Is it immoral to teach children Christianity?

[VermilionUK]

It's been debated all over the place: Should we teach our Children Christianity?

By this, I mean: should children be taught to become Christian?
Or are people violating children's right to choose?

I personally think that they should be taught about Christianity (and the flaws of it), and left to make up their own choice.

If we look at the famous "Jesus Camp" we can see how it can be - in many ways - brainwashing. But of course this is an extreme example.

So, question for discussion: Should Children be taught to follow Christianity? Or is it immoral in todays society?

There's also a poll - if there isn't an option applicable to you, then please explain your thoughts.

[McCulloch]

---besides all the fulfilled prophesy the nation of Israel has the signature of Gods blessing throughout history.
#1. despite being dispersed among the world more than once in history, they have come back together in Jerusalem to unify themselves again.
#2. they have retained their language for the most part which is one of the most ancient languages known to man and they speak it.
#3. they have held true to their religions and traditions through history even with other cultures being mixed with theirs at different points which meant that they separated themselves.

--- these things and others this nation has done in the name of God. no other nation has done these things or has even come close to accomplishing what this nation has done.
--- it's a fulfilment of scripture, that's why,
(Joel 3:16) The LORD also will roar from Zion, And utter His voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake; But the LORD will be a shelter for His people, And the strength of the children of Israel.
(Joel 3:20) But Judah shall abide forever, And Jerusalem from generation to generation.

I find this odd. The Christians claim that the Jewish religion is wrong; they misunderstand their own messianic prophesies; they did not recognize the very Son of God among them; they believe that God's Law still applies and reject the grace presented from Jesus. Yet God's apparent blessing and continued support for them is a sign that the Christian claims are true. Is anyone else confused?

[Megaboomer]

---besides all the fulfilled prophesy the nation of Israel has the signature of Gods blessing throughout history.
#1. despite being dispersed among the world more than once in history, they have come back together in Jerusalem to unify themselves again.
#2. they have retained their language for the most part which is one of the most ancient languages known to man and they speak it.
#3. they have held true to their religions and traditions through history even with other cultures being mixed with theirs at different points which meant that they separated themselves.

--- these things and others this nation has done in the name of God. no other nation has done these things or has even come close to accomplishing what this nation has done.
--- it's a fulfilment of scripture, that's why,
(Joel 3:16) The LORD also will roar from Zion, And utter His voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake; But the LORD will be a shelter for His people, And the strength of the children of Israel.
(Joel 3:20) But Judah shall abide forever, And Jerusalem from generation to generation.

I find this odd. The Christians claim that the Jewish religion is wrong; they misunderstand their own messianic prophesies; they did not recognize the very Son of God among them; they believe that God's Law still applies and reject the grace presented from Jesus. Yet God's apparent blessing and continued support for them is a sign that the Christian claims are true. Is anyone else confused?

---I'm confused, what does this have to do with old testament fulfilled prophesy concerning nations?
---It's important to realize the power of the scriptures and the God that put it together. it should be up to the individual to study it and come to his own conclusion but if your at all familiar with Jewish history many of the prophets of God where never thought to have the word of God by the Jewish leaders until after their words came to pass and the Jewish people don't have a good track record with their prophets. in the case of Jesus i haven't heard any good arguments that their was any difference between the ignorance shown by the religious leaders with Him than with any other of the prophets. in fact, it's quite similar.
----also your forgetting the fact that christianity was started by jewish people.

[McCulloch]

----also your forgetting the fact that christianity was started by jewish people.

The Jewish religious movement of John the Baptist, Jesus of Nazareth, Peter, James the Just and Simeon of Jerusalem was never Christian in the modern sense of the word. Christianity was started by Paul, who claimed to be Jewish yet misrepresented almost every important tenet of Jewish belief on its ear trying to establish a Jewish pedigree for Christianity.

[Megaboomer]

----also your forgetting the fact that Christianity was started by Jewish people.

