FUCK.

[conuly]

Just today I googled and dug up this link. By and large, I don't have any need for atheist writings, I was raised godless and have never seen the need to justify my (lack of) faith to anybody. But all that aside, I knew about the link and site.

Looked it up in response to this post (and thank you, ginmar, for giving me nightmares right before Thanksgiving!) that's making the rounds.

The above link contains mention of what I consider to be emotional and spiritual abuse of a young child. Read at your own risk.

I have no words to describe how appalled I am that anybody could be proud of teaching their kid that they shouldn't feel good about themselves (no, she actually said that). Reciting a litany of what she's done wrong every day. Sheesh. Don't lie to your kid if they ask, but ever heard of saying "Nope, you weren't perfect, but you did try, I saw that, and I bet God did too"?

I suppose it makes sense if you believe from the start that "we are all born God hating and evil" (by which I assume she means we are evil, not that we hate both God and evil). But then it *doesn't* make sense. If we're all born hating God and being totally evil, why would any of us desire to change one whit? But clearly her daughter wants to be good enough for her mom, wants to be good enough for her mom's view of God. I don't get it. I just don't.

Poor kid.

Comments

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

Do the other denominations that think about this have something similar?

Yes, many denominations hold to the idea of the "Age of Reason", though what that age is specifically varies. (In some circles, it's as young as a year, and in others, as old as 8. It really depends.) It is at this age, some denominations believe, that a child becomes capable of understanding his or her actions and making conscious choices to act in a good or evil manner, and it's at that point that the child is held responsible for those actions. Many denominations believe that a child who dies before the so-called age of reason will naturally go to heaven, because, by their reasoning, how can one commit sin if one does not know what sin is?

In the church I grew up in (Presbyterian, though it's worth noting that not all Presbyterians hold to this idea), that age was usually around 5, but even then, it varied from child to child.