Family or Religion?

[politics4u]

Working in the family court system, I have to read some troubling things from clients. I cannot discuss specifics, but there is a theme I see come up quite often that seems to me the extreme of religious exclusivism.

I remember seeing parents who used to forbid their kids from hanging out with some others over religion. But what if that other person is a parent?
I don't know how many letters I have to see calling for reduced custody or various sanctions toward the other parent over religion! I have no idea how these turn out, but I certainly hope the court favors family over religion.

But what about the opinions of religious folks out there?
If you were divorced and your ex was in a different sect or even a different religion, would you use that as a reason to keep your kids away?
Or do you think these are just the typical angry split parents finding yet another way to use their kids as weapons against one another?

It disgusts me. My parents divorced when I was young but made every effort to back each other up and ensure they were on the same page. My dad was an athiest. Did he throw a fit when my mom was going to take me to church? No. In fact, he told me to quit complaining about it and just go.

Frankly I don't understand why some religionists feel it's so horrible to let their kids around people who might expose them to the fact that different people think different things... but when it's a parent they're being hidden away from, that's just wrong.

[garywoot]

I'm on the same page as you man, religion is religion, don't freakin' bring that garbage to something more important in life, and that's living the LIFE YOU WERE GIVEN! (and many Christians will disagree that religion is more important than life, I'm assuming it's not, heh).

Man, you only have one life, so use it wisely while you still can. Don't force your kids to believe in anything, please. You're only wasting your own time, and nothing good will happen of that.

[ford007]

[quote=garywoot]
I'm on the same page as you man, religion is religion, don't freakin' bring that garbage to something more important in life, and that's living the LIFE YOU WERE GIVEN! (and many Christians will disagree that religion is more important than life, I'm assuming it's not, heh).

Man, you only have one life, so use it wisely while you still can. Don't force your kids to believe in anything, please. You're only wasting your own time, and nothing good will happen of that.
[/quote]

Hmm.. I believe religion is as important as our life. Religion provides the inspiration for us to carry out a better life and care for our families. As far as children are concerned, the parents have the responsibility to bring them up away from the bad habits like alcoholism and drug addiction. If some of the parents think one way to do that is to bring religiosity in to the kid's lives, then i am not going to disagree on that.

[DodgeFB]

I believe everyone has the right to their own religion. It seems that some "athiest" do have a religion of sorts. Some and only some feel it is their "right" and "duty" to fight all religion on every front. That seems a little "arrogant" to me, but to each his own.

[desozapeater]

Hi
The role religion has always played is political. It works quite well at controlling weak-minded people. It is also used as an excuse to commit atrocities and legislate bigotry.
In my life, religion caused me much anxiety for many years. I grew up in a very fundamentalist Christian part of the country. Although I was fortunate enough to be raised by nonreligious parents, I still got sucked in to a crazy church by my best friend, whose father was a youth pastor. As an adult, I was able to finally grow some balls and say out loud that I'm an atheist and that religion is not something I require in my life.
Religion has played no role whatsoever in the well-being or economic success of my family.

[Dirk]

[quote=DodgeFB]
I believe everyone has the right to their own religion. It seems that some "athiest" do have a religion of sorts. Some and only some feel it is their "right" and "duty" to fight all religion on every front. That seems a little "arrogant" to me, but to each his own.
[/quote]

I'm for freedom of conscience. We should respect one anothers' religious beliefs. We can choose whether or not to listen, we can choose whether or not to agree.

Karl Marx said "religion is the opium of the people". He means that people find comfort in religion. I think that's very true.

However, as has been suggested, religion has been used to justify countless atrocities, including genocide and ethnic cleansing. As anything, it's used repeatedly, as a method for controlling people.

[code1]

family is important and religion is important if we can find out a way to blend the two as one then we will not have family or religion but we will have family with religion