentecostal taught me how to enter into a state of gnosis through glossolalia from the age of 4.

thank you, jesus, i can now do magick.

[Serenitydawn]

growing up a pentecostal taught me how to enter into a state of gnosis through glossolalia from the age of 4.

thank you, jesus, i can now do magick.

[lol]

[Gaeus]

I think I read my bible upside down... again! Lol

[PavlovsDog]

I have started telling my children mythology as bedtime stories. That is pretty much how my own path (my girlfriend has the same background). So we are beginning with Norse mythology (we are after all in Sweden.) Then I am thinking about telling them about Greek mythology (which is what I heard as a kid) and so on. At school they get a bit of Christianity around Christmas and Easter. I believe this is great for them. Mythology holds many exciting tales and I hope it will make them open minded and interested in philosophy and religion. Knowing about different mythologies is also good education.

As long as you teach your kids to think for themselves and be able to make their own decisions I am certain that they will find their path in life.

[reptilian]

In every part of California that I've lived, discussing religion in school outside of a historical or anthropological context is discouraged, but it is tacitly assumed that everyone is Christian unless they have brown skin, in which case they may be Muslim or Hindu. Jewish folk are often hugely marginalized, and non-monotheists are either ignore entirely or actively despised.
As a soft atheistic and alternatively spiritual person, I am looked down on and perceived as an incurable treehugger. Which I am, but that isn't the point. XD