Religion, parenting, and how you're doing it wrong: RANT
There's gonna be a rant here. Y'all should rather familiar with my (lack of) religious leanings by now, so fair warning. And some clarity: to my Christian friends... I love y'all and think that y'all tend to be rather awesome (your my friend - how could you not be?! *grin*). But sometimes things come across my feed and I feel the need to respond.
The article that precipitated all of this: http://nblo.gs/Z7qoV "Just Tell Them You're Not a Christian. Nothing is Worth Dying For."
RANT...
Oh. My. Fucking. What?! I agree with the headline. If someone is threatening your life, do whatever it takes to STAY ALIVE. This is your fucking LIFE. It is precious and you should do whatever it takes to protect it. (Yes, yes, if the asshole threatening your life is also threatening the lives of people you love and you need to make the sacrifice to save them, well, that's up to you. There are always extenuating circumstances. I get that. Moving on...)
I'm not saying that there's nothing that's worth dying for. Your convictions are your own and if you feel that dying is what's necessary, that's on you. But when you tell your CHILD - or let your child believe - that dying is preferable to telling a lie to live? That's some seriously fucked up BULLSHIT. Yes, yes, I am aware that I don't have kids; that I don't want kids. That, in general and as a whole, I'm not terribly fond of kids. (Yes, your kids are different - I like them. They are entertaining and well-behaved and I CAN GIVE THEM BACK TO YOU!) But I also believe that parents have a duty and responsibility to do everything in their power to protect their kids, to love their kids, and to not brainwash them into thinking that words and/or some sky-god is more important than their FUCKING LIVES.
And even if I did believe in the Christian God, and even if I believed in a loving God (which occasionally seems like a mutually exclusive thing), and I believed that "God knows what's in your heart," then I'd be perfectly fine with my kid(s) denying God with their voice if it meant that they got to see another day, if they believed in their heart in God.
But I don't. I don't believe in God. Christ. The Holy Spirit. Not at all. I think it's an out-dated way of explaining the world that is completely unsupportable by logic and reason and evidence and rationality.
And so I think that any parent who advocates death over lying is a shitty parent. A really really shitty parent.
END RANT...