The Jewish religious movement of John the Baptist, Jesus of Nazareth, Peter, James the Just and Simeon of Jerusalem was never Christian in the modern sense of the word. Christianity was started by Paul, who claimed to be Jewish yet misrepresented almost every important tenet of Jewish belief on its ear trying to establish a Jewish pedigree for Christianity.

----I don't know what you mean by "Christianity in the modern sense" because it was, is and always will be about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
(John 3:16)For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
---all these people lived and all of them met Jesus and realized that he was fulfilling ancient prophesy of coming messiah.

#1. John the baptist said "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (john 1:29) John proclaims the messiah here to the people.
#2. i don't know where you get the idea that Paul's doctrine was any different than the apostles. Paul carefully examines his doctrine by repeatedly going to the disciples of Jesus to confirm what he has experienced by seeing the resurrected Jesus.
#3 Paul was previously a hard core member of the Jewish religious leaders. he studied under one of the most well known rabbi's at that time and he was the leader in persecuting Christians before he encountered Jesus.
--- the fact is that Paul was one of the best of the religious crowd in Jewish theology. and you can try to put the difference in Jewish theology and the Christian theology all you want. but little disagreements happen between all people but the hard core parts like for example: who is the messiah of old testament prophesy? that's where the difference is and many Jewish people where the first Christians.
--- this is really actually a terrible dispute because there's no evidence that Paul disagreed with anything the apostles believed in.

[Vikingr]

Lets flood the thread with quotes from a book. Flood , the point is that no main stream religion wants to have to compete with logic, they would disappear within 10 generations as they all they are are oversubscribed cults.


one word Indoctrination

[T-mash]

Is it immoral to "teach" children about Santa Claus? No.
Is it immoral to not tell the children at a certain age that Santa Claus is nothing more than one of the thousands of man-made myths? Yes.

Replace Santa Claus with Christianity or whatever religion and you have the answer.

[Jayhawker Soule]

Is it immoral to "teach" children about Santa Claus? No.
Is it immoral to not tell the children at a certain age that Santa Claus is nothing more than one of the thousands of man-made myths? Yes.

Replace Santa Claus with Christianity or whatever religion and you have the answer.

It's an adolescent answer.

The OP question is agenda-driven nonsense and intended solely to encourage anti-Christian drivel. The parents who've sent their children to the classes and camps that produce the kids I've seen working in soup kitchens and food depositories and PADS shelters are doing something far less immoral than the juvenile and petty ridicule of religion that passes as atheism these days.

[Jayhawker Soule]

----also your forgetting the fact that christianity was started by jewish people.

---- and the Mickey Mouse Club was started by Christian people. Therefore?

Christianity was, at its very best, a Hellenistic midrash of one strand of 2nd Temple Period Judaism, and a rather sloppy midrash at that. Whether or not it was "started by Jewish people" is very much debatable.

[VermilionUK]

The OP question is agenda-driven nonsense and intended solely to encourage anti-Christian drivel.

Thanks for expressing your opinion, although it is incredibly false and untrue. I'd advise you ask what the motives for posting are, rather than jumping to false assumptions - it gives off an image of someone who is aggressive and rude, although I'm sure that was not your intention.

I personally think that they should be taught about Christianity (and the flaws of it), and left to make up their own choice.

Does that sound like it's encouraging solely "anti-Christian drivel"? I've no objection to teaching about religion - but I do have objections when people decide a life-path for someone who is too young to understand.

It's an interesting topic that has been discussed by many - hence why I chose to post the question here.

[Jayhawker Soule]

The OP question is agenda-driven nonsense and intended solely to encourage anti-Christian drivel.

Thanks for expressing your opinion, although it is incredibly false and untrue. I'd advise you ...

And I'd advise you to actually study some of the theology you so persistently denigrate. Are people who share the views of an Albert Schweitzer or a Shirley Jackson Case or a Martin Luther King or an Abraham Joshua Heschel immoral? Are they immoral when they share those beliefs with their children? What about Quaker parents and their children? Did you ever even consider the fact that, to the extent your question paints Christianity as monolithic, it is obnoxiously stupid and insulting?