Yes. It's child abuse. Installing the fear of hell. Making them feel dirty about sex. Teaching them to hate women and gays. Teaching them they're always falling short of God's standards (sinning). It's all toxic and can't easily be undone.

I agree with everything you said.

Some men have no idea what it feels like to be a woman who feels dirty or ashamed about sex. But this 'sickness' is created by religion. The Virgin Mary, Adam and Eve etc... It all comes from religion.

Brought my two children up without religion and they are very well adjusted, due, IMO, to not being fed the religious BS. My mother in law told my daughter at age 7 that she would go to hell if she didn't believe in god. That was child abuse. Imagine a 7 year old trying to understand what it means to believe in god and what it means to believe in hell, and what it means to not believe in god as a means for being sent to hell as a punishment. This is why I agree with Herman Hesse that the concept of god is just an insanity.

BTW, my mother in law physically survived my wrath, but I did verbally tear her a new one.

Wow, you summed that up nicely, and I couldn't agree more. Only thing I have to add is my favorite meme on the subject.

Many religious beliefs are abusive in nature, yes, in that they teach self-loathing or are inherently demeaning.

I also believe that children can't consent to religious practices (baptism, circumcision, withholding medical care such as blood transfusions, etc) and therefore should be exempt from religious requirements until they've reached adulthood and are able to make those choices for themselves.

Even without being raised so strictly, (religiously), our culture still manages to instill a great deal of this claptrap.
Tho I don't want to dwell on it, just Mom's constant "what will people think?" Did damage.

I agree. I have been in several situations where what I was taught in catholic school came into conflict with what I was trying to understand. Finding that there is much to unlearn can be frustrating as one finds that there has been too much time pondering ideas that really made no sense.

I was lucky. Went to a Jesuit school (the Jesuits were/are a sort of a radical arm of the catholic church). They didn't mind when I raved on in Religious Knowledge class that the pope is not infallible and contraception should be encouraged and that I'm becoming a buddhist. My classmates thought I was strange but not the priests. Maybe the Jesuits liked a debate or were closet atheists.

I think the indoctrination of children is an abomination. Filling their heads with thoughts of eternal torment, an all seeing 'god' & twisted ideas of what sex is & should be is definitely "child abuse" as far as I'm concerned!

I think it is abuse. Children shouldn't be subjected to any kind of indoctrination.

I have for many years been of the opinion that true belief cannot be forced upon anyone. It is something that someone has to seek on their own. So of course, this leads to the opinion that any belief brought about by indoctrination is not real. This does rather shed light on the amount of hypocrisy in the religious.

Change your sect to mine (nondenominational fundamentalist Christians) and we have the same story. It is child abuse and I have to fight my first instincts sometimes still. Which is why I'm an anti theist

Yes but religious people do not want to hear that. During the Easter season last year I posted as much on a post one of my teammates made about taking their kids to church. It was not distasteful or mean, just honest and did I ever get grief over it. There was nothing I could do but tell all people who were upset with me, I was simply telling the truth.

In the world we live in, having children is a form of child abuse. I do agree though.

YES, it is child abuse. Those who engage in it should be imprisoned and permanently lose custody of any minor children they have.
I don't care if that seems harsh. What they're doing is WORSE.

I agree. I was raised in a Catholic family and also attended Catholic schools until the 3rd grade. I still have this fear of burning in hell and I'm 68 yo ! I know its the brainwashing and all that but never the less its in there somewhere. With all the damage being done around the world and in our nation.There of course are many examples of religious abuse. Myself I didn't raise my children in any religious beliefs and I know they're quite able to think for themselves!

It teaches children that they are unworthy and that our natural impulses are deadly sins. For the vast majority of children it's demeaning, but for LGBT children it's horrific. Some sects are better than others, but all emphasize guilt trips and coerce children into "accepted" behavior.

Religious people want you to think like they do about life. They have a narrow view of life. My daughter had an experience in Hebrew school when she was young. Passion of the Christ came out and the rabbi said don’t see it. It is anti-Semitic. I explained to her that she shouldn’t take someone’s opinion for her own. Make up your own mind.
See it, don’t see it but make it your decision.

I was just discussing this with my girlfriend. We are a little torn on how a child should be raised. I said it is best to let a child learn about religion when/how they want. She thinks that exposure to church teaches children how to interact with their elders and to be respectful and mindful of others in ways that school and such do not.

We both left churches, but we see their role differently. She likes the community aspects and sees it as a good bit of education that led her to where she is, while I see it as a mistake I made that slowed me down in getting to where I am. And that makes a huge difference in how church is viewed.

But we do not think a child should be raised in an environment that places the church in a position of infallibility. When you tell a child questioning religion makes them wrong, never the religion, you do not let them think, since they know the conclusions expected of them.

Absolutely is.

I agree with much of what you say. We are individuals and have the capacity to explore our potential and choose whether or not to develop that potential. We are also members of a social system. We can choose to contribute to that system in various ways or we can choose to simply take from it. The latter choice puts us in the position of a parasite. I don't say this as a moral statement, simply a matter of fact. I choose to try to contribute as well as taking from that system. I am more comfortable as a symbiont than a parasite.

My baptist sect wasn't as strict as yours, but I know where you are coming from. I was so blinded by the bs I couldn't see straight until I reached my early 30s and started to doubt my religious upbringing. I do wish I say the light earlier in life, like I say in many of my comments.

The good thing is that you were able to overcome that upbringing. Congratulations!

Religion can be a good thing, but, it also advocates rape, murder, incest, and prejudice. For most people it doesn't harm them as adults. But it probably affects many of us raised that way. More people have been killed in the name of "God" than for any other reason. Hither for example was Roman Catholic for most of his life. Ignoring facts, and embracing false beliefs, based from books of lies is child abuse. Then teaching their kids it is fact is wrong. Most Catholics that are devout have never read the entire bible. I have. Richard Dawkins had mentioned in either the book The God Delusion or The Virus of Faith about how religious indoctrination as well as political is wrong. Look at how many serial killers were religious. I know you could say Stalin... but he did bad things because he was a bad person. In Islam, "kill the infidel". In Christianity, "fight the good fight", and "Onward Christian Soldiers". Junior said that his war was a "mission from god".

I would consider it more as brainwashing rather than abuse. There are deprogrameers out there that work with this for people associated with “cults”. Parents should allow their kids to be exposed to it for educational purposes only and let the person decide for themselves.

You have touched upon a great topic of conversation, Blindbird. I don't think that religious indoctrination can be considered child abuse unless the intent is to manipulate and/or control the behavior of the child by the parent/teacher/clergy. Though this does occur, I believe that most parents/teachers/clergy members are simply following through what the way that they were raised. They believe that this is the correct way because that's all they've ever known. This is why each culture teaches the religion or myth that is prevalent in their logistical area at the time. We no longer believe in Zeus because our parents didn't and their parents didn't. I was in ministry for many years and don't believe that I ever intentionally tried to harm anyone with the Christian morays that I espoused. I was "over-the-top" when I first converted for sure and was annoying at the very least. But I never meant to hurt anyone. I was only trying to lead them to salvation. I have known fellow ministers through the years that did use religious belief to gain financial or sexual advantage over others and they were fortunately brought to justice. The high majority of clergy that I've known are good people who are trying to help by using the programming installed within them.