By Worried Parent ~
My husband and I have a daughter in middle school who consistently deals with questions about Christianity. Many students have directly asked her if she is Christian and why not. Inevitably the conversation then moves on to how she is condemned, she will not be saved by God and will be sent to Hell. She even had one of them tell her not to tell her parents that they spoke about Christianity even though he wanted her to join his church.
We should not be subjugating children to this form of psychological mistreatment. I want this to stop, now. My issue is that she is being excluded and treated as some kind of pariah just because we have not raised her as a Christian. This really crosses the line of common decency. How have we become so entrenched in such harmful forms of hatred towards those who are in the least bit different from the norm of our American society. I know that was a rhetorical question but I am extremely frustrated, angered and hurt that my daughter has to go through this. School is hard enough as it is. Our children should not have to deal with this form of tyranny. We all need to work on tolerance. By no means are we perfect people, nor perfect parents, but we strive to teach our children to respect others and their differences, even when their ideas or world views differ from ours.
As adults we have the tools to deal with people and their intrusive ideals and criticisms. We should not be subjugating children to this form of psychological mistreatment. I want this to stop, now.
Just because we do not attend a Christian church does not mean we are evil. We don't go around stealing and murdering our fellow human beings. We try to live our lives in the best way possible by taking care of those around us as well as the environment. It is ignorant and lazy to label those who we disagree with by labeling with the words "us" and "them"; "saved" or "condemned to hell".
We try not to condemn those who are Christian. However, we will not tolerate their ideals being forced onto our children. The statement we hear so often, "I will pray for you," is unwelcome and inappropriate. Our children our not evil nor bad.
We should not be subjugating children to this form of psychological mistreatment. I want this to stop, now. My issue is that she is being excluded and treated as some kind of pariah just because we have not raised her as a Christian. This really crosses the line of common decency. How have we become so entrenched in such harmful forms of hatred towards those who are in the least bit different from the norm of our American society. I know that was a rhetorical question but I am extremely frustrated, angered and hurt that my daughter has to go through this. School is hard enough as it is. Our children should not have to deal with this form of tyranny. We all need to work on tolerance. By no means are we perfect people, nor perfect parents, but we strive to teach our children to respect others and their differences, even when their ideas or world views differ from ours.
As adults we have the tools to deal with people and their intrusive ideals and criticisms. We should not be subjugating children to this form of psychological mistreatment. I want this to stop, now.
Just because we do not attend a Christian church does not mean we are evil. We don't go around stealing and murdering our fellow human beings. We try to live our lives in the best way possible by taking care of those around us as well as the environment. It is ignorant and lazy to label those who we disagree with by labeling with the words "us" and "them"; "saved" or "condemned to hell".
We try not to condemn those who are Christian. However, we will not tolerate their ideals being forced onto our children. The statement we hear so often, "I will pray for you," is unwelcome and inappropriate. Our children our not evil nor bad.
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