There has been quite a bit of publicity about Catholic priests who have abused children recently but I would like to say that Catholics are not the only Christians who abuse and oppress children. I have lived in the fundamentalist south nearly all of my 67 years and I have certainly seen and experienced abuse of children and others. Fortunately I have not experienced physical abuse but I have certainly been a victim of emotional abuse. As a child I was told that I was inferior and evil because I was female. I was made to feel guilty and fear about nearly everything as a child in an effort to control me.
Control is the purpose of religious oppression. Some fundamentalists apparently aren't bright enough to realize how often this backfires and causes children to become repelled by religion. Ultimately they harm their cause. Children understand early in life that their oppressors are hypocrites.They talk about love and then treat their children with cruelty.
This is my primary problem with Christianity: Hypocrisy. In the Bible Jesus says we should turn the other cheek and treat others with love. The next chapter says we will burn in hell if we don't. Excuse me, Mr Jesus, sir but haven't I heard you call those Pharisee guys hypocrites? From the beginning hypocrisy is built into a religion by a messiah who talks about compassion but has no idea how to show it himself. He is an angry god who tells his followers to love but has no love in his own heart.
What do you expect? Of course his followers become hypocrites. I have seen people in my own family praise the Lord and beat their children senseless. This is evil to the core.
I feel that all of the Abrahamic religions espouse violence, not just Islamic fundamentalists. The Abrahamic religions seem to be hellbent on destruction. This is evil, not good.
I don't know, I may not be an atheist. There may be a creator out there somewhere but he is not the Abrahamic god. If he is big enough to create a universe I don't believe he could resemble old yahweh/jehovah/allah in any way. Can't tell you what he may be like but it isn't that! If he could create a universe he couldn't be that petty.
Many people talk about how angry Richard Dawkins and the New Atheists are but can't understand there is good reason for that anger. Horrible things have been done in the name of god. If Christians want to combat atheism they need to stop oppression and actually practice the love that Christians are supposed to show. Until then they are helping the atheist cause.
Thanks, folks for the opportunity to express these ideas.
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@ Blb
Been down that road. When I was growing up in North Carolina, the State of North Carolina literally had laws making it perfectly legal to discipline "disruptive" students with corporal punishment (physical abuse). This even included Sunday School classes. Thus, yeah, on top of the psychological terrorism, I got my ass whooped every Sunday by the Pastor of the church, then later by me mom later when home, and I was grounded for that Sunday. Every Sunday, just for asking a legitimate quesion, I was a "blasphemous godless heathen" child. And I had to "fake" getting saved and believing just to keep from having my ass whooped every Sunday.
However, it was Mr. Spock that kept me from completely succumbing. Yes, Mr. Spock from Star Trek, the Original Series with his "logic and reason shall always provide a solution" mentality is what saved me from becoming another religious robot. Hell, I should create an idol of Mr. Spock just to piss off the Christians.
Hang in there lady. Things ain't never as bad as they seem. Trust me. Ain't no one gone through worse than I have.
rmfr
Thank you very much Blb.
Children are the innocents, and also the victims. Sadly their are abused and exploited by almost every aspect of society throughout history. And as stated, the hypocrisy is overwhelming in it's stench. In the bright sunshine and as people are leaving a church service, all looks like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. But away from public scrutiny, those same people who say they love children allow such mistreatment to happen.
I don't know why that bastard Abraham is looked upon favorably. He was a liar, thief, murderer, sexual pervert. He spent his life screwing his sister and then he started hacking off guys' foreskins. He treated his kids like shit. He kicked one out in the desert to die and he wanted to gut and roast the other one. He was totally fucking crazy.
Moses was a raving lunatic but he was 100 times more moral and trustworthy than the creep Abraham was.
Religion, at least the Abrahamic religions, are all about indoctrination at their core. Keep children tightly woven into the faith by tempting them with providence and scaring them with hellfire. I was raised Jewish, and there is little concept of afterlife or hell existing, however they promote the idea of doubting God, but are encouraged if not forced to come crawling back time and time again. Fight the angels, lose to them, return to slavery. It saddened me that I was one of the only to escape, as I knew the people living a lie every Sabbath. We are lucky to have escaped, I get scared that if I wasn’t exposed to this or that soon enough I would STILL be suckered into it, even now. Religion is so tempting, you don’t have to think hard about what is right or wrong, about consequences of your decisions (all is God’s will!). It is a devious, malicious lie propagated by those we hold most dear because they themselves were indoctrinated at a young age as well. It’s absolutely vicious, it can tear families apart, blood ties that should be stronger than any idealism. It’s like I’ve been rescued from the matrix, and I see my family strung up in tubes and wires, waiting to be slaughtered.
Unfortunately, such people probably believe that what they are doing is in their children's interest.
Thanks,folks,for your kind words and support. It is good to know that others feel the same way. Maybe our expression of feelings will influence change. Children in the south certainly need for there to be change. Let us hope that someone will change their behavior after reading what we say.