Not sure I would say abuse but growing up with my Culture I sure was afraid of always doing something wrong and going to Hell! I eventually gave up when I was a teenager and went a little wild. There just wasn't enough explanations about things in our Culture. Now today I find myself giving up again in finding faith or any belief in anything.

Agreed.

It is brainwashing. As much as I love the separation of church and state, I really do wish the various mainstream religions were covered in public school.

Knowing what motivates billions of people on the planet is just as important as literature and history, in my opinion.

Yes, yes I do.

They are cults plain and simple.

Absolutely. I've been saying this for years.

Some good points here for sure. I definitely think it can be used in an abusing way. Teaching your child about religion is one thing. Forcing it on them and using it as a tool to induce fear and obedience is abuse. Plain and simple. Some of you seem to be getting offended, but this is the distinction that I am trying to make. And many of these extremists take it too far to the point where I would definitely consider it abuse. I have seen the trauma it can cause children and even lasting effects that can have into adulthood. It is a hard concept perhaps because most of us were raised religious to some degree, which I simply don't agree with. But there is a line that gets crossed far too often that does make it abusive. If a child is suffering fear and anxiety over it then something is wrong.

Being a frequent visitor of New Orleans and a question askor. I've talked about voodoo with certain individuals that know something about their ancestry in this crazy place... yep.... This was and is a religious belief. It's kind of out of this world stuff... is it an abuse? It's the same in any culture... religion is crap.... forced to believe it is an abuse.

100% think it is child abuse. Religion should be a choice, not indoctrinated. I have a daughter with a believer, and i fear she will grow up to be an unquestioning bible thumping church rat. Nothing i can do but to try to encourage critical thinking and reasoning.

"Honey, theres an invisible dragon in my garage that you can't see and only talks to me....." love you Carl Sagon

Can't agree more! It is horrible, organized abuse...

As a parent who did raise children in a religion, I do not believe it was child abuse. I was acting on what I knew and believed at the time. There was no intention to hurt them in any way. Neither of my boys practice an official religion at the present time, however, I believe they associate with Christianity.

It all depends. I was told about god when I was younger but my mother wasn’t really religious so she just gave us the just of it all, so I mean the thought of a fun happy place where everyone goes was cool in my eyes. But my Godmother is the one who messed me up. She would tell me if I ever told one lie, just one lie that the Devil would come up from under the ground and take me to hell. So there is a way to really mess a child up about it all but it depends on how big of a nut job the person is that is teaching you.

Telling a child that there is some invisible man watching them always waiting to punish them in a pit of fire for all of eternity can be traumatic. Children shouldn't be put thru shit like that. I just find it sickening.

Totally agree, but not as harsh as calling it abuse. I am a therapist who has had a few clients with whom the focus of their therapy (by their choosing) was to address all the distorted beliefs that their religious upbringing foisted upon them.